Myth: Your emotional, physical, and mental trauma, as well as any injuries sustained during pregnancy, will all be gone in a few months and you’ll have your “pre-pregnancy body” again.
Fact: Of course, at first glance, this seems amazing, but upon further consideration, it starts to sink in that this is impossible, for most women.
In fact, it’s a form of misogyny; I’ll call it what it is.
Such thinking depreciates a woman’s suffering and phrases thrown around casually such as these make new mothers feel defective because they’re not “bouncing back” in only a few weeks, or even a few months’ time. It’s not even realistic, in terms of what’s known about postpartum recovery, in terms of the science.
Unfortunately, some ob-gyn specialists still feel this way, despite what we now know, which is actually the same as what peoples of traditional cultures on Earth always seem to have known:
Every woman heals at her own rate and every pregnancy is different.
Doctors Aware Of the Research Think Differently On This Matter
Thankfully, many other practitioners today do not feel this way, and realize it’s, largely, unrealistic.
Women can use help during the postpartum phase, and these doctors appreciate that studies show that supporting the new mother increases the probability of good outcomes for both the mother and infant.
Instead, they work with each new Mom where she is and help her to recover, often even suggesting many adjunctive therapists and approaches to help postpartum women.
These services range from arranging counseling to invitations to groups for new Moms in the community, from sharing when there are free yoga classes for mothers, to referrals for Postnatal Massage.
Sometimes a physician or midwife (often sometimes physicians, by the way!) will even even a specific modality of touch therapy like myofascial technique, to help with C-section scarring, for instance, or Craniosacral Therapy to help with pelvic floor, back, or hip pain.
Time does make things better, generally, in that all healing takes place over time. That much is true.
Claims That Make You Go Yikes! 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬
It’s also worth remembering that nothing heals instantly, either.
Ever.
That’s why, as a Prenatal and Postnatal Therapist working in New Jersey, I never make unrealistic claims, or any claims at all.
I may make assessments, and these may get filed in medical insurance report, but I never make claims to patients about how everything will be perfect and in only a few weeks.
That seems really cringe.
First of all you never do know how everything will turn out, and trying to get accounts by making deceitful comments has no place in the field of health and wellness.
It’s sordid and unethical, and just not anything I’d ever want to be!
Unethical Claims Abound. Example: “This Treatment Will Fix EVERYTHING And In One Week!”
Sadly, many family members, and even fellow LMTs, have gone for other costly adjunctive therapies because the providers claimed that the treatment would fix everything, and in record time, no less.
To be clear, the Health Care Professionals doing this sort of marketing were not Licensed Massage Therapists, but rather other licensed medical professionals, providing other sorts of services.
And, while these health care providers are doing what many of their fellow licensed professionals are doing, some treatments are not science-based, and do not have the research to back up any of their claims, in many cases.
Even with proven therapist like in-home postpartum massage by a licensed therapist, no legitimate practitioner of Massage Therapy can ever make a claim about how fast an injury will heal because of massage, or how Therapeutic massage will take care of everything that is troubling a woman in her postpartum phase.
Making such claims is unethical, for obvious reasons!
Even with adjunctive therapies like massage, healing takes time.
I mean, seriously, isn’t it enough that we can improve outcomes as LMTs, and studies prove this?
No Omniscient Health Care Practitioner Exists and So No One Can Predict Outcomes, Just Give Statistics
We don’t have to lie!
You really have to have a session, and see how you feel.
Some women require five sessions. Others ten. Some might require 20. And, there’s no shame in admitting if you’re part of the group that needed 40 sessions of postnatal massage in order to feel better.
No honest medical professional of any kind can tell you which group you’ll fall into.
Everyone responds differently to every sort of treatment, so making wild claims is highly irresponsible and is really an outright lie.
I will say that in my observation working with postpartum women for over twelve years, most women recover more quickly after delivery if they practiced prenatal yoga or other stretching, lifted (light) weights, and walked daily.
Of course, having regularly scheduled sessions of in-home postpartum massage by a qualified professional helps as well.
Studies Show Postnatal Support Is Statistically Efficacious
I mean, do we really nee studies to tell us this?
Apparently so.
Women, it’s true; having support during your postnatal phase has positive effects, in terms of health outcomes for the mother and baby.
Would you really have thought otherwise?
Medical professionals who don’t think you should see a Lactation Professional or get a Postpartum Massage session in your own house are probably trying to sell you something.
What we offer is science. What do others offer?
Please, exercise Informed Consent and do find out.
These days, you can research anything from home.
Remember when you had to venture out to the library?
Gone are those days!
You’re probably too young to even remember!
Anyway, the point is, learn about what you’re getting involved with before you start a course of treatment.
