Friday 28 September 2007

Pregnancy: Massage

Almost all women feel stressed out during pregnancy period. One of the techniques to relieve the nerves and get over the stress during pregnancy is to get a prenatal massage. This is an expert field for doctors, nurses, labor nurses and educators in the child birth domains.

A massage during pregnancy helps to relieve nerves and provides a relaxing feeling. In addition, it increases blood circulation and results in to calmness and relief from stress. It helps to reduce labor pain and enhances tissue and skin pliability. Hence, the pregnancy massage provides mental and physical support to mothers while ensuring their medical systems continue operation effectively.

It is critical to get the pregnancy massage from a professional with expertise in this area. You do not want to put undue pressure on various parts of your body during pregnancy. Hence, only experts should be contacted to get a smooth experience and to minimize the stress that many women feel during pregnancy.

While providing pregnancy massage, it is important to have some knowledge about the anatomy of the pregnant women and act accordingly. Though there are no great variations, yet care should be taken to provide a relaxing feeling to the pregnant mothers. The massage should be provided on a proper massage table which should be set up in a somewhat reclining position. This does not only provide added comfort to the mother but is also safe for the baby. Some people prefer to use tables with whole belly cuts, but experience has shown that this causes stress to lower back and hence should be avoided in most cases.

In addition, it is recommended to keep dim lights in the massage room. This will result in a relaxing atmosphere which could be exploited using soft music in the room. It is important to change the music if it does not feel right to the mothers’ ears. Some light perfumes might add to the tranquility of the scene. The purpose is to provide as much relaxation as possible. In ideal situations, your partner should do the massage.

The postpartum massages are very effective in turning your body back to its pre-pregnancy condition. Their main objective is to relieve the stress from carrying the baby and to relax you from the not-so-easy job of caring your child.

For the massage, it is important to apply force with care. You do not want to massage rudely to cause pain to the pregnant mother. The guidelines for therapist are simple. The nails should be short and no rings or jewelry should be worn at the time of giving massages. The room should have ventilation points but you do not want the room to be overly cooled since it might result into stretching the nerves in some women. A warm and cozy environment is preferred in most circumstances. The ideal duration for the pregnancy massage is from 25 minutes to 40 minutes depending upon its effectiveness, and can be repeated once every two days for maximum results.