Therapeutic Massage

Many profound

local and systemic changes occur in your body during pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum, and massage is a therapeutic technique designed to address physical and emotional challenges.

Why Pregnancy Massage Therapy?

This type of therapy can address pregnancy’s various physical challenges:

edema,
postural changes,
and pain in the lower back, pelvis, or hips.

There are many different styles:

Swedish massage, a gentle technique, may facilitate gestation by supporting cardiac function, placental and mammary development, and cellular respiration. It also reduces edema and contributes to sympathetic nervous system sedation.

If you prefer something stronger, Deep Tissue and Trigger Point offers more active and passive movements. These can help you alleviate stress on weight-bearing joints and myofascial structures, especially the lumbosacral and sacroiliac joints, lumbar spine, hips, and pelvic musculature.

When you reeducate the balance of your body structures and postures, you can reduce neck and back pain caused by misalignment and strain to the uterine ligaments. Besides these physical effects, getting effective prenatal massage therapy can provide you with much-needed emotional support.

How can massage help you during labor?

Encourage relaxation and reduce anxiety.
It helps reduce body discomfort by releasing and alleviating muscle and joint pain,
It can facilitate ease of labor by preparing the muscles for release and, therefore, give you better support during childbirth.
Improves breathing, digestion, mood, and sleep
Improves your and your baby’s health by reducing the negative impacts of stress
It helps you feel more at ease and in touch with yourself and your baby.
Contributes to more manageable and shorter labor
It is just sooo nice!

Another fun fact! Studies have shown that women who have partners who learned and provided basic massage strokes to their backs and legs during labor had shorter and less complicated labors.

After giving birth, massage therapy can help your abdominal area recover. It can reduce the strain of baby care on your body, support breastfeeding, and nurture you and your family.

The Postpartum Period

After your baby is born, your new body must cope with more changes. You may be 10 to 12 pounds lighter, but you may still have an anterior weight load posture. Massage therapy can facilitate your proprioceptive reprogramming to gently return your body to its original state, alleviate pain, and renew a sense of body and self.

Postpartum massage can restore functional muscle use in your lower back area and strengthen and increase the tonus in your abdominal musculature, which was stretched and separated during pregnancy. Additionally, your overworked iliopsoas muscle functions (stabilization of the hips and lower back) can be improved. Finally, your upper back muscles, which now support larger breasts and help you carry your baby around, could do better with some love to reduce strain and help you maintain better body flexibility.

For post-cesarean mothers, specific therapeutic techniques can also reduce scar tissue formation, facilitate healing of the incision and related soft tissue area and support the somato-emotional integration of her childbearing experience.