Publication: San Antonio Express-News
Date Posted: February 1, 2006
Author: Nicole Lessin
It's been two days since Veronyka Bass' Caesarean-section delivery at North Central Baptist Hospital, and she has been feeling a burning pain in her abdomen whenever the painkillers wear off.
But as massage therapist Neva Fernandez swirls a blend of grape-seed oil, lavender and eucalyptus on her back and neck, that pain is only a memory.
"How do you feel?" Fernandez asks the new mom, who is lying in her hospital bed, staring dreamily out the window.
"I feel good," she replies, as her new son Anthony Armani naps in his nearby bassinette and her husband, Cleon Bass, looks on. "I'm going to sleep now."
"You deserve it," Fernandez says.
Bass is one of hundreds of new mothers who have received a free, 15-minute massage at the hospital after giving birth.
Hospital officials said the postpartum massage program, which began a year ago, can alleviate pain associated with childbirth, combat postpartum depression, help with breastfeeding and increase overall energy.
"We are a massage friendly hospital," said Jay Duval, vice president of business development. "We just see the benefits of it."
Even the blend of oil used on the mothers has healing properties, said Fernandez, whose business, Massage for Everyone, provides the massages seven days a week.
The grape-seed oil base provides nourishing vitamin E for the skin, the lavender promotes relaxation and eucalyptus is great for sore muscles, she said.
But being touched is powerful, too.
"We know exactly where they hurt without them even having to tell us," Fernandez said. "It helps them to relax."
Nurses working in the postpartum unit said almost all of the women who give birth at North Central Baptist take advantage of the program.
"The first thing they ask for is the lactation consultant and massage therapist," said Amy Ramos, a registered nurse lactation consultant.
Fernandez said she is proud that the hospital has embraced postpartum massage and believes it is a signal that the health-care industry is starting to recognize the medical benefits of massage.
Veronyka Bass also is glad that massage is available at North Central Baptist.
"I like this hospital," she said. "I paid cash to stay here, so I am like, 'What else is free?'"
But watching Fernandez gently knead the tension away from his wife's back has left Cleon Bass a little envious.
"That was a great service," he said to Fernandez. "But you really need to work on the husband part."
— Nicole Lessin, Express-News Staff Writer
In a groundbreaking 1986 study, the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami’s School of Medicine, Tiffany Field, Ph.D., showed that premature infants who were massaged three times a day for 15 minutes gained 47 percent more weight than other preemies and were released from the hospital six days earlier. It wasn’t just that the massaged kids felt more secure for being coddled. In later research, Field showed that massage (as opposed to light touch) stimulates the brain’s vagus nerve, causing the secretion of food-absorption hormones, including insulin. Nerve stimulation probably explains other benefits as well.
A study currently underway at the Touch Research Institute concerns the effects of touch on pregnant women. [Massage]... is also said to help with such pregnancy-related conditions as sciatica and constipation. “We’re trying to find the best ways to reduce pregnancy anxiety” says study director Tiffany Field, Ph.D., “which we know contributes to premature delivery and prenatal problems.” TRI has found... massage releases a substance similar to serotonin, a neurotransmitter related to pain relief.
The Pleasures Of Partner Massage
Shape, September 30, 1996
Twenty-eight women were recruited from prenatal classes and randomly assigned to receive massage in addition to coaching in breathing from their partners during labor, or to receive coaching in breathing alone (a technique learned during prenatal classes). The massaged mothers reported a decrease in depressed mood, anxiety and pain, and showed less agitated activity and anxiety and more positive affect following the first massage during labor. In addition, the massaged mothers had significantly shorter labors, a shorter hospital stay and less postpartum depression.
Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynecology
The Right Touch Can Do Wonderful Things For Infants
Daily Record, July 21, 1996