Key Areas To Target For Post-Pregnancy Massage

During pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period, your body endures unique stress. This stress can leave you feeling stiff and sore. You can boost your recovery by using massage therapy to target those areas that now cause your pain or discomfort.

When booking your massage, you can request that your therapist target specific parts of your body that need the most attention. Some areas may need more than one session to fully benefit from massage. 

Hips

Your hips and glute area definitely bear the brunt of both pregnancy and delivery. During the final months of pregnancy, your pelvis and hips area widens to accommodate birth. This widening means that you can experience deep aches, muscle tension, and even nerve pain. These sore areas don't just disappear after birth.

During recovery, you spend a lot of time sitting to hold and feed your baby. Sitting also tightens the hips, which are already stressed from pregnancy. During your massage, ask your therapist to focus attention on your low back moving down into the top of your glutes and the outside edge of your hips, and down the side of each leg. Massage in this area will be painful because the muscles are so tired and tight, but massage helps to bring blood flow for healing and helps the muscles to release. You will get some relief from pain with consistent therapy.

Shoulders

Shoulders don't play a huge role in pregnancy, but many new moms experience shoulder and upper back pain in the postpartum period because of breastfeeding. Bending forward over the baby to help him or her latch, using your hands to keep pressure on the breast, and experiencing an increase in breast size all put stress on the shoulders and upper back muscles. You can do stretches for shoulder tightness, but massage will help to relieve targeted zones of pain, addressing muscle knots and areas of referred discomfort, because shoulder pain can cause numbness or soreness down the arm or back or up into the neck.

Feet

Your feet bear a heavy burden during pregnancy. They experience swelling due to fluid retention, but they also have to bear increased weight due to pregnancy weight gain. Your feet are likely tired and sore at the end of each day. Foot massage helps to loosen tension in your arches, down your ankle and into your heel, and across the bridge of the foot. Massage also helps bring blood flow to the feet, which sometimes can suffer from poor circulation due to reduced activity during pregnancy and in the postpartum period as you recover. 

Talk to a local massage therapist today about how massage can help with your recovery. For more information, contact a company like Northside Myofascial-Release Center.

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