Pregnancy Massage Tips

[Angry:(]

Does anyone have any pregnancy massage technique/tips they are willing to share? I have never had to do one and I now have a client in the morning!!! What to do!!??? HELP!!!!! I know they are to lay in side position but I am just sooo confused and frazzled!!!

 

[justbeingher]

Have you had any training?

 

[Pompal 09.]

Yes I have had training just not very much on pregnancy massage.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Is this a family member you are practicing on as a student or are you certified in pregnancy massage? Do you know the contraindications? What trimester is the client?

 

[Emmys Mommy]

Yes it is a family member and no I am not licensed in pregnancy massage. The school I went to just ran over a brief description and I am very upset that I do not have the vast knowledge about it that I feel I need to do this massage. If there is anything you can tell me I would appreciate it. I am aware of the risks and areas to avoid however at this point I am just a little upset at the school I went to!!! Maybe this is just one avenue that they did not feel the need to touch on as much???

 

[Mrs.Heretic]

Have plenty of pillows handy! For supine I usually will arrange the pillows so that the client is reclined a bit and not flat on the back. Massaging in this position is fairly simple. Side lying is much like they would sleep in their bed at home...pillow under the head for comfort then a pillow they can throw their top leg over and a pillow to hug against their chest (or one big body pillow to achieve this). Are you familiar with draping for side lying? Hips and thighs are a dream in this position. I find the back annoying to work in this position but it is probably because I don't know good techniques for back side lying.

I keep my intention on providing a soothing touch for the mother's body. My strokes are much the same, but not deep and never really intending to "work anything out."

 

[isl247]

Pregnancy massage is usually taught comprehensively through continuing education, not as part of basic massage education, so I wouldn't fault your school.

Your posts sound fairly apprehensive about massaging a pregnant client. If you don't feel informed enough to be doing this, perhaps you should refer out to a practitioner you feel is qualified.

 

[Pompal 09.]

I agree with what most of tribute says, except for the comment about not working things out. Depending on her trimester, she may have substantial discomfort due to having a baby inside her! While I don't do "deep tissue" on pregnant women, I do "work things out" to some degree, using decreased pressure and no pressure points. There are so many pressure points to avoid, that I just avoid any kind of pressure point work. I do lots of rubbing, circular movements that are soothing and can be firm, but not DEEP.

I do a lot of extra checking in, and I let her know at the beginning of the massage that I will be doing this.

I think it's normal to feel apprehensive about pregnancy massage if you've never massaged a pregnant woman. But the fact is, (having at least some training in pregnancy massage) that as long as you don't work deeply, keep checking in with her, and don't use pressure points, you should be fine. If you don't know how to do sidelying and/or draping for this, then you're lucky that she's a relative because it's easy to lose the drape and that wouldn't be okay with a paying client. Just let her know ahead of time and have her wear undies if she's concerned.

As tribute said, have lots of extra pillows and I would add, have a few towels, to use to drape the breasts, or other areas while you are working out the draping thing. Good luck and you will do fine!

 

[Ben Franklin]

Thank you guys very much! I am very familiar with the draping... especially the diaper draping!! I tend to use a lot of stretching with many of my clients but like I stated before...this will be the first pregnancy massage ever but I am excited! I know she will benefit from it as well! Thank you all once again!

 

[Nate]

I know you were referring to the stretching in terms of the draping, but I just want to remind you that you don't want to do strong stretches or even any stretching really with a pregnant client. I'm not recalling at the moment when the relaxin hormone(?) kicks in, but it makes her ligaments and tendons really stretchy and you don't want to do stretching on her in areas that don't need to stretch that much. The only place that needs to stretch is the pelvis to let the baby through, so pulling on her arms or legs could pull her out of alignment unnecessarily. You may already know that but I just wanted to mention it, in case!

 

[saydgeelyaves]

Hi jellojess13. Check out these links for some more reading on this subject. I think you may find a lot of helpful info here. Remember, Do No Harm! Good luck. Let us know how this works out for you.

Post-natal massage - Scroll down in this one, I posted some tips for all trimesters.

pregnancy massage

tips for side lying position

1st trimester potential client: Informing without scaring

massage in first tri mester?

 

[leslie b]

Thank you guys soooo much! IT is greatly appreciated! All such great advice! What would I have done without you guys??!!! THANK YOU!!!!!