Hi everyone in today's episode we're going to talk about using massage for pain

relief during labor.

Welcome to the Evidence Space Birth Podcast. My name is Rebecca Decker and I'm a nurse with my PhD and the

founder of Evidence Base Birth. Join me each week as we work together to get evidence-based

information into the hands of families and professionals across the world.

As a reminder, this information is not medical advice.

See EvieBbirth.com slash disclaimer for more details.

Hi everyone and welcome to episode 34 of the evidence-based birth podcast.

Today we're going to return to our pain management series and we're going to be focusing on massage for pain relief during labor.

Massage involves manipulating the body's soft tissues.

It's used to help relax, tense muscles, and to help you feel calm and relaxed.

Different massage techniques may benefit people differently during labor.

For example, some people may find intense massage over the lower back helpful.

Others might find light efflourage or soothing strokes to be especially helpful.

We didn't find the term counter pressure in any of the research papers that we looked at, but

counter pressure is another type of massage that is used when you apply intense pressure to

the sacram or the tailbone.

So how might massage work to relieve pain during labor?

Researchers think there's two different ways that massage could work.

The first is through the gate control theory. Gentle or non-painful

massage can act on the gate control method by flooding the body with pleasant

sensation so that the brain does not perceive the

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