About Prenatal Massage Certifications
Massage is a healing science that can be used on clients from infancy through old age. Overall, massage therapy is a very large field. However, it can be split into many smaller facets that massage therapists can pursue via continuing education or getting certification. One of the fastest growing of these facets is prenatal massage. Most prenatal massage certification programs focus on all areas of pregnancy--starting with prenatal care and going all the way through to two years after birth.
Finding a Program
Before starting your prenatal massage certification, find a school or massage institute that offers the needed courses. Most massage therapy programs provide some amount of prenatal training as part of their coursework for general massage certification. However, there are much fewer schools and institutes that offer specific certifications on prenatal massage. Check the schools in your area to see if they offer the certification. If not, you may need to travel to a nearby state. Certification can be done in as little as 3 full days through some programs. Other programs are more spread out--over a month or longer.
Prenatal
The first module of most prenatal massage certification programs actually deals with massage during pregnancy. In this module, massage therapists learn use massage to help expectant mothers have healthier pregnancies. The coursework especially involves learning about the physiological and psychological changes that make massaging an expectant mother different than a regular client. This includes massage positions, massage methods and the precautions necessary with a pregnant client. This module also addresses the unique challenge of draping a pregnant client, as well as massage tools and tables that make an expectant mother more comfortable during a massage treatment.
Labor
Another common module for prenatal massage certification specifically deals with massage during labor. This is especially common in massage doula training. Labor massage focuses more directly on pain management to help mothers deal with pain during the actual birth process.
New Mother
The next module of prenatal massage certification usually trains massage therapists on work with new mothers. This area of training focuses on helping heal and restore the muscles of the back and abdomen, to help mothers relieve postpartum pain, and also help new mothers regain their posture. Many also address musculofascial massage treatments to help lessen the scarring left by cesarean section.
Other Requirements
Most prenatal massage certification classes require hands-on practice sessions. This will usually be done with a mix of working on other students in the class as if they were pregnant, and working on actual mothers to be. Most will also require some type of final testing--either written, hands-on, or both--to receive your final certification.
Tags: massage certification, prenatal massage, prenatal massage certification, help mothers, massage therapists