Pregnancy Head Massage
Head Massage
Pregnancy and Massage
throughout the ages but more recently there has become a fear attached to massage during pregnancy.
We said in our introduction that the starting point for this video is that pregnancy is not an illness, if the
pregnancy is progressing with no problems and the mother is healthy then massage should be safe and
beneficial.
Mainstream medical opinion is also coming to this conclusion. The Royal College of Midwives in the UK
comments that midwives know it has much more to offer than the feel-good factor. Massage can make a big
difference to women on their way through pregnancy and labour – and really help them form strong
relationships with their babies afterwards. They produced a booklet examining peer reviewed studies
concluding that the benefits of massage in pregnancy include; a general reduction in stress and anxiety, pain
relief during pregnancy and labour and helping newborns to feed and (in pre-term) gain weight.
be carried out in the first, second and third trimester.
There is still some controversy as to whether massage should be carried out during the first trimester and this
is because the risk of miscarriage is, sadly, naturally higher in the first trimester. This doesn’t mean that
massage causes the miscarriage and there have been no scientific studies that suggest any link between
massage and miscarriage. One argument I hear is that massage can increase blood flow and that it is this
that can put a pregnancy at risk – but the level at which you increase blood flow from massage is so much
smaller than it is by exercising – so logically if we are telling women to avoid massage during pregnancy then
we would also be telling them to avoid exercise – and of course we don’t do that – exercise (and massage)
are good for the pregnant woman.
Pregnancy Head Massage - Maureen Abson
Pregnancy Head Massage
can be a great bonding experience during a time when life is changing and can allow the father to be
involved more actively in the pregnancy.
You will no doubt already have your own style of head massage and that can be adapted to pregnancy. I
will demonstrate mine, first of all adapted to the client laid on their left side and then again with the client
seated. You will see I am using;
• Small circles pressing enough to move the scalp and not just the hair.
• Press, release and hold movements down the midline, pressing gently, holding that pressure for the
count of three and releasing to move on.
• Very gentle hair pulling – always both sides at once and erring on the gentle.
releasing and then smoothing across the forehead with a little lotion.
I will repeat these movements a few times in the treatment depending on how long we have left. These
are just a few of my head and face treatments but are the ones I usually select for use in pregnancy as
they are the most relaxing – you can adapt any of your own techniques for this, so long as it is relaxing.
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