Massage and acupuncture clinics

[Master_Krafter]

Are massage and acupuncture classified as medical in the nec? Any code references would be helpful. My Understanding is that acupuncture is and massage is not, but I have not yet found a code reference.
Thanks!

 

[LEO2854]

Are massage and acupuncture classified as medical in the nec? Any code references would be helpful. My Understanding is that acupuncture is and massage is not, but I have not yet found a code reference.
Thanks!

It seems that they provide services to "Human beings"

ARTICLE 517 Health Care Facilities

Informational Note Text that is followed by a reference in brackets has been extracted from NFPA 99-2012, Health Care Facilities Code, and NFPA 101-2012, Life Safety Code. Only editorial changes were made to the extracted text to make it consistent with this Code.

I. General

517.1 Scope. The provisions of this article shall apply to electrical construction and installation criteria in health care facilities that provide services to human beings.The requirements in Parts II and III not only apply to single-function buildings but are also intended to be individually applied to their respective forms of occupancy within a multifunction building (e.g., a doctor?s examining room located within a limited care facility would be required to meet the provisions of 517.10).
Informational Note For information concerning performance, maintenance, and testing criteria, refer to the appropriate health care facilities documents.

Welcome to the forum


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[GoldDigger]

Well, I would say that if the acupuncture and massage took place in a health care facility they would be treatment areas.
But if they took place in a storefront they *might* not be.

 

[kwired]

What about mental health care outside of any actual physical invasive procedures?

One could also call physical therapy activity health care, or even your routine workout place could be considered health care on a preventive level.

I think the informational note after 517.1 tells us we may need to look beyond the NEC to define what is health care.

Informational Note: For information concerning performance, maintenance, and testing criteria, refer to the appropriate health care facilities documents.

The NEC only gives a very general scope here but doesn't actually define what is health care.

There is also this informational note before 517.1

Informational Note: Text that is followed by a reference in brackets has been extracted from NFPA 99-2012, Health Care Facilities Code, and NFPA 101-2012, Life Safety Code. Only editorial changes were made to the extracted text to make it consistent with this Code.

Which kind of indicates you maybe need to look in NFPA 99 to find better definitions of what NFPA would consider health care - local health authorities may still be the ultimate source for what is officially considered health care at a particular location.