The moment you hear, “you’re pregnant,” an overwhelming sense of excitement takes over with the realization a new life is developing inside you. Your world is about to change, in ways you may not have considered yet. Sure you expect an expanding waistline but throw in stretch marks, heartburn, leg cramps, swelling and morning sickness; you begin to realize just how uncomfortable this miraculous journey is about to get.
Implementing Massage Therapy during pregnancy can help reduce and relieve many of the symptoms you’ll experience. “When my patients are hurting, the first thing I suggest them to do is to go get a massage,” said Dr. J. Morgan Lloyd, III M.D. FACOG who has been practicing OB/GYN for over 27 years. “I found prenatal massage a superb adjuvant therapy for my pregnant patients.”
Priscilla Brickey, RMT, Massage Heights Franchisee is well versed in the therapeutic benefits mothers-to-be receive when they incorporate massage therapy into their prenatal care. For seven years, Priscilla put her extensive education to work at The Woman’s Hospital of Texas, where she helped mothers placed on bed rest experience relief from the worries that haunted them and the discomforts associated with skeletal and circulatory changes. “Your body is going through a major event. Your skeletal structure begins to change as it takes on more weight, your ligaments start to lengthen and soften, organs shift, not to mention, the emotional roller-coaster you’ll experience,” said Brickey. “Prenatal Massage helps relieve the pain you feel in your back, neck, shoulder and hip as well as increase circulation and relaxation. It helps oxygenate and rejuvenate you.”
Priscilla continues to work closely with doctors and nurses educating Massage Heights Members who are expecting on how Prenatal Massage can elevate their overall pregnancy experience. “Massage lowers stress hormone levels and helps to relieve the fatigue and aches and pains that are so common in pregnancy. Priscilla and her team at Massage Heights are highly skilled in pregnancy massage. I recommend them to my patients and was lucky to have Priscilla as my massage therapist during both of my pregnancies,” said Jessica Drummond, MPT, CCN, CHC, CEO of The Integrative Pelvic Health Institute.
Even after you've given birth, massage therapy can help your body recover. “Everything is trying to go back and it’s doing so at a very fast rate. If you’re nursing your ligaments won’t be back to pre-pregnancy for two years; your body still thinks you’re pregnant, for non-nursing mothers it could take a year. Some women want to start working out to lose the baby fat shortly after they've given birth but your ligaments and muscle tissue are still weak making you more prone to injury. Massage Therapy will help get that good, oxygenated blood back into your system,” said Brickey.
Pregnancy Massage at Massage Heights is performed by certified therapists who have received special training. Before receiving a massage, pregnant women are advised to speak with their doctor to learn if massage is recommended.
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