Is massage safe when you are pregnant?
I know the top priority for pregnant women is to keep the baby safe. With this in mind I want to start by stating there is no evidence that demonstrates
- massage can induce labour
- massage can cause miscarriages
- massage creates complications
It is important to remember women’s bodies were designed to become pregnant and nuture a baby to full term. Pregnancy is not an illness. In addition pregnancy can’t be made worse by massage. Muscles are still muscles, joints remain joints, nerves stay nerves. The effects of massage on muscles is the same if you are pregnant or not pregant. It is common sense that the masseur ensure that the pregnant women is comfortable normally by lying them on their side and proping them up with cushions.
So in short massage is safe for pregnant women.
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Anxiety reduction & massage?
I know that I often say that one of the benefits of massage is that it may reduce anxiety. I think most people would agree that being in hospital or undergoing hospital procedures may makes us feel anxious. So I was interested in a recent study that looked at the effectiveness of massage with or without guided imagery (a therapist talking you through a scene to help you relax), prior to cardiac catheterisation. As you can imagine anxiety is very common in patients prior to cardiac catheterisation, which can lead to high blood pressure and increase the amount of sedation necessary to complete the procedure. Fifty five patients opted to receive either a 15-minute massage (31 patients) and a 20 minute guided imagery (24 patients) in a quiet area of the hospital prior to cardiac catheterisation. Self-report anxiety levels, blood pressure and heart rate were evaluated in the research participants as well as matched for comparison to a control group not taking part in the study. The results indicated that massage, with or without guided imagery, produced significant reductions in self-reported anxiety, with the combined intervention having a more pronounced effect. In addition a lower diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were found when compared to the control group. In my experience slow, deep stokes help to reduce anxiety and as a team we often incorporate this into treatments. References Amstrong K, Dixon S, May S, Patricolo GE (2014). Anxiety reduction in patients undergoing cardiac catheterisation, following massage and guided imagery. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 20 (4): 334 - 338.
