Prenatal Massages
While you are pregnant, your body will be going through extreme changes. Getting regular massages throughout your entire pregnancy can help promote your physiological, psychological, and emotional health.
I recommend scheduling a massage as often as possible up to every two weeks, especially during your third trimester.
What to Expect
Most of a prenatal massage will be the same as what to expect for any other massage. The primary differences will be how you are positioned on the table and what areas your therapist focuses on. Massages can be performed with specific goals in mind such as increased flexibility of decreased pain or other symptoms, but your body benefits so much from prenatal massages that you do not need any specific goals.
Your therapist will ask a few questions to determine what will be most helpful to include or avoid for your massage. You will be given privacy to undress and asked to lay on the massage table. When the therapist returns, bolsters and pillows will be used to comfortably support you in a side lying position. Halfway through the massage, you will be asked to roll onto your other side, and the bolsters and pillows will be repositioned.
Specific Benefits of Prenatal Massage
Feel More Comfortable
As your baby grows, more weight is placed on your joints and extra tension is put on your muscles. Massage can alleviate muscle tension while also improving muscle tone and flexibility, both can significantly help you feel more comfortable.
Massage also promotes the parasympathetic nervous system and activily decreases the levels of cortisol and stress in your body. In turn, this reduces excessive baby activity.
Alleviate Common Pregnancy Complaints
Massage can help reduce the severity of many common pregnancy ailments such as:
- leg, hip & back pain (including sciatica)
- depression & anxiety
- shortness of breath
- Poor circulation or edema/swelling of lower extremities
- muscular discomfort/cramping
- mobility issues
Ease Your Labor
"In a study of labor pain, women who received massage therapy experienced significantly less pain, and their labors were on average 3 h shorter with less need for medication." 1
Prenatal Massage Safety
Women can receive massage therapy at any point in their pregnancy including the first, second, or third trimester 2. As with any pregnancy, the risk for miscarriage is higher during the first 12 weeks, but massage has not been shown to have any negative outcomes during the first trimester.
- Massage will not include the belly during the first trimester.
- Deep tissue and trigger point therapy will be avoided during the first trimester.
- Clients will be side lying during the massage for the second and third trimesters.
- Aromatherapy and other techniques will be limited to what you are comfortable with.
1 National Center for Biotechnology Information
2 AmericanPregnancy.org