Sleepless nights, morning sickness, mood swings, swelling, backaches, headaches, a heavy belly, emotional roller-coasters. Welcome to pregnancy! Regardless of where you are in your glowing stage, growing a person is definitely a round-the-clock job. So, if anyone deserves to be spoiled rotten, it is you! Booking yourself a gentle and soothing massage session may possibly be one of the best ways to go about it. For all moms-to-be, The Spa Industry Association looks into some of the many benefits of massage therapy during pregnancy.
What is a prenatal massage?
Like regular massage, prenatal massage aims to ease muscle tension and sore spots, boost circulation and mobility, and make you feel good. However, what makes prenatal massage different is that it’s explicitly customized according to the needs of expectant mothers and their changing bodies.
When you’re pregnant, your center of gravity shifts, and your back, neck, shoulders, and abdominal muscles are under a lot of stress. Pelvic joints are less stable, and you are sore and swollen, et cetera. A trained prenatal massage therapist knows which spots to aim for and which areas and techniques to avoid.
Benefits of massage therapy during pregnancy
Regular appointments can have a lot of benefits, some of which are reduced swelling, back and nerve pain, regulated hormone levels, improved circulation, sleep, mood, and overall well-being.
- Reduces edema
To meet the needs of their developing baby, expectant mothers produce two times the amount of blood and body fluids. As the baby grows, the uterus puts pressure and slightly blocks the veins, which makes it harder for blood to return from the legs to the heart. Finally, the hormones fluctuate and make the walls of the veins softer, thus impeding their function. Moms feel hot, swollen, and a lot less like themselves.
It is common knowledge that therapeutic massage is beneficial during pregnancy because it helps ease muscle aches and pains. Given it is a circulatory event, it helps to stimulate soft tissues, thus reducing the amount of fluid held within the joints and even removing the tissue waste in the body.
- Improves sleep quality
Between physical discomfort, fluctuating hormone levels, frequent nighttime urination, breast tenderness, nausea, excitement, and anxiety about becoming a mother, the idea of getting a good night’s rest may become quite elusive in pregnancy. Massage therapy can help by increasing your serotonin and melatonin levels, thus eventually regulating your sleep rhythm. After a session or two, you will find that falling asleep and staying asleep is much easier. And since rest is an essential part of prenatal care, this is one of the best ways to enhance your wellness during pregnancy.
- Regulates hormone levels
Another way massage therapy benefits pregnant women is through hormone regulation. During those nine months, moms experience a lot of odd mood swings and emotional roller coasters. This can cause a lot of stress, eventually taking its toll on their body and mind. For this reason, you must find healthy ways to regulate your hormones. Regular massage therapy is a great way to do this, as it reduces hormones related to stress and depression, improves your overall mood, and brings about a lot of other positive changes to your body and mind. To make things even better, massage does the same thing for your baby.
- Lowers stress and anxiety levels
It is not uncommon to feel stressed out when expecting. You may be dealing with normal pregnancy discomforts and the typical everyday stress. So, these feelings are completely natural. However, sometimes life-changing events like losing a job or moving while pregnant may add to the stress you have already been feeling. What’s worse, every emotional turmoil is amplified during pregnancy. Plus, events such as relocation require a lot of physical effort, which is why it is crucial to relax after this period.
One of the many known benefits of massage therapy during pregnancy is that it significantly reduces stress and anxiety levels. Through regular calm and relaxing massages, your cortisol level goes down, and feel-good hormones go up, leading to less stress-induced aches, a more positive outlook, and an overly healthier emotional state.
- Alleviates back and nerve pain
Many women who are further along in their pregnancy experience lower back pain or sciatic nerve pain. This happens mainly due to poor posture or uterine pressure on the sciatic region, causing inflammation, irritation, and pain.
The moving experts at zippyshelldmv.com also say that a job that entails bending and twisting motions, lifting or manipulating heavy objects, or driving for long periods might play a role in sciatica. Therefore, pregnant women should definitely avoid any aggravating activities.
Either way, this is a widespread occurrence in pregnancy, which is why so many women turn to their massage therapists. And rightfully so, as massage has been shown to reduce their pain significantly. Of course, you should only see experts who have been trained and certified in prenatal massage techniques.
Consult your prenatal care provider
As with any therapeutic approach to pregnancy wellness, adopting a safety-first approach is crucial. Expectant mothers should discuss the risks and benefits of prenatal massage with their prenatal care provider before their trip to the spa.
This is especially important if you have experienced or been dealing with:
- pre-term contractions,
- bleeding,
- severe swelling,
- high blood pressure,
- sudden, severe headaches,
- previous pre-term labor,
- high-risk pregnancy,
- Preeclampsia
- Pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH)
If you get your provider’s okay, you’re good to go!
Work with certified professionals
Also, working together with knowledgeable professionals is crucial, so make sure to seek care from an appropriate massage therapist. A certified therapist has undergone training beyond the national standards for massage therapists. This means they will know precisely how to address your pregnancy and massage needs.
Get a prenatal massage
The benefits of massage therapy during pregnancy are numerous. So, hopefully, it’s already a part of your regular pampering routine. If not, consider making it. You know you deserve it!
