Massage Therapy

Massage and Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a special time in your life and massage therapy can help with all stages of pregnancy. Pregnancy can be like a marathon, in that there may be aches and pains along the way but crossing the finish line is so rewarding. Your body goes through many changes during this time including the enlargement of breast tissue which can cause the shoulders to round forward, a growing belly that can increase the curvature of your lower spine, possible swelling in ankles and wrists, and increasing tension through many of your muscles and fascia to accommodate these changes. These things can often cause aches or pain that can make your pregnancy somewhat uncomfortable.

Massage therapy has been proven to help with many of these conditions. Studies have shown that massage therapy can improve your mood, decrease pain, decrease stress hormones, decrease obstetrical complications and improve the health and development of your growing baby. Massage has also been shown to help throughout the process of labour by decreasing pain, anxiety and stress and by doing so may help to decrease the length of labour and your hospital stay. Once you have had your baby, massage therapy has been shown to help the baby gain more weight, may help with sleep patterns and improve behaviour in infants.

Registered Massage Therapists are trained to assess your symptoms and formulate a plan with you to help relieve the symptoms. As your body shape changes so does your positioning on the massage table. The RMT will work with you to determine what is comfortable; lying on your side versus lying on your stomach or even sitting leaning forward versus lying down. Your RMT may give you things to do at home such as heating or icing, self massage and exercises (as appropriate). Your Registered Massage Therapist is there to work with you and your health care team to make your pregnancy experience the best it can be.

For information on research please check out the literature review at www.omta.com.