Any pregnant & working Massage Therapists?

[mthow80]

I'm a massage therapist and 7 weeks pregnant today. I'm nervous about how I'll hold up until the end of my pregnancy with work and if it's even possible. Any other MT's out there who have worked thru a pregnancy? How far did you get?? Any tips....

[APLAMomma]

I was working as a massage therapist part time when i found out i was pregnant. i think i lasted about 10 weeks before i wasnt able to keep doing it.

that being said i also had a full time job that had health benefits so i could in no way leave that one in my state. if massage had been the only thing i was doing at the time i might have done it longer because i would not have been so exhausted from running around from job to job every day. it was just too much for me

[mthow80]

I've been feeling very tired and exhausted as well. I'm trying to get thru it, but it seems to take a lot out of me! I'm in the position where I have 3 part time jobs so I'm running around crazy trying to keep up with all of them. I need to narrow it down to 1 or 2. I'd love to keep massage but I'm just not sure how long I can last!

[clarissa215]

i am also in the same situation, the last time i was pregnant i didn't massage for long cause i got so sick, this time i am only doing it on a on call, help out basis.

I think massaging while pregnant is very difficult, it is even more exhausting to give all your energy to someone else and then the belly in the way and pressure on it sometimes hurts me...

If you have your own practice its a lot easier, then you are in control depending how good you feel, but working at a spa is very demanding.

i am looking at a different job and hope to do massage on the side...hope that helps

Good luck and congrats

[zuzunel09]

Reviving this thread.  Anyone else out there pregnant and massaging?  I massaged until I was 8 mos. with ds, now I'm 6 mos. along with dd and feeling burned out.  I only work 20 hrs. a week but I'm so so so so tiiiired already.  I'm doing almost strictly deep tissue and I'm beginning to wonder if it's bad for me and the baby to keep pushing myself so hard.  My sacrum/glutes are killing me during work, and I just have no energy after taking care of the clients.  Financially we could use the income...but in the morning I can barely move, much less take care of ds and housework all morning till I leave for work in the mid-afternoon.  Any LMT's with tips for lasting longer while preg?  Anyone have complications from massage or other physical work?

[shankari]

I'm at 22-weeks with my first, and still feeling strong in my massage practice. However, I found that I need to take a break every two hours, just to put my feet up, have a snack, stretch, etc. It means that my work-days are longer, but more relaxing, and that has worked well. Deep tissue on larger clients is definitely becoming more challenging (and if you're doing 20-hours/week of it, I'm not surprised you might be tired!) and I'm still trying different things.

So far, I've found that focusing deeply on my breath, increasing awareness of body mechanics especially engaging the legs, taking frequent breaks, and raising the table height have all helped. And, yup, clients get the occasional belly-bump to the head. Oh, well.

However, my bump is still pretty small and I believe there may be a lot of adjusting to do in the months to come! (If anybody's got pointers on that, please post!) Thankfully, I have colleagues who worked up until their last month, so I have seen that it can be possible to do in a healthy way. It's especially challenging for self-employed MTs to make the choice to stop working earlier in pregnancy. I am trusting that if there does come a moment when that's the right thing to do, I will graciously take the break.