"The Medical Massage Group, our personal favorite, is wonderful, and they have created a warm and peaceful environment... with a unique massage table that allows even a woman in her ninth month to lie comfortably on her stomach. It is no wonder that pregnant women make up seventy percent of their practice.
New moms and moms-to-be know that a massage has a dreamy appeal: the chance to make your body feel good again. To accommodate gravid tummies, Medical Massage has special tables built with a stretchy sling that supports the belly. The group's therapists are trained to erase particular discomforts like lower-back pain, sciatica, and neck and shoulder tightness with their hybrid of Swedish and deep-tissue techniques. Just as important, they also know what not to do: potentially irritating oils and fragrant creams are verboten. Certain labor-inducing acupressure points are also strictly avoided, and when a client turns over, a wedge-shaped cushion is inserted under her shoulders to make sure she's not lying flat on her back-another late-pregnancy no-no. All that, and these people just plain know how to rub a person right.
Pregnancy Massage
Reported by: Dr. Deanna Lites
Producer: Dana Paravati
Back aches and muscle strains. . . you can get them from lifting weights, or from being pregnant. Now a growing number of massage therapists are specializing in prenatal care and that spells relief for tired moms-to-be.
Mary Manard is nearly seven months pregnant, but she has no qualms about lying on her stomach for an hour. That's because she's getting a special pregnancy massage!
"Sciatic pain is a big pain that a lot of women have because of the shifting position of the pelvis during pregnancy, excruciating pain, and we've helped resolve that," Elinor Johnston of the Medical Massage said.
When it comes to prenatal massage it's important that the therapist is licensed in prenatal massage.
"You wanna make sure that they have prenatal certification," Johnston said. "That they are familiar with working with pregnant clients."
"A special table is used during the treatment. It has a hole cut out that encompasses the breast and the tummy area, and there's a sling, and adjustable sling that sits over the hole and supports the woman, supports a woman while she's on her belly. It's very safe and it's very comfortable," Johnston said.
Therapists focus on the mid and lower back and near the sciatic nerve. Women also complain of muscle strain in the neck.
Johnston said massage helped her during her pregnancy.
"Massage really alleviated the discomforts that I was having and left me with a feeling of well being and higher energy levels. I was sleeping better," Johnston said.