Pregnancy Massage
The benefits of Pregnancy Massage:
Eases physical discomfort
Helps prepare you for labor
Offers a sense of emotional balance
Improves your relaxation
Stimulates blood flow (nutrients)
Stimulates lymphatic flow (removes toxins & boosts immunity)
Stabilizes hormones
Adds tone & flexibility to muscles & tendons
Relieves pain & cramps
Recent studies from the Touch Research Institute (TRI) in Miami, Fla., indicate that pregnancy massage provides more than just symptom relief for the mother. A group of 26 pregnant women were given either massage or relaxation therapy during a five-week study. In addition to experiencing a reduction in symptoms of anxiety, stress, sleep problems and back pain, the massage group had fewer complications in their delivery. Their newborns also had fewer postnatal complications. Another TRI study reported massage during labor resulted in shorter labor times for the mothers, shorter hospital stays and less postpartum depression.
Once your baby has arrived, massage can continue to be an important part of good health for you and your new infant. Postpartum massage can relieve the stress and tension of your new responsibilities and provide nurturing and relaxation to help you in adjusting to motherhood. By increasing circulation, massage enhances the post-birth healing process and has a significant effect on realigning the body when the center of gravity shifts back to normal.