Massage in your first trimester and beyond...

​If you have just found out you are pregnant, congratulations! I want to assure you that massage is safe at any point during a healthy pregnancy. I know that finding a massage therapist that will massage pregnant people can be challenging. 
 
Many massage therapists are simply not trained (kudos to them for not practicing outside of their scope of education). But even with proper training, many clinics and therapists choose to not see people in their 1st trimester. This is not because massage is unsafe. This happens because a business may be concerned about liability issues. If a miscarriage is going to occur, it will most likely happen in the 1st trimester, and some businesses do not want to risk being connected to an issue in pregnancy.  
 
Pregnant people have been safely receiving massage in the first trimester, often before they even know they are pregnant, for years and years. In the hands of an experienced massage therapist with extra training in prenatal massage, it is doubly safe.  I have extensive continuing education in pregnancy shiatsu and massage and Maya Abdominal Therapy during pregnancy through continuing education, apprenticeship and certification in birth assistance work.
 
Massage can:

• Decrease stress and anxiety
• Improve your sleep
• Help regulate hormones
• Reduce tension and pain in muscles
• Reduce swelling
• Improve nerve pain
• Increase your cardiovascular health
• Support optimal fetal positioning
• Support joints in preparing for the big day

 
All of these benefits are helpful to a pregnant body.
 
Unless your medical provider says otherwise, if you can exercise, have sex, and do most normal activities, there is no reason to think massage is unsafe. (And there is no science to support that it is unsafe.) Massage during your 1st trimester (and the following trimesters) would focus on stress-reduction and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. 
 
Massage may change throughout your pregnancy in regards to pressure, positioning, and areas we focus on. Your prenatal massage will grow and change with you!

Please reach out to me with any questions during your pregnancy journey!

---