I work as an in-home women’s massage therapist in New Jersey.
It seems that while American women who aren’t from an Asian background usually find prenatal massage to be essential, they neglect postnatal massage, entirely.
Most take the time to schedule multiple prenatal massage sessions, but aren’t really too interested in postnatal massage.
For women hailing from South Asian, and even East Asian countries, this is completely the opposite of what’s practiced in those cultures.
Women from India, China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and other parts of Asia believe that postnatal massage for new moms is a key part of recovery after childbirth, and cannot possibly be neglected.
And, for the most part women I know who were born in the New Jersey who are of Indian, Chinese, or other Asian ancestry, still subscribe to their traditional cultural ideas regarding health, and most find value in Postnatal Massage at Home.
That’s even true of true of doctors, pharmacists, scientists, medical researchers, and other top-tier educated professionals. They still respect, and understand, the power of traditional approaches to health and wellness, whether Ayurveda or Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Postnatal recovery, in East and South Asian cultural traditions, is an undertaking that a great deal of effort goes into. There are dietary considerations, but not just that.
Each culture has its own ideas about home confinement, traditional remedies made from plants, special foods to promote lactation and healing, and foods to avoid.
Joriwon In Korea Are Postnatal Hotel-Hospitals
In Korea, joriwon are specialized postnatal treatment facilities. These high-end hospitals take care of the new mother and newborn according to the cultural traditions that have been passed down through time in Korea, but also along the lines of science-based medicine: The best of both worlds.
Of course, at these Korean postnatal hospitals, patients receive sessions of postpartum massage every day. And, the baby received sessions of infant massage.
So, when confronted with the reality of how women of non-Asian cultural backgrounds place little value in postpartum massage, we are left to wonder why this might be.
Sexism In Women’s Medicine Is The Culprit
Is there any other explanation other than that allopathic medicine has a history of sexism against women, and that has, largely, changed for the better, due to increased research and knowledge?
Doctors just told women to “deal with it,” whether it was pelvic pain, postpartum “blues,” or a range of other symptom and conditions.
Remember, the diagnosis of female hysteria was a thing, and doctors really held a condescending and disrespectful view toward women.
However, at this point, women are taken seriously, and doctors employs a number of treatments to help in the postnatal time, and that includes prescriptions for Postpartum Massage at Home.
The “fourth trimester,” that is, the postnatal phase, as modern allopathic practitioners often refer to the postpartum period, was always considered important in Ayurvedic Medicine in India. The same is true of Traditional Chinese Medicine. And, other traditional cultures, worldwide.
European and South American Traditional Cultures Feature Identical Practices to Asian Cultures, Concerning the 4th Trimester
Surprisingly, as we often think that the U.S. and Europe are very similar, most continental European cultural traditions seem to have included forty days of postpartum confinement, as the word quarantine itself comes from the Italian phrase that means just that: The 40-day period of rest after childbirth.
In traditional European cultures, postpartum women are also afforded special rights.
Postpartum women are typically provided with a period of rest and seclusion, usually involving extensive extended family assistance, and still includes special diets to this very day. New Moms are encouraged to focus on their own recovery, as well as breastfeeding, and bonding with their newborn.
The new Mom doesn’t have to do household chores, and this “lying-in” period is practiced throughout Europe. They even make snacks like the Gond Laddu in India that have fennel and fenugreek.
The same is true of South America. The “Fourth Trimester” is regarded as a time to rest, recover, bond with baby, and breastfeed. That’s it.
This sounds a lot like what they do in India and China! It turns out, our roots and traditions from our “old countries,” are more similar than different.
2 comments to “In New Jersey, Postnatal Massage Favored by Women of Indian, Chinese, and Other Asian Cultures”
Dedicated To Postnatal Massage - January 29, 2025
Insightful article. The real question is why these traditions stopped once European people came to the U.S.A.
This is a Melting Pot and no one is obligated to give up their family traditions. It’s strange.
I’m happy Indian women and women from China appreciate Postnatal Massage.
It’s good to hold onto your traditions. Respect what’s come before.
Joanna Clemes - January 29, 2025
Hi, y’all. 🙂
I also practice prenatal massage. Well, sometimes. Occasionally.
I must admit the majority of the women who come into the spa I work at are not from Asia, but rather Black, Hispanic, and White. Arabic also. But not really from India or China.
My clientele is mixed men and women and a fraction of the women are prenatal Therapeutic Massage. I have never even done a postnatal massage at the spa. And for prenatal massage sessions at the spa? To be perfectly honest, Four times. Three, maybe? That is all.
But for ladies like me with, whose families come from Europe, originally, and have been in the United States for while now, I feel like we’ve lost touch. It’s not just the postnatal massage aspect. I feel that people like me have lost touch with our roots and traditions.