FST for the pregnant client - interview

PLEASE READ FIRST: The following interview in this blog is for informational purposes ONLY and is NOT to be used for treatment. By reading this blog, you agree that you are personally liable for any consequence (negative change in condition, pain or other) resulting from using any information herein to treat  clients/patients, and you waive that liability on the Stretch to Win Institute, Stretch to Win Canada and any and all of its teachers, representatives and staff. If you do not agree and adhere to this statement, you are advised to stop and read this blog. 

FST for the pregnant client - interview

The following interview was conducted by Chris Frederick with a FST practitioner who was in her 3rd trimester. There are some great tips here about precautions, contraindications and what works for the pregnant client.

Chris: Welcome please explain to us what it's like to be pregnant and regarding the body, what a woman's needs are in terms of any pain, discomfort. Does she even want to be stretched since we're Fascia Stretch Therapy practitioners?

And then we'll talk later about the FST practitioner. What does she need to do to modify technique to leverage her body so that she doesn't hurt herself and she can still help our clients?

Client: Thank you Chris. Thank you for having me.

Chris: You're welcome. So how many weeks are you now?

Client: I'm officially 35 weeks as of yesterday.

Chris: And how many more to go?

Client: Hopefully sometime in the next three or four weeks, but we will see.

Chris: Our students are interested, have asked me questions about all kinds of things like what it's like to carry the baby and what does it do to your body, essentially. So why don't we turn back the clock to maybe the first trimester. Please tell the story when you felt like you needed something done for comfort for your body or to make things a little easier.

Why don't you share that with us? Let's start with the first trimester.

Client: For me personally, I stayed away from body work during my first trimester. I had a history of miscarriage and I didn't want to take any chances. So for me, during that first trimester, I really withheld from massage and stretch as well.

Chris: Was that medically prescribed to do that, or was that your decision or both?

Client: I would definitely say both. There were things my doctor said would be okay, but for my own wellbeing and mental health, I just decided to stay away from it during those first 12 weeks.

Chris: For us as practitioners, it's important that we obviously take a really good history and if there's any past history of miscarriages, it's something we want to consider. Maybe we should not do fascia stretch therapy within the first three months at least. This is definitely the case with you. Every case is individual, so it should always be run by the supervising medical doctor.

So let's move into the next second trimester.

Client: So second trimester I was working at that time and I was very comfortable getting FST work done. I did avoid traction, as we all know, you shouldn't be tractioning when there's so much prolactin and things going on in the body.

Different ligaments are preparing for labor, so you wanna make sure you're really careful with that. So I did avoid traction, but things like lateral net felt amazing. Any lower back work felt mind blowing how good it felt in my body. I did do some prenatal massage along with that. So I was definitely more open to it throughout my second trimester.

Chris: And who does prenatal massage? Is that a specialist?

Client: I do, I have a girlfriend that does it out of a local chiropractor's office. And it really helps. All of it was done in side lying.

Chris: Okay. Do most women who are pregnant know about that option, or should we get informed as practitioners? Maybe we should suggest that to someone who's a pregnant client of ours.

Client: I would definitely find a connection. You can make someone you trust, maybe it's even you, but let them know about the other option they have that it doesn't just have to be stretching.

Chris: Okay. And so in the second trimester you did have FST, with the the lateral net and the back being especially beneficial. Were you even able to be stretched on your back?

Client: It's whatever the woman's comfort level is. Now I would say that's gonna look a lot different because I get way more out of breath now. I find it very hard to lay flat on my back. So it would definitely be a different situation in my third trimester that it was in the second.

Chris: I guess a good question to ask your client is do you have any positions that you feel more out of breath and that says, contraindicated, don't get them in that position. 'cause then they don't get out of breath just lying there. Much less being stretched.

Client: Yeah. I'd say at this point in my third trimester, I would say anything sideline is appropriate. I wouldn't even necessarily lay on my back at this point if I was gonna attempt to do some type of lateral in that stretch.
Anything over midline, I would try to have some pillows propped up behind me, like several sets of pillows, not just one.

Chris: Okay. And we're gonna shoot another video to show those modifications a little bit later. Yes. So in, in terms of your second trimester, so they were able to stretch you on your back, they could do the lateral net on your back.

Client: Yep. Circumduction felt great just getting that movement within the hip joint, getting that femur head to move around. Any of those slow, just very calming movements to the body. Those were really good for me at that time.

Chris: And my understanding is one should not focus on the adductors. It's almost like you're not trying to open up the peroneal area. You don't want to stretch the area where you're giving birth vaginally, let's say. (Client: Yes). To get too flexible. ( Client: Yes). Or to encourage you to relax too much in there. Because the baby has to stay in there and it's even said that if you stretch too much in the adductors, it can actually encourage spontaneous  premature birth or abortion.

So that's something we need to be HIGHLY aware of as practitioners, not to really focus on this area.

Client: Correct. And what's your middle name? That is another stretch that opens up your pelvic floor. Definitely something you wanna avoid with your pregnant clients.

Chris: Cause you need stability in there until the birth.

Client: Yes.

Chris: And you need mobility in the other areas, like you said, the lateral net and your back. (Client: Yes). As long as you can get there without affecting the adductors, opening that up too much. Perfect. And so in the last trimester do you still get as much work now?

Client: I have not had as much work done now. I have not had a stretch done since my second trimester. Not to say that I don't want to, or that I wouldn't, it's just I find it more difficult to lay on a table at this point.

Chris: Okay. One last thing, please share your experience with upper body stretching. What it do for you?

Client: Upper body was wonderful. Chris tractioned my upper body. I could do most of the movements. He was going through level two work. I stayed on the table with him for two rounds as he modeled for our students. It felt. Incredible.

When I got off the table, I didn't realize how much the weight of the pregnancy between weight gain, stomach, breasts how slunched over you can get and how much weighed down you can be. Once he worked on just opening everything up, I got off that table and I legitimately felt happier getting off the table.

It was a total change, like a 180 in my attitude. From the minute I got up and it lasted through the rest of that week, I felt a significant difference in my mood. It was pretty incredible.

Chris: So that's a huge tip - it's not always about the lower body, as we should know, as fascia stretch therapists, don't forget about the upper body. This could really balance out the whole body and decompress the person from above. 'cause they're getting weighed down with gravity and the extra weight that they carry.

All right. Anything else you want to add or I guess in terms of marketing for our students? They can definitely feel free to go market their services to people who are pregnant 'cause they need this work.

 Client: Yeah, I would say you don't have to avoid your pregnant clients. They wanna feel relaxed, they need it. They're probably stressing about what's coming up in the upcoming months. So definitely don't avoid your pregnant clients. I would have a discussion with them. I would encourage them to have a discussion with their doctors so that they know what they can and can't do, and maybe make sure if they, you need to send some information with 'em to their next doctor's appointment, that would probably be a really good idea.

Chris: So I'm sure everyone joins me in thanking you for spending time with us today and giving us tips. Thank you.

Client: Thank you!