Should You Get A Massage While Pregnant?

When you’re pregnant, taking day trip for self-care is important. That might imply stress-free on the sofa with a favourite ebook or film, or sporting a tender, snug tee shirt or pair of pants. Later in being pregnant, a therapeutic massage cannot solely be soothing, but additionally provide a number of well being advantages, comparable to assuaging ache, elevating your temper and even making supply go extra easily.

But what’s a prenatal therapeutic massage — and the way is it completely different from a therapeutic massage you’ll get at different instances?

How therapeutic massage throughout being pregnant is completely different from common therapeutic massage

If you’re feeling chilled out after having a therapeutic massage, there’s purpose for that. “Whether you’re pregnant or not, getting a massage may decrease stress hormones and enable you to start producing oxytocin,” says licensed therapeutic massage therapist Nicole Cvitkovic, LMT. “This might also help with depression and anxiety.”

But having a therapeutic massage throughout being pregnant appears to be like and feels completely different from having a therapeutic massage at different instances. “A prenatal massage is generally going to be very light pressure — no more than a firm to medium pressure,” Cvitkovic says. “It’ll be more like a Swedish massage with very light stroking techniques, like kneading.”

In different phrases, don’t anticipate the type of deep tissue therapeutic massage you is perhaps used to when you’ve a tricky knot in your neck or shoulder. “The massage wouldn’t be enough to cause any discomfort, and it really wouldn’t feel like someone’s kind of digging at you,” Cvitkovic notes. “If a pregnant person does have blood clots or anything like that, deep pressure can potentially dislodge them.”

What to anticipate from a prenatal therapeutic massage

Prenatal massages typically final anyplace from quarter-hour to an hour. Although some therapeutic massage therapists have particular being pregnant therapeutic massage tables with a gap minimize out so you may lie down in your abdomen, it’s typically most secure to have a prenatal therapeutic massage whereas mendacity in your facet.

Cvitkovic says when you lie in your abdomen or again, you run the danger of getting hypotension (or low blood pressure) or might inadvertently put undesirable stress on nerves.

To be sure you’re snug and your physique is aligned correctly, therapeutic massage therapists provide prenatal therapeutic massage pillows, padded bolsters and different therapeutic massage props.

“We have a bigger pillow to place under your belly, between the knees, generally underneath your head, and then a pillow for you to hug,” she says. “It’s almost like you have a giant body pillow to hang on to.”

What to put on for prenatal therapeutic massage

Luckily, you don’t have to put on something particular for a prenatal therapeutic massage. Whatever makes you’re feeling most snug is the proper factor to put on.

“Due to religious reasons, some people stay fully clothed or they put on a certain garment they need to wear,” Cvitkovic explains. “During a massage, you’re covered by sheets and a blanket, so some people completely dress all the way down. Others prefer to wear pregnancy drapes because they are more movable. Some people prefer to stay in their undergarments. It all depends.”

Types of prenatal therapeutic massage

Cvitkovic says there aren’t essentially a number of kinds of prenatal therapeutic massage, however there are completely different prenatal therapeutic massage strategies that therapists have a tendency to make use of.

• Swedish therapeutic massage.
• Myofascial launch remedy.
• Craniosacral remedy.

“They’re all very gentle,” she says. “They’re all very, very effective with pain relief and discomfort. They work very fast, but they are very gentle and slow movements.”

Benefits of prenatal therapeutic massage

Prenatal therapeutic massage presents many advantages, together with ache aid and regulating sure hormone ranges. “Massage can help regulate hormones like oxytocin and serotonin — things that make you a little bit happier,” says Cvitkovic. This may help enhance your temper, in addition to aid you navigate melancholy and nervousness each throughout being pregnant and within the postpartum interval.

These advantages will also be long-lasting. In reality, Cvitkovic says elevated oxytocin manufacturing on account of prenatal therapeutic massage also can assist enhance labor outcomes. “Oxytocin is known to help improve labor contractions as well as influence your bonding with your baby,” she provides.

Other advantages embody:

• Pain aid.
• Better relaxation.
• Relieving insomnia.
• Reducing stress and nervousness.
• Reducing labor ache.
• Relieving melancholy.

Prenatal therapeutic massage dangers

Despite advantages, people who find themselves pregnant must be conscious of some dangers involving prenatal therapeutic massage.

Avoid deep stress, particularly in sure areas

Your therapeutic massage therapist ought to keep away from placing deep stress in your stomach and legs. More particularly, they need to additionally keep away from the areas round your ankles and some of your toes — specifically your huge, second and child toes.

“Deep pressure can cause issues if you have blood clots,” Cvitkovic warns. “These places have little pressure points that migrate upwards. Pushing on them might increase blood flow.”

If an individual who’s pregnant has a blood clot, varicose veins or deep vein thrombosis, urgent on these areas also can improve issues, comparable to inducing labor or preeclampsia. “Avoiding those areas will definitely give you the least amount of risk for any of that to happen,” Cvitkovic affirms.

Timing and frequency

Although every individual tolerates massages otherwise, Cvitkovic says medical doctors normally suggest individuals wait till after their twelfth week of being pregnant to start out getting a therapeutic massage.

“Getting out of your first trimester especially is huge,” Cvitkovic explains. “You are at a high risk of miscarrying that early on, so you should postpone or limit massage as much as you can during that early timeframe.”

Once your being pregnant is into the second trimester, she recommends getting a therapeutic massage as soon as each two weeks. But afterward in your being pregnant, you may get a therapeutic massage as much as as soon as every week. “Your body’s going to be dealing with a lot more,” she notes. “Later on in the pregnancy, you can receive massage quite a bit more.”

Health issues

There’s all the time the danger of getting a miscarriage or preeclampsia with an everyday therapeutic massage. Issues like placenta accreta or an abruption are additionally doable severe issues. Edema, or swelling, can be doable in a sure space, particularly when you get massages extra usually.

Changes in blood stress can occur, too. “Sometimes, getting a deeper-pressured massage can cause your blood pressure to rise,” Cvitkovic says. “Sometimes, getting a massage with light pressure can actually lower your blood pressure.” Blood stress modifications are significantly necessary to look out for when you’re struggling to control gestational diabetes, she provides.

Can you get a prenatal therapeutic massage at house?

Most individuals will go to a spa for a prenatal therapeutic massage — this type isn’t quite common in hospitals.

“Every massage therapist at a spa is medically licensed,” Cvitkovic explains. “They all perform medical massage.” However, there are touring therapeutic massage firms that may come to your house when you’re unable to get to a spa.

Talk to your physician about prenatal therapeutic massage

If you’re pregnant and eager to get a therapeutic massage, Cvitkovic recommends speaking to your physician beforehand. This additionally holds true when you’re actively making an attempt to get pregnant or assume you is perhaps.

“If you’re planning to get pregnant or are in the process of trying to get pregnant, I would definitely get a doctor’s note, just to be on the safe side,” Cvitkovic says. “If someone who doesn’t know that they’re pregnant is getting a massage and they do happen to miscarry, you don’t want to be like, ‘Oh, the massage is what caused it.’”

But an occasional therapeutic massage generally is a nice deal with throughout being pregnant. “During pregnancy, so many things are limited — like you can’t eat certain meats and fish, you can’t have coffee, sodas and sugars, things like that. So, it’s not necessarily that you are limited on massage — it’s more so the pressure and techniques need to change. If you’re dealing with a lot of pain, a prenatal massage is extremely beneficial.”