REFLEXOLOGY TO INDUCE LABOUR
Pregnant women are often looking for ways to help start labour. Reflexology has been shown to have many benefits, including aiding in the progression of labour.
Reflexology Priming techniques are designed to stimulate blood flow and trigger hormones that help your body prepare for childbirth.
Reflexology is an ancient Chinese technique that uses pressure on specific areas of the feet, hands, or ears to improve general health and well-being as well as treat various ailments such as headaches and insomnia.
This blog post will outline how reflexology priming works in helping you prepare for birth.
One of the other therapies I offer is Maternity Reflexology, and for those that don’t know what Reflexology is, it’s a wonderfully relaxing treatment of the feet, where I work on specific points on the feet to enable your body to balance itself.
What is so special about it is that when you have reached your due date, it can help prime you for labour, and help encourage labour to start naturally, instead of being induced.
Where studies have been shown that artificial induction¹ can increase your chance of having further intervention such as a caesarian section.
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So how does Reflexology help?
Well, as already stated, there are specific points on the feet such as the uterus and Pituitary that I would stimulate actively to help encourage the body to prepare for labour naturally.
The Pituitary is an excellent point to start as it’s the part of the brain that produces the hormone Oxytocin, and this love hormone is what helps the uterus to contract.
I will then actively stimulate the uterus to respond to the increase of Oxytocin.
Although I work vigorously on these points, don’t worry, you will still get a relaxing treatment as lots of calming techniques will be used, and most of my clients fall into a lovely slumber and feel like they have had a good nights sleep after the treatment.
Although there are no guarantees that priming for labour techniques will get things moving, as with any other medical intervention or therapy, I have seen good results with using these methods to help the onset of labour.
For best results and to get a cumulative effect from the Reflexology I recommend between 1 -3 sessions around your due date.
I can also teach you techniques that you or your birth partner can work on while in active labour as studies have shown that Reflexology during this time is significantly shortened and the pain is lessened ².
If you are interested in finding out more about priming for labour using Reflexology or to book an appointment please either contact me by email or click the link below.
¹ Elective induction of labour increases caesarean section rate in low-risk multiparous women.
