Do I need a therapist who is “Certified” in Prenatal Massage?

A “certified” prenatal massage therapist is a state or municipal licensed massage therapist who trained in an additional entire course of prenatal massage therapy. Such achievement is shown by certificate of completion. Here are mine: Prenatal Step One. Prenatal Step Two. Doula Massage Step Three. Ask to see your therapist’s certificate.

Why Do I Have to Fill out a Form for Massage and Prenatal Massage?

If a therapist does not have you fill out a form, or ask you questions about your pregnancy:

First of all, you should never get a massage someplace where you are not asked to fill out a health history form, period. There is a lot of information that is pertinent to our work that we wouldn’t necessarily ask about in a verbally. An intake form is someplace that I can have check boxes that ask you if you have asthma, or fibromyalgia, or migraines, where you can just check the box if you have it. When you are pregnant, your body is different than if you weren’t, so there are certain things I will want to ask about before I work with you. I have an intake form with questions specific to your pregnancy. If you are a returning client, I will ask you to fill out a brief form that only asks about those questions so that you do not have to fill out an entire intake again. I will also have you fill out the same form for each subsequent pregnancy if you see me through more than one. Not everyone will ask you to fill out a form if you are a returning client, but if you are seeing a massage therapist who you have worked with before, they should at least ask a couple of basic questions about your pregnancy such as if you have any factors that have classified this pregnancy as high risk, discomforts related to your pregnancy, and information about your care provider. If a massage therapist is not qualified, they may not know what questions to ask.