There have been a lot of questions regarding how safe it is to have a massage when you are pregnant. The answer is, it is very safe during all trimesters. There are only a very few instances where there needs to be some concern when receiving a massage, and that is when the pregnancy is considered to be high risk, and positioning in the later stages of pregnancy. Even with these things to be considered there are ways to work around them, and if you do have a high risk pregnancy, if you have the go ahead from your doctor, that your condition is stable, then massage therapy is still completely safe.
During pregnancy there are lots of changes that are happening to your body, and with that, there is an increased chance of pain or fatigue. Massage is able to help with both pain and stress, which are likely to be the reason why you might be having a hard time being able to sleep at night, during any trimester. Once sleep is able to be regulated, and you become more rested, your pain tolerance does go back up, so you won’t feel as much pain as you did before you weren’t getting any sleep at all.
As for the types of pain you can be experiencing, it can range from sciatic pain to back pain to breast pain. These are generally due to changes in posture to adapt to the increased weight gain from the baby, or fluid retention because the lymphatic system becomes more sluggish as the pregnancy goes on. Sometimes it isn’t even just pain that you feel during the pregnancy but also feeling tired, stressed, even off balance, which can be just as discouraging as being in pain. That alone can make it feel like you aren’t able to do the things that you were able to do before you were pregnant. Unfortunately some of these can become worse as the pregnancy goes on for some women, whereas for others once they hit the second trimester they no longer experience as many difficulties since they can feel a bit more energetic, especially if they are no longer having morning sickness.
There are a few spots in particular that people are worried that massage will hurt the baby or cause you to go into preterm labour. These areas include, the back, stomach, and ankles or in the padded part between the thumb and index finger. The reason for the one in the ankles, and the one between the thumb and index finger, is because these are pressure points, that can cause the uterus to contract. However, to be able to get this point to potentially work, deep and sustained pressure must be used, which is generally never done during a regular massage, unless it is intended to be hit. Sometimes it is requested, by women, to have this spot worked on, who have gone past their due date, in hopes that it will help induce labour. Even with this point being pressed intentionally, and the uterus does start to contract, there is no guarantee that it will put you into labour, or for you to have a miscarriage. For the stomach, the main concern is the direct pressure on the baby, but it too is safe, as a massage therapist will not use deep pressure during the massage.
During the first trimester however, the stomach is not usually massaged, as there is a general increase in the chance that you could have a miscarriage. This doesn’t mean that having an abdominal massage increases your chances of having a miscarriage, as it doesn’t. There is actually no link between having a massage during the first trimester and having a miscarriage. So if you did happen to have an abdominal massage before you knew you were pregnant, you don’t have to worry, you and your baby are still safe. Lastly is the low back. This one, I’m not sure how it started to be a concern, however there is no risk to the pregnancy if you have your low back massaged, as there is no chance that the therapist could touch your uterus through your back, no matter how deep a pressure is used.
Once you hit the second trimester, you shouldn’t have direct deep pressure on your stomach anymore, in the sense of laying on your stomach, you and others are still allowed to touch your stomach as long as you are comfortable with it. Some therapists use pregnancy tables, or pillows to allow the client to still lay face down on the table, while other therapists will have their clients lying on their sides. This positioning depends on equipment available as well as preference, as there is some speculation that even though there isn’t any direct pressure on the abdomen when using a pregnancy table, or the pillows, is that there is still a certain amount of internal pressure exerted on the stomach. Then you have side lying, where there isn’t any chance of there being that added pressure, like you would using the pregnancy table or pillows. There is one other position change that happens once the second trimester starts, and that is when you are face up. One of two things are done, either the therapist will have you in a seated position, or have you with a pillow under your right side. This is to keep the weight of the baby off of your circulatory system that supplies blood to the lower part of the body.
Now let’s talk about high risk pregnancies. “High risk” pregnancies, can be a very broad term for what is happening during your pregnancy. As an example, someone who is having multiples or a certain age (over 35 or under 17), will be automatically considered as high risk, even if there aren’t any complications with the pregnancy itself. Neither one of these will require any sort of change to your treatment. Whereas things like preeclampsia or gestational diabetes, which do require some modifications to the treatment, and the therapist will require you to have your doctor’s approval that you are able to have a massage, and as long as your condition has stabilized, there shouldn’t be any problems with your doctor giving you the okay. Remember the biggest thing when it comes to massage therapy, we are not massaging your uterus.
So what type of treatments can you have done while you are pregnant? Well, excluding if you have a few conditions that would deem you as high risk, you can be treated for the same things that you could be treated for before you were pregnant. This includes headaches, sore muscles, helping with shortness of breath, relaxation, swelling, carpal tunnel, sciatica, and breast tenderness to name a few. I know that breast tenderness doesn’t come up as a complaint as often when a woman isn’t pregnant or breastfeeding, but the breasts can be massaged at any stage of a woman’s life. But more often, during the second trimester you can start getting this tenderness, from both hormones and the glands in the breasts starting to get larger to prepare for making milk for when the baby comes. For more information on this type of treatment, I do have it in my Postpartum Massage article, as it is more common to have this type of treatment after the baby is born.
With all of that being said, if you are still nervous about having a massage while you are pregnant, you can always ask your doctor, or OBGYN, if it is safe for you. That, and make sure you discuss with your massage therapist that you are nervous or concerned about any part of your treatment. You can even ask them if they have had additional training in pregnancy massage if that would make you feel more comfortable, though every therapist has had some training in pregnancy massage during their college program, so you don’t have to change therapists if you already had one before you were pregnant that you enjoyed going to. But they will be able to reassure you that everything they are doing, isn’t going to harm you or the baby.