As a Postnatal Massage Therapist working in the state of New Jersey, I am aware of only a couple of instances where a healthy care provider had told a postpartum patient who was in perfect health and didn’t have any prenatal complications, even, that Postpartum Therapeutic Massage is off-limits because Postpartum Therapeutic Massage is unsafe.
However, if it has happened even once, it’s worth discussing.
And, if I’ve encountered this twice in twenty years, it’s surely happened many more times over the same period of time, considering all the other perinatal LMTs out there.
I can say with certainty that Postpartum Massage is safe and efficacious when performed by an LMT trained in this modality.
How do I know?
Well, there are tons of studies supporting this claim.
And, beyond that, there are all the anecdotal accounts of LMTs and patients, decades of accounts, actually.
And, it’s considered a valid complementary post-partum modality by health researchers, hospitals, insurers, nurses, and doctors.
So, if a doctor or midwife or nurse practitioner is telling you that you can’t ever get Postnatal Massage, and you have no complications, it’s time to remember that you have Health Agency.
You can question them. You can present studies.
You can change their minds. Or not.
You can even disobey, though your doctor may decide they no longer want you as a patient.
We don’t recommend taking this approach, though it’s entirely your right.
We recommend just trying to reason with them, respectfully and patiently, relying on evidence and science.
Has one comment to “Why Might A Health Care Provider Tell A Healthy Patient That Postnatal Massage Is Off-Limits?”
Elizabeth Pringle - January 31, 2025
You did not answer the question posed to the reader in the title.
I think it’s an over-ambitious question.
Why do some doctors tell patients to avoid postnatal massage?
Maybe they’re thinking of the sort of pokey massage one gets at a chain (you name which one).
Postpartum LMTs are specially trained in providing therapy specifically in postpartum population.
Or, it’s because the doctor is biased against Massage Therapy.
That can be a classist, or even racist, underpinning.
LMTs do not make the kind of income that doctors do, and are one of the lower Medical Professions on the totem pole.
And, yes, there is a totem pole.