Barefoot MomEase Wellness Spa

Massage is for your mate, your family, and your friends. It is for grandmothers and babies, for pets, for those you love and if you are up to it for those you hate. To do massage is physically to help someone, to take care of them. It is for anyone with whom you feel prepared to share an act of physical caring.

-The Massage Book, George Downing 1972

Research finding on the benefits of massage (University of Miami School of Medicine)

• Facilitates growth
• Increases attentiveness and learning
• Alleviates pain
• Improves immune function (increases natural killer cells, which helps those with AIDS, cancer and viral diseases)
• Reduces Stress
• Promotes healing of psychiatric problems
• Assists in overcoming addictions such as cigarette smoking
• Diminishes premenstrual symptoms

• Encourages dietary compliance in diabetics
• Lowers blood pressure, anxiety and hostility levels
• Increases job performance
• Reduces the number of headache days in migraine headaches
• Reduces pain and increases range of motion
  
• Improves all clinical measures in pediatric exzema
• Improves grip strength, functional activities, positive mood, self-esteem, and body image in multiple sclerosis
• Improves caregiver-child relationshpis for abused children

 The following are contraindications for massage in general (massage will not be performed if you have any of the following):

• Acute stage pneumonia
• Advanced kidney failure
• Diabetes with complications
• Hemophilia
• Hemorrhage
• Liver failure
• Postcerebrovasular accident (CVA, Stroke)
• Postmyocardial infarction (MI, Heart attack) not yet stabilized
• Severe atherosclerosis
• Severe hypertension (if unstable)
• Shock (all types)
• Significant fever (>101)
• Systemic contagious/infectious conditions



Prenatal Massage

• Massage is a completely safe, natural, drug-free method of relieving the aches and pains of pregnancy.
• Massage assists the circulatory and lymphatic systems by promoting the movement of blood and lymph, which assists the heart and reduces swelling.
• Alleviates stress on weight bearing joints of the hips, pelvis, knees, and ankles, and relieves soreness in muscles.
• Massage allows recipient to learn relaxation skills valuable during labor.
• Massage provides nurturing, soothing touch, which promotes release of emotional and physical tension.
• Massage helps prepare the body for deliver by loosening the pelvis and ridding the body of excess tension prior to onset of labor.
• Reassurance, nurturing, and relaxation for the mother during pregnancy have shown to have far-reaching impact on her fetus. Studies have shown that babies sense and respond to their mother's stress levels.

 Postnatal Massage

• Great For relieving the left over stress from pregnancy and the new stresses brought on by baby! A postpartum massage is nearly identical to a non-pregnant massage with a few minor changes.
• In postpartum massage, we will also massage the uterus to continue to help its contracting to pre-pregnancy size. If you are nursing, special attention will be paid to your sensitive, achy "mothers neck" due to watching the baby feed. We will also do a colon sweep, if need be.

If you are Pregnant:

 If your pregnancy has been diagnosed as high-risk (i.e. twins, previous miscarriages) a doctor's written approval is requested before massage.

If you have any of the following massage will not be performed:

• Discharge of blood, any indication that the amniotic bag has ruptured or pains of the uterus
• Diagnosis or suspicion of Pre-eclampsia 
• Diagnosis or suspicion of Eclampsia 
• Diagnosis or suspicion of Gestational Diabetes
• Diagnosis or suspicion of Deep Vein Thrombosis
• Broken bones, tumors, bleeding, burns and other acute conditions.