Lying Face-down for a Prenatal Massage
After months of being told to only sleep on your side the memories of lying on your belly while sleeping are slowly fading. While you’re excited about meeting your baby soon, there’s no denying that your belly has definitely made sleeping awkward. No one knows this craving more than a pregnant woman. Now you’re off on a vacation and you decide to book a prenatal massage session. You walk in the treatment room and the therapist has one of those cut out cushions to help you lie face down during a massage. But you’ve been receiving massage before in your pregnancy and you don’t remember your therapist using one of these. At first the idea might be glorious, “finally!” you think, “I can sleep face down!” but then the thought starts moving in, “is this safe?”
The prenatal massage cushion is used in many places and some therapists use them, other’s don’t. But I haven’t met a therapist that is absolutely thrilled with the idea of working with them. The thing to remember is that it’s a tool but not a necessity when getting a prenatal massage. It’s something additional like hot stones or warm towels. The marketers of the product are trying to fill a desire that pregnant women long for but it’s just not that necessary. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe these cushions to be unsafe but they are definitely a lot more restrictive when I’m using them to massage a pregnant woman. I’m just fine with standard pillows. Loads and loads of pillows actually. It’s one of the unique factors to learning and practicing prenatal massage. As a prenatal massage therapist you live in a world of pillows all shapes,sizes and firmness. OK, I might exaggerating a bit but the truth is different pillows give you a ton of flexibility. Some moms are large, some are petite. How can a cut out cushion cater to that without a whole lot of adjusting? Now, just to let you know I have been trained in this and have given massage to many pregnant women for over a decade. Currently my client base consists over of 50% being pregnant, so I’ve seen a lot of bellies. I’ve taken multiple courses in prenatal massage and yes, I was introduced to the cushion and I can tell you from personal experience, it’s just not vital.
Myself and peaceful mommy in a sideline position using only. good pillows.
Another factor is that once you are lying on the pillow face down,you have to crawl on the table and lower yourself into the cushion. If something doesn’t feel right, guess who has to do a push up to adjust, that’s right, you. Believe me, when you’re in la la land from a dreamy state in the middle of a massage the last thing you want to do is a push up. I’ve been warned as well that if the belly is not big enough that it can strain the lower back muscles due to the belly hanging. The makers of these cushions might argue that you can place more padding. Overall, I feel that a multitude of pillows not only makes the flow of the massage smoother but it gives more stability. Then there is also the psychological illusion that you’re (the client) in bed which automatically helps you to relax. Soft sheets, relaxing music, comfy pillows to snuggle up to, what pregnant woman wouldn’t go to into a state of bliss? The best part? As a massage therapist you can access any body part from position with pillows and even apply safe but firm pressure. From the top of her head to the soles of her feet. Throughout the massage she’ll be lying on left and right side and face up (unless the heart burn is too intense) and there you have it!
prenatal cut cushion at a class I attended
Here I am testing out the cushion 🙂
Michelle Orchid Rodriguez is a wellness lifestyle blogger,educator and an independent Licensed Massage Therapist. Her mission is to promote a higher quality of life for others through her work in therapeutic massage & promoting healthy living. She is the founder of Lumina Massage Inc. in Miami Lakes,Florida. Lumina Massage is a specialty massage company that focuses on neuromuscular therapy for pain management and advanced prenatal bodywork.
