How Massage Helps Swollen Hands & Feet in Pregnancy
Swelling during pregnancy is common, but it’s no fun. From waking up with pins and needles in your fingers to ending the workday with ankles and feet twice their usual size, swelling is no joke—especially when you’re already so uncomfortable. Thankfully, pregnancy swelling isn’t something you have to keep living with! There are so many ways massage can help with swollen hands and feet during pregnancy, and we’re about to let you in on all of them.
Free Guide: How To Feel Less Sore & Finally Get Comfortable During Pregnancy
Get tips for taking care of yourself during the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimesters. Plus, a how-to guide for better at-home massages that you can use yourself or send to your partner!
Edema: Swollen Feet & Hands During Pregnancy
If you’re pregnant right now and noticing that your shoes and rings don’t always fit anymore, it’s probably because you’re experiencing swelling or ‘edema’, as healthcare professionals often call it. Swelling often happens in the hands and fingers (you might wake up in the morning with hands that feel stiff or have that pins and needles feeling!) or in the legs and feet. But during pregnancy, it’s normal to notice some swelling in your face, too.
Swelling in the feet, legs, and hands in particular is very common in pregnancy. In fact, in the later stages of pregnancy, up to 40% of pregnant people experience it in their legs! (Chard, Lilford, 1998).
3 Common Causes of Swelling During Pregnancy
Swelling can be caused by—or a symptom of—a few different things. Generally speaking, it’s the result of your body retaining more blood and fluid than usual, which is what makes you feel all poofy in certain places. And while some swelling is a normal part of pregnancy, it is important to understand why your body is retaining that fluid.
There are 3 common causes of swelling in pregnancy: a growing uterus, excess weight gain, and preeclampsia. Let’s go into detail a bit more on each one!
#1 Your Growing Uterus
One cause of pregnancy swelling is simply, well, being pregnant! For some pregnant people, as the uterus grows, it creates a kind of obstruction in the body, and that obstruction puts pressure on the veins in your extremities (Knuppel, Drukker, 1993). This excess pressure can lead to the swelling you’re feeling in your hands, feet, or legs.
#2 Excess Weight Gain
Who cares about weight gain? Not us! Especially during pregnancy, weight gain isn’t just common—it’s essential! But, some research has shown that “excessive” weight gain during pregnancy might be a cause of swelling. And we want you to be fully informed, so we figured we should mention that. If you think your swelling might be related to weight gain, we’d recommend mentioning your concerns to your healthcare provider.
#3 Preeclampsia
In some cases, swelling—especially in the face and hands—can be a symptom of preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a condition related to increased blood pressure, among other symptoms. It can be a little dangerous for the birthing parent and the baby because high blood pressure restricts your blood vessels, which can limit the amount of blood and oxygen baby gets. As far as pregnancy complications go, preeclampsia is pretty serious, but it only affects 7 out of 100 pregnant people (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 1996). So while we don’t want you to panic, we would recommend mentioning your swelling to your healthcare provider as soon as you can, just to be safe.
That said, having swelling does not mean you definitely have preeclampsia. Typically, 85% of pregnant people will experience swelling, but only about 15% develop preeclampsia. To diagnose preeclampsia, your healthcare provider will check for three things (Knuppel, Drukker, 1993):
Increased blood pressure
Generalized swelling (edema)
Proteinuria, or high amounts of protein in your urine.
Try not to stress before you talk to your medical team! Swelling on its own is not enough to be considered a sign of preeclampsia—there are lots of explanations for swelling, and preeclampsia is only one of them! But again, it is important to mention your swelling to your doctor or midwife and then follow their medical advice.
How Massage Therapy Helps With Swollen Feet & Hands During Pregnancy
If you’re feeling bothered by swelling in your feet, legs, fingers, hands, or face during pregnancy, massage therapy can go a long way in helping you feel better! We’ve seen swelling in the lower extremities decrease so much that the limb goes down to a third of its previously-swollen size! Now, of course, this isn’t the most typical—that amount of swelling was a pretty serious case! But if you’re feeling swollen or puffy, there are two main ways massage therapy can help:
Flushing out that swelling
Treating any sore spots—or trigger points—that have been caused by your swelling
Flushing Out Swelling
Short, gentle massage strokes are the best course of action for treating your actual swelling. If you tell your registered massage therapist that you’re dealing with swelling—or if they can see it for themselves—they will likely know to work this technique into your prenatal massage.
You can also apply this technique for yourself at home, or have your partner do it for you! We’ve included more information on how to do this below, but you can also download our free pregnancy massage guide!
Treating Swelling-Related Pain
When swelling isn’t dealt with, it causes compression in the body, which can lead you to develop other compression-related syndromes. These syndromes can cause other problems, like painful spots, or “trigger points” in the wrists, back, and down your legs. Massage therapy can help treat all those trigger points.
Common compression-related syndromes are:
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (Numbness, tingling, and/or radiating pain in the wrists that can be caused or made worse by swelling in the arms and hands)
Sciatic Nerve Compression (Back and leg pain that can result from your sciatic nerve being compressed by your swelling)
Piriformis Syndrome (A specific type of sciatic nerve compression that happens when the sciatic nerve is compressed within the belly of the piriformis muscle, which is located just under your glute)
These syndromes tend to come with numbness, tingling, radiating pain, and an odd sensation in your hand like you’re wearing a thick leather glove.
Because massage therapy can help you reduce the swelling itself while also addressing any secondary symptoms, aches, or pains brought on by your swelling, it’s a great option for most pregnant people! If you do have preeclampsia, we wouldn’t recommend deep or vigorous treatment. Always talk to your healthcare provider first, but know that a very gentle treatment, using short massage strokes, performed by a registered massage therapist who’s comfortable with pregnancy massage should be completely safe.
How To Give A Foot Massage for Pregnancy Swelling
If you’re dealing with swollen feet during your pregnancy, use these tips to reduce that swelling as much as possible. You can do this yourself or ask your partner to do it for you. (Taking care of you like this is a great way for your partner to stay involved in your pregnancy!)
Using your index and middle fingers, start at the tip of your toes and apply very gentle pressure moving towards the heart. Use short strokes and a gentle motion, like what you’d do if you were dusting dirt or sparkles off of your—or your partner’s—foot. Slowly move your massage upwards, towards the leg and then the knee making sure to touch every part of the foot, ankle, and leg.
Foot Massage Tips for Pregnancy:
Use short, gentle strokes like you’re dusting off the foot
Move in one direction: towards the heart!
Make the strokes sequential—one after the other, after the other
Tip: Put Your Feet Up
Before or after your massage, elevate your feet above your heart. An easy way to do this is by lying down on the couch for a few minutes with your feet on the armrest. Elevation like this encourages blood flow and lymphatic drainage back towards the heart, which can further reduce swelling.
How To Give A Hand Massage for Pregnancy Swelling
If your hands are swollen during pregnancy, try this:
Using your index and middle fingers, start at the fingertips and apply gentle pressure using short, unidirectional strokes. Perform sequential strokes like this, one after the other, and as you do, slowly move toward the heart.
Just like with the foot massage tips we shared, the pressure you use should be gentle but firm—the same pressure you’d use if you were going to brush dust off the hand. “Dust” the entire hand before moving towards the wrist and then the elbow.
Tip: Raise Your Hands
Before or after your massage, elevate your hands so they’re above your heart, even just for a few minutes. Elevation like this encourages blood flow and lymphatic drainage back towards the heart, which can further reduce swelling.
Book A Pregnancy Massage
Don’t get us wrong, we love your partner for trying! But if it’s time for a professional prenatal massage, we can help.
We’re registered massage therapists with prenatal training, so we know exactly how to treat pregnant bodies. We know how to keep you and your baby safe while making you feel as comfortable as you possibly can in your pregnant body!
…you so deserve it!