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Is Massage Safe During Pregnancy? – The Hormonal Mama Podcast

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Is Massage Safe During Pregnancy? It’s a question I’ve heard time and time again, “Is massage safe during pregnancy”? There is so much that happens during pregnancy, both inside and on the outside of the body, and there are things that aren’t safe during pregnancy, that would normally be safe.  Is massage one of those things?  What about massage during the first trimester?  There’s a lot of conflicting and also incorrect information out there surrounding these questions. Listen in while I break down the myths and spill the truth. 📌 Pin me for later! Show Notes: So often, people are misinformed about the safety of massage during pregnancy.  Spoiler alert: It’s Safe!  Are there some exceptions?  Of course!  There are always exceptions to every rule. High risk pregnancies are sometimes exceptions, depending on what the cause of the high risk is.  However, massage is not unsafe in all high risk pregnancies.  It’s extremely important to discuss this with your ob/midwife/provider.   The biggest myth of all regarding massage during pregnancy, is that massage is unsafe during the first trimester of pregnancy.  This is 100% untrue and causes a great deal of stress for women in the first trimester who do want to get a massage. While massage is safe during the first trimester, there is a reason for this myth.  Essentially the myth comes from the reality that the vast majority of miscarriages occur in the first trimester.  The concern, which led to this myth being so widespread, is that if a miscarriage occurs in the first trimester, the mom-to-be may blame the massage for the miscarriage. This makes a lot of sense considering that emotions are heightened during pregnancy, thanks to those pesky hormones!  Where this becomes an even bigger problem is that she might not just blame the massage for the miscarriage but she may blame the massage therapist or worse, blame herself. So, while massage is perfectly safe in all 3 trimesters, it is imperative that if there are any risk factors at all, to discuss a potential massage with your provider to keep yourself and your unborn child as safe as possible. Read the full episode transcript here.

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E.20 Transcript (Is Massage Safe During Pregnancy?)

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It’s a question I’ve heard time and time again, “Is massage safe during pregnancy”? There is so much that happens during pregnancy, both inside and on the outside of the body, and there are things that aren’t safe during pregnancy, that would normally be safe.  Is massage one of those things?  What about massage during the first trimester?  There’s a lot of conflicting and also incorrect information out there surrounding these questions.Read along as I break down the myths and spill the truth. Hi and welcome to the hormonal mama podcast. I am your host Cara Drescher. Today on the show, I wanted to dispel the myth that you can’t get a massage during pregnancy. It’s a really common myth, and I want to break down why it’s a myth, and why it actually is safe. So, stick with me and I’ll tell you all about it. It’s a really common myth that you can’t get a massage when you’re pregnant. But the more common myth is that you can’t get a massage during your first trimester. I’ve heard this my entire career. I’ve been a massage therapist for over 18 years, and since the day I started school, I’ve heard this common story that it is unsafe in the first trimester to get a massage. “Pregnant women can’t get massage in the first trimester it is absolutely unsafe.” “You’re going to cause a miscarriage.” “You’re going to do this, you’re going to do that.” “Do not touch women in the first trimester.” That’s what I’ve heard from everybody. I’ve heard it from massage therapy instructors, I’ve heard it from customers, I’ve heard it from massage therapists. I’ve heard it from anyone and everyone, and it’s simply not true. Let me break down for you why this is a myth. Is pregnancy a little complicated? Well, yeah! You don’t have to have a high risk pregnancy in order to have a complicated pregnancy. Pregnancy is difficult. If you listen to any of my episodes or read my blog, then you’ve heard me talk a bit about hormonal changes. That’s one of the big things. You have all these hormones racing through your body going up and down and up and down. It’s like a roller coaster… all the time. I think that’s the part that everybody gets. I mean, you’re pregnant and your hormones are going nuts trying to maintain this pregnancy. Trying to keep the baby healthy, trying to keep you healthy, trying to do this, trying to do that. What people don’t always think about is all the other things that happened during pregnancy. A lot of changes happen in the body, it’s not just that your body is growing another human which I mean, it is, and that’s probably the biggest thing about pregnancy and where this myth comes from. It’s hard to explain, so let me sort of back up a little bit and talk about miscarriage which is a very difficult topic. I, myself went through a miscarriage in my pregnancy with my twins. They had a triplet sibling, and I miscarried that third baby. Even though my experience was very different than many women; every woman who has experienced a miscarriage experiences it differently. So I can’t speak for everyone, but it’s very important to understand that the vast majority of miscarriages occurr during the first trimester. More than that, the vast majority of miscarriages occur for no apparent reason. There’s no clinical or medical explanation in many cases. I’d say in most cases, there’s no real explanation as to why you miscarried. This can be extremely difficult to understand and process, emotionally. I can relate on the infertility side because I went through years of infertility. A lot of women go through infertility. What a lot of people don’t really understand, is that recurring miscarriages are a type of infertility, and going through miscarriages whether it’s one or four, or 12, it is devastating at any time. And not only that, it’s devastating whether you lost the baby in the first two weeks, or at 20 weeks. Losing that pregnancy is a very big deal. I’m talking about it because this relates 100% to this myth that it’s not safe in the first trimester. Now, the reason why this myth really started was because of the concern that the vast majority of miscarriages that occur, occur in the first trimester. But taking into account what I said a before about how usually there’s no medical explanation for it. The other part of that, is that there’s not much that’s going to cause a miscarriage. So, the myth is sort of rooted in the fear that massage is going to cause the miscarriage. That was the impression I was under for the vast majority of my career, until I took a prenatal massage course in 2008. This was the very first prenatal massage course that I ever took, and it was a continuing education course. It was taught by a really well known continuing education provider in prenatal massage. One of the very first things she said was, “It’s perfectly safe to give a massage in the first trimester”. This blew my mind! I spent the first six years of my career believing that this wasn’t safe and that something that I did could potentially cause a miscarriage for someone else. So, I stuck to that rule. First trimester of pregnancy? Nope, not gonna touch you. Nope not gonna happen. When I took this course and she broke it down for us, I realized I didn’t know enough about pregnancy and I didn’t know enough about miscarriages. I’ve taken a lot of prenatal & postpartum continuing education courses in massage therapy over the years. I started teaching prenatal massage and advanced prenatal massage because I felt like so many massage therapists were being misinformed, which in turn is misinforming the public and that’s not fair. It’s not anyone’s fault, it’s just the circumstances.

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A Wealth of Wellness: Your Guide to Physical & Mental Wellbeing

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I’ve talked a lot about skin care lately, but I think it’s time to take it back to basics, and talk about physical & mental wellbeing and how they relate to infertility, pregnancy, and the postpartum period.  Before I dive in and talk all about the world of wellness and massage therapy, let me take a minute to give you a brief background on why I am an expert. I’ve been a licensed massage therapist in Pennsylvania for over 18 years.  Technically, Pennsylvania didn’t have a licensing board until 2011, but I completed my massage therapy education and training in 2002.  In 2008 I started studying prenatal massage and began specializing in pre & postnatal massage therapy shortly thereafter, followed by fertility massage.   6 years ago, my personal fertility journey began.  After 3 very long years and 14 fertility treatments, I finally conceived triplets and gave birth to twins 7 months later.  After my high risk pregnancy and unplanned c-section, I had an extremely difficult recovery and complex breastfeeding journey. Between my personal and professional experiences, I know exactly what it’s like to go through these overwhelming phases in life, but I also know how to help women going through them. Now that you know a little bit more about me, let’s talk about how wellness & specifically massage therapy can effect infertility, pregnancy, & the postpartum period.   Wellness What exactly is wellness?  What does it mean?  Wellness is a broad term that according to The Global Wellness Institute is defined as: The active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health. Wellness professionals encompass a wide variety of fields including, but not limited to the following: massage therapy, beauty, yoga, pilates, acupuncture, physical fitness, and many many more.  I can’t speak on all of these industries, but I can speak about the beauty and massage therapy industries.  Today we’re going to talk about massage therapy.   Massage Therapy We’ve talked a bit about wellness, and I’ve tackled skin care a number of times previously, check out any of these posts!  Today, I want to focus on massage therapy, what exactly it is, how it affects physical & mental wellbeing, and why it is so important.   By definition, according to Merriam Webster, massage therapy is: The manipulation of the muscles and other soft tissues of the body (as by stroking, kneading, or rubbing with one or both hands or an instrument) by a massage therapist for therapeutic purposes (as to relieve pain, promote healing, or improve physical functioning) And their definition of Massage Therapist is: A person who practices massage therapy: a trained individual who is licensed or certified to therapeutically manipulate the muscles and other soft tissues of the body using one or both hands or an instrument These definitions are pretty clear and concise and explain the general idea of massage therapy quite well.  But wait!  There’s more… Purpose of Massage Therapy Okay, so massage therapy is manipulating muscle tissue.  That’s great, but what is the purpose?  This is where it all gets interesting, and the reason I got into this industry in the first place. So let me ask you; what is the first thing you do when your neck is sore?  Most of the time, the first thing you’re going to do, is rub your neck.  Now, when I say rub, I’m talking very generally.  You might just apply some pressure to the sore area, or you might rub with your thumb, or the palm of your hand, or you might put heat on it.  What are you actually doing?  YOU ARE MASSAGING YOUR NECK! Why is rubbing your neck your first instinct?  Because it feels good, and sometimes even relieves the pain or discomfort.  That is the whole point of massage therapy.  To help relieve pain or discomfort.  There are many other purposes, like helping to increase circulation, creating relaxation, and so on. The great thing about massage therapy is that it is a very broad category, that encompasses a variety of modalities.  Confused?  Read on! Massage Modalities What is a modality?  The definition of the word, according to vocabulary.com is:  The way or mode in which something exists or is done. This definition is very broad, but when we break it down into massage therapy terms, like in this article by First Institute, it begins to make more sense.  Their definition, specifically relating to massage therapy is: A massage therapist would say that a modality refers to the approach that he or she might take with a client. Let me break this down a bit for you.  Here is a very brief list of various massage modalities that you may have heard of: Swedish Massage Cranial Sacral Therapy Thai Massage Sports Massage Deep Tissue Massage Prenatal Massage Hot Stone Massage There are many more modalities, but this a short list to give you a better idea of what I mean when I refer to modalities. 📌 Pin me for later! Connecting the Dots How does this all relate to hormonal changes in women going through infertility, pregnancy, & postpartum?  Well, I’ll break these down more in depth in the coming weeks in my next blog posts and podcast episodes, but let’s connect the dots a little bit about massage therapy and how it affects physical & mental wellbeing before diving into the deep end.  Effects of Massage Therapy The effects of massage therapy on the body are vast and long lasting.  Because of the domino effect of massage therapy, the results from a massage therapy session can help with more than just one problem. For example, tight muscles in the neck and back can be relieved from massage therapy, but in addition to loosening tight muscles, other effects you might experience are, increased relaxation, more positive mood, increased blood circulation, better sleep, and so on. The great thing about our bodies, is that everything really is connected.  You know the classic song, “Dem Bones”?  If you don’t, it’s the

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Jill of all Trades?

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People often ask me why I choose to do such a broad variety of things in my professional life, and I find that I have no clear answer other than, I have a large variety of interests, and I choose to explore all of those interests instead of choosing one over the others. This may seem crazy, or confusing, but for me, it’s what keeps me motivated. Before I explain, let me first break down what exactly it is that I do in my business. Cara B. Design Studio is a subsidiary of Cara B. Design & Wellness. Cara B. Design Studio focuses on art, while Cara B. Design & Wellness focuses on wellness services and products. I started Cara B. Design & Wellness in 2008 as Cara B. Health & Beauty. Initially, my business was focused on bridal makeup, and occasionally out-call massage therapy. Over time, my business evolved, as did my business name and in 2012, I re-branded, renaming the business Cara B. Design & Wellness. There are 5 main areas of focus between Cara B. Design Studio and Cara B. Design & Wellness: Massage Therapy Esthetics (Skin Care & Makeup) Teaching (Part time Trade School Faculty & Continuing Education Provider) Textile Artist (Designing and Creating Handbags & Wallets) All Natural Handmade Bath & Body products The question I’m asked most frequently, is how I got into each area that I focus on. Each one has its own unique story, and most of them revolve around injuries that temporarily sidelined me from something else. For example, I started teaching massage therapy because I herniated a disc in my lumbar (lower) spine when I was 30, and was unable to work for an extended period of time. I had great difficulty walking and maneuvering around, so my mom suggested to me that I look into teaching since I couldn’t practice for a while. I had never considered teaching, because ultimately I felt that I wouldn’t have the patience to teach. At first, I was resistant to the idea, and then it occurred to me that the only reason I had never considered teaching, was simply because I was so focused on not wanting to teach kids, I never realized that there was an opportunity to teach adults. At that point, I had already been in the massage therapy industry for 8 years and was very comfortable with my knowledge and experience. Not long after that realization, I got in touch with a fellow massage therapist who was a massage instructor, and he helped get me on the path to teaching. After I had been teaching for awhile, I started missing the hands on work, and I made the decision to go back to a massage therapy center where I had worked on and off for a number of years. I got back into the swing of things, and over time, realized that while I really enjoyed being back in practice, I also missed teaching. Around that same time, I was promoted to manager at my job and my boss was interested in getting me certified to teach continuing education courses to the staff. So, I got myself certified by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork (NCBTMB) as a Nationally Approved Continuing Education Provider. I started by teaching the staff at my job, and then eventually started creating new courses and offering them to other massage therapists. It’s now been almost 5 years and I still love it every opportunity I get to teach. I also teach massage part time at a trade school in Delaware on an as needed basis, so I still get to maintain my private practice. Around the same time as my herniated disc (just prior to teaching), I found myself bored frequently as I wasn’t able to get around very easily. I’ve had an interest in 3 dimensional art my entire life and since I was a little girl, my mom always told me that she thought I’d enjoy sewing as much as she does. My mom is also an artist and she is also a master of the sewing machine! My closest friends bought me a gift certificate to Joann Fabrics for my 30th birthday and with the very generous gift certificate, I bought my first sewing machine (with my mom’s input of course!). For more details on my now collection of 4 sewing machines, click here! Long story short, I started sewing as a way to pass the time, and I fell in love. I started collecting antique and vintage fabrics and designing and creating all different types of handbags and wallets. It started as a hobby and then friends and family started inquiring about purchasing my creations and in 2010 I opened an Etsy shop. Speaking of Etsy shops, in 2017, I opened a second Etsy shop after suffering another traumatic injury. This time, I dislocated my right shoulder and tore my rotator cuff. The severity of this injury required surgery, which left me in a sling, 24/7, for 6 weeks. I then developed a severe case of frozen shoulder and was unable to use my right arm for the better part of a year. Due to my boredom and inability to go anywhere since I couldn’t drive for a while and relying on only the use of my left arm (my non-dominant arm), I started getting creative in my kitchen and making bath salts and melt and pour soap with the use of essential oils and other materials I already had around my kitchen. This started out as simply a way for me to make therapeutic bath salts for soaking my injured shoulder, and developed into a business where I make everything from muscle balms, to hand lotions, to my very own essential oil creations. But, what brought me to my original careers of Massage Therapy and Esthetics? Well, those are a bit easier to explain, and neither one has anything to do with any type of injury,

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