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.
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.
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…
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!
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:
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.
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.
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 one that goes like this: “The toe bone’s connected to the foot bone, the foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone…” That song is very non-technical (it’s for kids after all!) but it makes an excellent point. Everything is connected somehow!
I say this, because when it comes to massage therapy, you get all these great effects, because of one thing, massaging a muscle.
Still confused? Keep reading!
The first thing to understand when talking about muscles, is that there are A LOT of components to a muscle. You have muscle fibers, blood vessels, nerves, tendons, bones, & ligaments that either surround, bind, or travel through muscle tissue.
One of the most prominent things that happens when a muscle is massaged or rubbed is increased warmth in the area. This increase in warmth helps the blood flow more smoothly, resulting in 2 things:
In addition to these 2 results, other components of massage therapy techniques are various types of stretching. Stretching results in 2 things as well:
Now, when you look at some of the other anatomical structures involved in muscles like I mentioned above, you’ll see nerves. Sometimes, if a nerve is compressed, the reason may be a tight muscle. By relaxing a tight muscle that is compressing a nerve, you might get relief from the nerve compression.
Lastly, let’s talk about how massage therapy can impact mental health. This is one of the most amazing things about massage therapy. Safe touch is a very important part of being a human. According to AMTA (American Massage Therapy Association), there have been studies on how massage can relieve stress, anxiety, & depression and the results are amazing. In their article: Massage Therapy for Mental Health: A growing body of research supports the positive impact of massage therapy for relieving stress, anxiety, and depression. They noted the following:
Research indicates that massage can improve mood and reduce depression in those living with chronic pain, as well as in cancer patients, pregnant women, and people living with chronic disease.
Research supports that massage can relieve stress in psychiatric patients, those with chronic pain, cancer patients, children with illnesses, patients with generalized anxiety disorder, the elderly, and healthy adults.
A study published in Military Medicine reports that military veterans indicated significant reductions in ratings of anxiety, worry, depression, and physical pain after massage. The analysis also suggests declining levels of tension and irritability following massage.
Research shows that massage for nurses during work hours can help to reduce stress and related symptoms, including headaches, shoulder tension, insomnia, fatigue, and muscle and joint pain.
Research published in Applied Nursing Research shows that back massage given during chemotherapy can significantly reduce anxiety and acute fatigue.
These research results are amazing. Understanding how massage can affect both physical & mental wellbeing is astounding and really changes the way people look at massage therapy work and what it can do for overall health and wellness.
As you can see, there are many benefits to massage therapy and the great thing is that there are modalities and techniques for almost anything you can think of.
Massage therapy is an amazing alternative therapy, with many different possibilities.
