Pre- and Perinatal Massage Therapy

‘It takes a village to raise a baby.’ Those are the first words written in the foreword by Penny Simkin and they resound truth. During pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period, numerous people are involved. Doctors, midwives, family members and even massage therapists are dedicated to helping both mother and child to ensure they are healthy and happy during pregnancy.

From the very beginning, the book highlights the different stressors pregnant women undergo and how they can be relieved by certain massage therapies. By reading this book, I learnt more about the benefits of massage therapy for pregnant women, which is still a relatively new concept.

‘Massage therapists are dedicated to helping both mother and child’

Each chapter exposes different aspects such as a child's development, the breakdown of nurturing a mother through massage and so much more. In one specific chapter, the authors talk about how touch affects a child's development if they grow up with or without a mother's touch. A researcher tested that if a child grew up with physical touches from the mother, they tended to exhibit low levels of crime and violence. But if a child grows up lacking their mother's touch, they are more inclined to have depression, experience isolation and become violent.