Pregnancy

Our commitment to excellence and to a client-centered practice means that we make every effort to make sure the information we give clients is accurate and reliable. We spend hours every week reading research and discussing it with other well-informed professionals. We read extensively to understand how pain works, how the body works, and what we, as manual therapists, can do to help our clients. When we discover that an idea we held to be true turns out to be wrong, we change our thinking to conform to the best available evidence. We work at keeping it real so that we can best serve the needs of our clients.

Our FaceBook friend Nick Ng recently quoted us at length in an article he wrote about Massage Myths That Need To Be Trashed. We really like his article and we're flattered he liked what we had to say about the need to support our claims with evidence and to welcome honest inquiry. 

Ever since I got a website, I see a lot more pregnant women for prenatal massage. I don't know if there's a baby boom happening or if it's just easier for them to find me. I have learned that a lot of massage therapists don't do prenatal massage and many of the franchises will not accept pregnant clients, either. If a therapist has not been trained to do prenatal massage, they should certainly refer out to a therapist who has been trained. However, some of the reasons for turning down pregnant clients are based on unwarranted fear and misinformation.

Many massage therapists report that they have been told not to give massage to a woman during her first trimester. Some have been told that there is a risk that massage may cause a miscarriage. This is an absurd idea and is probably based more on fear of litigation (unfortunately, the U.S. is a very litigious society) than on any actual risk. Most women don't know they are pregnant until they are well into their first trimester. The only way we could completely avoid giving massage to women in their first trimester would be to refuse to massage all women of childbearing age. Certainly no one is advocating that.

A reader asked the following question:

It felt like I bruised my tail bone during the last few months I was pregnant with my daughter. The doctor said the pain should go away within 3 months. It's going on 8 months and the pain is still extreme depending on how I sit. Any suggestions?

The first thing I would suggest is if you have not asked your doctor about this recently, ask again and see what he/she has to say about it. Ask them what they think is causing the pain, why the pain has persisted so much longer than expected, and what can be done about it?

Swedish massage. Deep tissue massage. Sports massage. Russian massage. Trigger point therapy. What are they and how are they different? If you are a client looking for a massage, how do you know what to ask for?

You don't necessarily need to know the name of a specific technique but you do want to be clear about your goal. When a new client walks into my office, I ask them what brought them in and what do they want to get out of their session? Some want to relax. Others have some sort of pain that they'd like to get rid of. Still others want to improve their performance. By understanding the client's goal, I can tailor the session to their specific needs. However, people do frequently ask the question, "What is the difference between these different kinds of massages?"

I got a phone call from a client whose wife developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome six months into her pregnancy as a result of swelling from water retention. The condition became so painful she would wake up at night in tears. Her doctor was not helpful. "It will go away after you deliver," was the only suggestion he had to offer. Not wanting his wife to have to endure this for another three months, my client asked if I could help.