We offer pregnancy massage on St. Albert Trail in north Edmonton, minutes from St. Albert. A Yellow Pages Editor's Pick for "Edmonton's Best Prenatal Massage".
$115.50 / 60 Minutes (+GST)
Pregnant and sore
By the third trimester your back aches by afternoon, and sleep comes in short pieces because there's no comfortable way left to lie down. If you're wondering whether massage is safe right now, start with that question.
Pregnancy back pain tends to build through the day, and lying down doesn’t end it when every position presses on something and turning over means waking up. Then the nights get shorter too.
You want to know it’s safe, and that your therapist knows what they’re doing. Some people come to us after a prenatal massage so cautious it felt like being tickled for an hour. Here you’ll feel the pressure.
Prenatal massage, also called maternity massage, is massage adapted to each trimester of pregnancy. You lie on your side, supported by pillows, rather than face down or flat on your back, and your registered massage therapist keeps the pressure moderate and leaves your belly alone.
From about 20 weeks, any time on your back is spent semi-reclined, with a small bolster under your right hip. Lying flat late in pregnancy can slow the blood returning to your heart, so if you feel dizzy, faint or short of breath, you change position straight away.
Prenatal massage may help with the aches of pregnancy, the short nights and the worry, and with the muscle tension that builds as your body changes.
In a review of the research, massage eased anxiety and low mood more than usual care did, though none of the trials was free of bias. Another found massage may be linked to better sleep in pregnancy. For back and pelvic pain, hands-on therapy helped more than usual care but no more than a sham treatment. Alberta Health Services describes massage in pregnancy as a way to relax and to help relieve muscle tension and pain.
Prenatal massage differs from a regular massage mainly in how you lie on the table. Most of the rest follows from that.
| Prenatal Massage | Regular massage | |
|---|---|---|
| How you lie | On your side after 12 weeks, propped up rather than flat when on your back | Face down and face up, flat on the table |
| Support | Pillows at your back and between your knees, a bolster under your right hip | A face rest and a bolster under your knees |
| Pressure | Moderate and comfortable | Whatever you ask for, deep tissue included |
| Your belly | Not massaged | Included if you want it |
| Your legs | Light strokes only, no deep pressure | Deep work if you want it |
| Before you start | How many weeks you are, and anything your doctor or midwife has flagged | Your health history and what hurts |
| Rates and direct billing | The same as any massage here | The same |
For more on each of these, read how a prenatal massage differs from a regular massage.
In the research so far, prenatal massage looks low risk. Across the trials of relaxation massage in pregnancy, only two reported any side effects, and those were minor and short-lived.
But those trials left out women with complicated pregnancies as a precaution, so for anyone with a complication the research has little to say, in either direction.
Most of the safety advice you’ll find about prenatal massage is caution rather than harm that anyone has measured, which is no reason to ignore it. We follow the most careful Canadian guidance, from Alberta Health Services, for how you lie on the table and which parts of your body your therapist works on.
Check with your doctor or midwife before booking if you have:
These are the pregnancies the research hasn’t covered, so the person who knows yours should weigh in before you book a massage anywhere, including here.
Every clinic offering pregnancy massage in Edmonton or St. Albert will tell you it’s safe. Read the reviews instead, ours included. Look for people who came in pregnant and kept coming back.
Feeding and carrying a newborn put a new kind of strain on your back, neck and shoulders, usually just when you have the least time to look after them. Massage may help with that tension, much as it does during pregnancy.
Book once your doctor or midwife has cleared you.
Your legs get light work only in the early weeks.
And when your baby is ready, we offer infant and kids massage too.
When you book a pregnancy massage session, tell us how many weeks you are and anything your doctor or midwife has flagged, so your therapist can plan before you arrive.
Your therapist arranges the pillows until you are comfortable, then works at a moderate pressure you can change at any time.
Before you leave, we can put your next appointment on the calendar, so your visits keep pace with your pregnancy.
Come a few minutes early your first time, because there is a short health history to fill out, and filling it in the waiting room spends the hour you booked on paperwork instead of treatment on the table.
You know what the hour will involve, what it costs, and when you are coming back.
Great prenatal massage, always leave feeling relaxed and refreshed
Nadine has taken care of my massage therapy for over a decade. She helped me through my two pregnancies and continues to help me through pains from an office job and running. I trust Nadine. She is kind and professional,…
I trust Nadine
By far the best
I always feel so relaxed and pain free
Never leave disappointed
Felt ten years younger
Most importantly they listen to my massage needs
simple to setup the direct billing
I haven't seen anyone else since
Experts at finding knots
Clinic-wide membership with the Natural Health Practitioners of Canada means the receipt you hand your insurer is the same document whichever therapist you book, and the hour you get is held to the same standard.
It is a discount you buy once and spend as the sessions come, instead of a monthly fee you have to remember to cancel.
Eleven years with no lapse and no downgrade, on a rating anyone can check.
Most people book 60 minutes, which is $115.50 plus GST. An hour leaves time to work both sides, since you turn over partway through and the pillows move with you. If lying still that long is hard right now, try thirty minutes.
| Session | Price |
|---|---|
| 30 minutes | $73.50 |
| 60 minutes | $115.50 |
| 90 minutes | $157.50 |
We bill your extended health provider directly, so you only pay the part your plan doesn't cover, and the card we keep on file isn't charged until your insurer has paid its share. We can bill your primary plan only. If your plan needs a doctor's referral for massage, send it to your benefit provider before your appointment, not to us.
Alberta Blue Cross – Sun Life – Canada Life – Telus Health (Manulife, Canada Life + 20 more) – Medavie (incl. Veterans Affairs & RCMP) – Green Shield
Nadine Munro has been a Registered Massage Therapist since 2000 and founded Got Knots in 2009. Every therapist on our team is an RMT with at least 2,200 hours of training, and together we've treated more than 4,300 clients since the clinic opened.
FocusDeep tissue, cupping and children's massage
FocusPrenatal, deep tissue and kids massage
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Until about 12 weeks you can, and after that your massage happens on your side. Alberta Health Services advises avoiding lying on your belly after 12 weeks, or much earlier with twins or more. Many find it uncomfortable by then anyway. We don’t use cut-out tables or pregnancy pillows for lying face down.
No, the pressure stays moderate during pregnancy and your legs get no deep work. Moderate means firm enough to feel it and never painful. Keeping the legs light is a precaution against loosening a blood clot, and no study has ever tested deep pressure in pregnancy, so we don’t guess at it. After the birth, once you’re cleared, deep tissue massage is an option again.
Yes, we book first-trimester clients. There is no published evidence that massage causes miscarriage, and no robust study of first-trimester safety either. Some clinics hold off until 12 weeks, a precaution that follows the weeks when miscarriage is most common anyway, rather than any finding that massage is the cause. If you’re unsure, check with your doctor or midwife.
Your belly isn’t massaged, and your legs get light strokes with no deep pressure. Alberta Health Services warns that firm massage of the pregnant belly could cause serious pregnancy problems. The legs are a precaution. Pregnancy raises the chance of a blood clot several times over, but the overall chance stays low, about 1 or 2 in every 1,000. And the pressure points at the ankle and the web of the hand? Pressing them hasn’t started labour in trials.
No, 37 weeks isn’t too late. We book prenatal massage right up to your due date. No guidance we know of sets a week when massage becomes too late, so for questions about your own pregnancy, check with your doctor or midwife.
Once your doctor or midwife clears you. There is no set week after a vaginal birth or a caesarean. Their advice is the one to follow. In the early weeks your legs still get light work only, because the chance of a blood clot is highest in the first three weeks after the birth.
Talk it over with your therapist before you book. We haven’t found research on hot stone massage in pregnancy in either direction, so there is no general answer to give you, only the one you reach with your therapist. They can explain how the session works, and your doctor or midwife can weigh in too if you like. The hot stone massage page explains more.
Visit us
Find us at 13220 St Albert Trail NW #104 — right on the commute between downtown Edmonton and St. Albert. Open Monday through Saturday, with direct billing to most major benefit plans.
Serving north Edmonton and the St. Albert corridor
