Postpartum Massage: Importance, Benefits & Options

Therapeutic massage can be done as soon as one day after delivery. It can be instrumental in relieving aches such as shoulder pain and low back pain, lowering stress, and promoting relaxation. Studies show back massage one day after delivery can significantly reduce anxiety in new moms. Additionally, massage can also reduce swelling while encouraging circulation and draining of any water retention. By increasing circulation, massage can also improve milk production.  

At a time when women are dealing with fast unwinding hormones, massage can encourage hormonal regulation and elevate ones mood. Using massage to reduce anxiety, decrease stress and even feelings of depression, it can also assist with a better deeper restorative sleep. 

Therapeutic massage can be performed as soon as mom is ready which could be as soon as one day after delivery. If the delivery was complicated or by C-section, it is recommended to check with your doctor first.

Postpartum 1 day to 6 weeks: Offers relaxation, releases tension in all areas of the back, chest muscles and other areas offering relaxation, relieving stress, and reducing anxiety due to child birth and care of baby. 

Your postpartum period is a time of physical and emotional readjustment. As a new mama, your body undergoes both physiological and structural changes as it heals from the strains of labor and tries to find balance in returning to a pre-pregnancy state. Your newborn requires 24/7 care, leaving you little time to even think about looking after and caring for yourself. However, keeping yourself healthy for your baby shouldn’t end at the end of pregnancy! Establishing a postpartum self-care practice not only supports your own health, but it consequently helps you better care for and bond with your little one.

Massages available after delivery: 

Therapeutic massage and massage cupping to help relieve neck, shoulder and back tension. Usually holding baby and trying to breastfeed or with bottle feeding along with recovering from the delivery causes a lot of body tension and tightness. Massage can offer gentle and welcoming relief. 

An even more important massage and adding a deeper dimension of healing within the pelvic bowl is Abdominal Therapy. It has been used for generations within Mayan and Latin American cultures for a quicker healthier recovery. Done at 6 weeks postpartum, Abdominal Therapy is a very gentle external massage helping realign and guide organs back into their proper position, release restrictions while increasing blood flow to lower pelvis, ligaments and muscles which boosts the healing process. It also assists with quicker, more efficient shrinking of the uterus known as involution, and it can improve the healing of diastasis recti in addition to any dysfunction of the pelvic floor. This therapy also addresses pain from low back/sacral/coccyx injuries that may have occurred during birth. Addressing tension and restriction of low back and sacrum further removes congestion throughout the belly and pelvic bowl.

Overall, the benefits are numerous, nurturing and restorative. Enhancing the flow of blood, lymph, nerve impulses and chi in the abdomen and pelvic organs improves the continued healing of women during the fourth trimester. This increased flow restores balance and allows the body to heal.

For moms who have had surgical intervention, Abdominal Therapy offers multidimensional healing for women desiring VBAC in the future. It reduces excessive scar tissue with nurturing touch to the uterine scar. 

Abdominal Therapy Postpartum Care is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself as a new mom. It helps restore your body to a balanced state, with involution of your uterus occurring more quickly and efficiently. Uterine ligaments, stretched during pregnancy and birth, heal faster which allows the uterus return to its optimal position in a timely fashion.

There are additional benefits to receiving this therapy during the immediate and long-term postpartum periods:

• Helps aid healing of Diastasis Rectii
• Supports healing of the pelvic floor
• Gently guides prolapsed pelvic organs to a healthy, balanced space
• Addresses pain from low back/sacral/coccyx injuries that may have occurred during birth
• Facilitates emotional healing for surgical or emergency birth and birth traumas
• Improves the potential for a successful VBAC by helping to reduce and resolve excessive scar tissue that may have resulted from a caesarean birth
• Addresses tension and restriction of low back and sacrum. Releasing these areas further removes congestion in the belly and the pelvic bowl.

So much attention is spent on prenatal care, but what about postpartum prep?  Did you know women can be postpartum for years after birth?  

So much is happening at this time. You are going home with your baby and recovering from the birth, hormones are quickly unwinding, sleep is sporadic as you navigate new territory with feeding and caring for your baby 24/7.                   

In addition to massage for healing and recovery, there are so many ways to prepare and make the transition from pregnant to baby in your arms smoother. 

The following are some tips to consider: 

*Be patient. The next 6-8 weeks are meant to give moms the time to establish a good foundation of feeding and recovery.

*Even if you feel strong, take it easy because you can feel fatigued quickly and this can affect milk production as well as your own health. 

*Sleep when baby sleeps- especially during the day. 

*Delegate chores around the house.  

*Allow yourself to just hang out with baby. It is OK! It is not selfish or lazy. This is self care. 

*Prioritize the baby and your recovery 

*Eat and drink well especially water. 

*Visit a chiropractor for you and your baby

*Have a PT or chiropractor check you for diastasis 

*See a pelvic floor PT

*Visit Birthful.com for a download of “Postpartum Vacation Planner.” This is a work book to help with planning for the postpartum period. Find wonderful podcasts there too!

*Other supportive modalities for recovery: 

** Closing the bones

**Perineal Steam: aka Yoni Steam

Human touch is powerful and postpartum therapeutic massage is a useful tool that assists women in healing following labor and delivery in many wonderful ways. 

*Therapeutic Relaxation Massage: can be done anytime after delivery. This can include    Massage Cupping; this therapy is great for quick relief from stress and tension especially in the back, neck and shoulders. right after birthing              

**Abdominal Therapy: can be done 6 weeks postpartum.*.If your delivery was                       complicated or by C-section, please have a                    doctor's  clearance.                                                                     

*Birth Stories: *Share your birth story with      me! Please feel free to come in early or stay       after your postpartum appointment to share       your birth story with me. One 2 one, momma to momma. (at no charge) ;)  

Your newborn is always welcome to the office for your postpartum care. Some mamas choose to keep the baby with them in the treatment room while others prefer to bring a partner, friend, or family member to snuggle with the baby in the waiting area. Plus, I’d love to meet your baby too!!