A massage therapist who sexually assaulted six of his female patients has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Brad McLellan, 50, pleaded guilty last June to sexually touching the women during their appointments in 2015.

During the guilty plea, court heard McLellan would have the women lay on their backs at the end of a massage and then touched them in their vaginal area without consent.

The victims and their supporters filled two rows of the courtroom for McLellan's sentencing hearing. Three of the women — whose identities are protected by a publication ban — read victim impact statements aloud.

"The impacts are intimate and invasive," said the first woman. "Words cannot convey pain and its grit … I will share pieces of my experience. It feels vulnerable and uncomfortable."

Another victim said she quit her job while struggling to cope after being sexually assaulted.

"I hated the anxious, sad, dull, emotional person I saw myself becoming," she said.

McLellan was a registered massage therapist practising at two clinics in downtown Calgary: ProActive Health Group and Centennial Wellness.

The victims had been referred to him by two chiropractors who worked at the same clinics. A publication ban protects the identities of the victims.

Prosecutor Sarah Goard-Baker and defence lawyer Cory Wilson made a joint submission for the four-year sentence, which was accepted by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Janice Ashcroft.

In January 2016, a month after Calgary police announced the first round of charges against McLellan, three more women came forward alleging they'd been assaulted during their appointments.

The next month, four more women went to police with similar complaints.

The other four counts of sexual assault were withdrawn by the Crown after the guilty pleas in June.