Using Massage as a Doula with Laura Wurst
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Transcript
Welcome to DULA Tips and Tits, the podcast where we cut through the noise and get real about what it takes to build a sustainable doula business. I'm Kaylee Harrod. I've been a doula informally for 14 years and full time for seven.
Around here, we don't sugarcoat stuff. We talk autonomy, owning your worth, creating a business that works for you. No fluff, no burnout, just the honest truth on how to be your own best boss. Let's get into today's episode.
Hello and welcome back to DULA Tips and Tits. I am here with another friend and guest today, the beautiful Laura Worst. And so I'm going to let her share a little bit about her self as she's here, DC based massage therapist among other things and has the most magical hands ever of anyone.
And so Laura, welcome and please introduce yourself.
Thank you and hello everyone. I'm Laura. I'm a women's health massage therapist. I provide shamanic and energy healing work in my practice. I also provide somatic and trauma -informed wellness and I'm also an educator.
I have also been a perinatal doula in the past so I have that background as well and my office is based out of Alexandria, Virginia.
Yeah, amazing. Thank you. Yes, I'm so glad you're here. So part of what this series is talking about is ways that doulas can be trained or expand their education beyond just their doula training. So today we're talking a bit about touch and massage and things that Laura has found either really useful with her own clients or ways that she thinks doulas would benefit from expanding their knowledge.
And so that's kind of what we're diving into. So over the years, what have you found to be like kind of some key massage techniques that doulas can incorporate or should at least be aware of in order to aid the work of our hands that we're doing with clients.
Yes, I think knowing pressure points that help create contractions, for example, also knowing pressure points to alleviate pelvic pain or to help the baby drop, huge. And if I had a client who was not having contractions at all, I had to create them for her with And that's what helped her through her labor.
The only thing that helped her through her labor, she wasn't progressing at all. And then once the contractions started, things started moving and just being able to reduce pain in a non -invasive way, they're going to think that you're magic and you are magic.
You are. It's because it's true. Yes. And I have found that induction via massage, like the pressure points, and also induction via acupuncture, it's important to know about it so that you can provide a solid framework.
Yes.
like why behind it. Yeah, and then-
Because your clients are going to ask you a lot of questions. Oh, so many. And they're going to, if you're referring to these things, they're going to, you know, you should know why and you should know who and what and knowing how that induction process works and that it could take eight to 12 hours or longer if it's even going to work and being able to offer that to a client, especially when it's getting close to their,
like if they're scheduled for an induction already, they want to try, they want other options. Just being able to be armed with that knowledge is so crucial.
Yeah, well, and I can imagine like one of the things that doulas one of the things that we're doing is kind of vetting other providers to also send good resources to our clients, right? So for me, for instance, I'm always talking about induction, massage, induction, acupuncture with clients, but I'm also not saying like, just Google some random acupuncturist or Google some random massage therapist,
like I'm sending very clear nate yours and a few others, right? Very clear instructions of like, these are the people I trust to do this well, and to do it right. And these are the places I would go for it.
And so part of this knowledge also leads you to be able to do that screening. So that as a doula, you know what the heck you're talking about. And you can see that the massage therapist is in fact trained in this and does know what they're doing or the acupuncturist, you know, so that you can send your clients to them also with confidence.
Right, you're functioning within the scope of your practice and you're hoping that other professionals are, you know, they're functioning within the scope of their practice, but you want to know that they're going to be solid when you send someone there.
And so when I was a doula, I could cover what I could cover with my practice, but then I would say, okay, I need you to go here for acupuncture, I need you to go here for this pelvic floor, and being able to tell them when to go to the pelvic floor therapist.
Yeah, to see the things, yeah. Right. And just being able to understand what that treatment might entail. So knowing all of that, and you might not be doing the actual induction or, you know, acupuncture yourself, but having that knowledge at a baseline will help you.
You can do the acupressure points once you're trained in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
those are gold. Yeah, totally. Especially when you're talking about like augmenting labor, like what you're saying of like if you're at a labor, it's not a scenario where you can like pack them up and send them to an acupressure place, you know, but you're like, okay, currently your contractions are stalling out.
What tools do we have to help that? Maybe non -medical tools or in addition to the medical tools that we have, you know, depending on the scenario. So.
And there are, with permission, if you get permission from your doctor, there are acupuncturists that can come to the hospital and provide acupuncture for you up until the baby's head is visible. And also just knowing that and how that can help people.
People don't know what they don't know.
Right.
And I think that massage and body work marry into these services really well. As far as knowing massage comfort measures, taking a course, understanding how to help calm the nervous system and relax the nervous system.
We don't want our clients to be in fight or flight mode. We're working, we are there to help prevent that. And those comfort measures are going to also help get them out of their head, into their body, and understanding that being in your body is not always a safe place for people.
So you providing that comfort for them and you being there as an ally to witness them and hold space for them is gonna be huge.
Yeah well and one of the things when we were chatting before we started recording we were chatting about like the visual ability to see stuckness in the pelvis, in the back, etc. And so as a doula I think sometimes we have tools that we kind of broadly apply to everybody, right?
Which is fine to some extent, right? Some tools are used at every single birth for instance but if as a newer doula you're like yeah this hip squeeze should feel amazing on you and it doesn't and I'm not sure why, right?
Like one of the tools that you can have in in the midst of your tool set is like what is happening in your muscles and in your body to make this comfort measure not comforting and can we do something about that?
Because sometimes you just don't love it, right? And it's just because it is but a lot of times especially things in the pelvis it's because there's other things that are stuck and so if we can work some of that stuff out with massage or with movement or with jiggling or whatever it looks like or any number of our tools then the comfort measures are actually comforting in a way that otherwise they are not and then we as doulas can also feel a little like well what am I supposed to do now because that was the tool like that's what we were going to do and for whatever reason it's not working,
you know.
And I think there is only so much we can do, but understanding that at a deeper level, we know that trauma is held in our bodies. We're not necessarily going to bring that up with our client, but we know that's what's happening.
Definitely not in the middle of labor. Have you ever had any trauma?
Talk about that right now. Could this possibly be from your child? Just your whole child.
The childhood's coming out of you right now. As we deliver. And it's like our, my work has led me to deeply know that our hips and our pelvis hold energy. Totally. And they keep it away from our heart so that we don't have a heart attack.
And that energy and that holding gets stuck. And our fascia, our connective tissue, our muscles and our bones are not moving freely. And our back is stuck and it hurts. And we just know that our range of motion is limited.
And then we need movement and we need energy flowing because we are energy. And if your energy is stuck and your body is stuck, that means your baby could possibly be stuck. And if we are working to alleviate that muscle tension, alleviate that muscle pain, alleviate some of those restrictions, the fascia restrictions, like knots and adhesions, that can assist with baby positioning and positive birthing because then your pelvis can actually move and create space.
And let the baby out, yes. And like things that you can do are, yes, you can do hip squeezing. You want to also work on round ligament release, which also helps with the sacrum placement. So when you learn to release around the tailbone.
Mm -hmm.
and around the high part of the butt, the glutes, when you release some of that, the round ligaments in the front can release so the baby can also drop and roll into the front of the pelvis. And also working on it with massage techniques, learning how to work on the hip flexors right in the front of the hips and the inner thighs so that when your pelvic floor is really tight, it's pulling on your inner thighs.
So we want to alleviate and release as much as we can and get really good blood flow moving because circulation brings oxygen to muscles and oxygenated muscles can work harder and they won't cramp. How many people have you seen with inner thigh cramping when they're pushing?
Oh, all the time. Yeah, all the time. We just really wanna be massaging to increase blood flow and to reduce adhesion and make space.
Yeah well and I think there's like in my mind there's a space for touch and like massage with doulas right that's not kind of crossing over into things that are outside of our scope so like for me for instance I would not do like a full induction massage on a client ever right but I know some points on the inner leg like down by the ankle right I know point on the on the pinky toe right like there are points that I can push during labor that I can I can do that that's something I can do I'm not going to do that with every single client every time trying to put them into labor right what I think we sometimes get stuck with in terms of doulas as especially if our training focused on this is that like touch in general is outside of our scope that's just not true and the reality is that touching your client is almost always a part of labor support and knowing how to touch them in a way that's more effective and more helpful is exactly what you need to know right and so a piece of that is like some trauma release kind of information some muscle release kind of information some fascia release kind of I mean like so many different parts of that along with how they can move their own body how they can touch their own body how partners can touch them right like so many different layers there that I think as doulas we've got to include that in our tool set because if we're not we're gonna be in a birth scenario that it's needed and we're not gonna have that in our school in our tools right and it doesn't have to be a full massage class although I am totally doing that now that I know that's a thing but like even just taking this information and being like oh okay I don't I haven't heard of that and I'm gonna like Google that and learn about it and watch a video about how to do that thing even just that is giving you more tools that as a doula like we have to go in with way more tools than we think we need in order to manage whatever is happening as it plays out so I know you have some tools that you think are beneficial can you share them with us
I mean, I'm not expecting anybody out there to go be a massage therapist. I mean, we could. That's mine. You could.
We could well be as awesome as you.
you. And I'm not gonna be as awesome of a doula as you are. So we're just gonna, we're just gonna marry our services and be a dream team. But I think just some minor skills will help you. Yes, for sure.
Just the knowledge. And I found that as a doula, I was piecemealing a lot of things. Yes. I was grabbing from over here and I was grabbing from over here. And my toolkit was just a bunch of information from all over the place.
And I did apply it where it was needed. And if it wasn't, I was like, well, that's just gonna live in the toolbox. Yeah.
I needed this time.
and that's okay some tools for massage that I think in general people should use on themselves and also pregnant folks I love magnesium balm yeah I love a specific brand because it doesn't feel like you just got out of the ocean and you have salt water all over you yeah that like tacky dry feeling uh -huh this is a more like oily smooth feeling so you might want to like wear long socks if you're putting it on your feet or something like that but I love it's called magsodium okay we'll put it in the show notes yeah yeah put that on feet put that on inner thighs put that on necks and shoulders and go to bed it will also help you sleep okay anything and it'll help with leg cramping and if moms well not just ones if pregnant people yeah are having muscle fatigue it will help alleviate that yeah I think people should have a Theragun on a low setting only yeah yeah for glutes the butt the thighs and upper back
yep and you can get I mean nowadays you can get that kind of gun cheaper versions of it oh yeah that have like still the low setting the idea is it's an in and out motion it's a it's that specific motion is what is like so beneficial about it so don't be put off by the fact that the Theragun itself is quite pricey right there's so many knockoff brands that are just as effective that have the low setting that we want
Wahl, W -A -H -L, the razor company actually makes a phenomenal one. I think it's $20 and it has multiple like heads. You can change on it. That's really helpful. And you just plug it in and it's really lightweight so it'll fit in your dual bag.
Yeah, I okay, I'm not gonna sideside track us completely. But I have a hilarious story of a friend who carries a massager in her doula bag and was in a loaded elevator in a hospital and it started going off.
And she was like, don't be alarmed. That's just my personal massager.
Everyone's like, oh, we're definitely less alarmed now that you said that. So it's less alarmed. I'm a doula, and they're still not helping at all. She was like, never mind. I'm going to get off on this floor.
I'm just going to get off on the wrong floor and take the stairs now. I'm going to go, and the elevator is empty. That's fantastic.
I know you would appreciate. I love that. I love that for her too. I know. I was like what a way to enter a birth scene. Don't mind me.
Yes. Oh, that's so good. Yeah. Okay. So tools, other tools. More tools. A lacrosse ball for tight points where you can like have the client sit on it on a chair or if they're laying in the bed and their back is tight, you can just put it under there.
Yeah. Again, will fit easily in your doula bag. Yoga strap for stretching, also for pushing, wrap it around something and have them pull.
yeah in a if you're in a hospital scenario i use the sheets at the hospital sometimes for the same kind of thing if you don't have something with you and you want to do like tug of war kind of stuff or use it in that kind of way you can just fold it up use it like it's a strap i love the sheets sometimes the sheets are bulky they are totally and sometimes they're not long enough depending on what you're trying to do yeah but
but when you're in it, you just do what you need to do. You improvise. You use what you've got. If you want to actually massage and use oil or cream, I recommend grape seed oil or hypoallergenic massage cream, which you can get.
You want to stay away from a lot of like nut oils and things like that. You can also use coconut oil. And with training, I recommend using a TENS unit.
Yeah, yeah. TENS unit is actually one thing that I have a ton of clients use and I don't provide them. I send like information and links and whatnot for clients to get them but I find them to be incredibly helpful myself for stuff that I deal with physically and then my clients usually find them really, really helpful.
And they're like something that can be used for all sorts of things. So it's something that like, I mean for me I'm using it for arthritis on my hips, right? So you can use it, you can actually use them for clogged ducts.
If you're having a clogged duct and breastfeeding you can use them for like back pain, you know. So if you're having other issues the tool that continues to be useful in your life if you are purchasing one.
So.
You've talked about clogged ducts, I love massage from mastitis, like warming warm packs on the breast, teaching the circular motion, getting everything like loose and happy, and flowing and love it.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're gonna love you too.
That makes so much sense.
Yes, I did that work today.
Oh, and so this is very pertinent. Super on time information. So I know that you have local stuff, right? We're here in DC. Laura's amazing. And local, if you are local, you should send your people to her and go to her yourself.
But you have some online stuff coming up. Can you share a little bit about that? So people who are listening from other places can also benefit from your awesomeness.
Thank you, I would love to. I am launching even more workshops but currently I have foam rolling so if you have a body that can get on the floor or sit in a chair you can do some rolling and I do teach I do teach with other tools in case I can't roll at least you can stretch and use some different things to get your body moving and happy.
I also have a women's circle it's called the power circle and there's healing and drumming and all sorts of juiciness that won't be recorded but people can attend that live and then foam rolling they can attend live and there will be a recording in case they want to buy a recording and just do it at their house okay because they might have you know they might just have more space yeah yeah yeah
amazing yeah yeah so that there is some awesomeness that Laura has coming and also other awesomeness in the works that I will let you know about when it's live Laura thank you so much for taking the time to be on the podcast you I've had a blast yes I'm glad that we finally made it happen listeners thank you for listening and you can expect a few more of these awesome recordings with guests and then we'll be moving into talking to some doulas later in the fall so I will see you in the next episode you found this podcast helpful we would so appreciate you taking a second to leave a rating and a review on your favorite podcast app that helps other doulas find us as we do this work together this podcast is intended as educational and entertainment it is not medical advice or business advice please consult your own medical or legal team for your own needs around your health and your business we'll see you again soon
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Touch and forms of massage are powerful tools doulas can use in their work. Today we are joined by Massage Therapist extraordinaire, Laura Wurst (who also happens to be a doula!). Laura will share how incorporating touch as a doula can change your clients’ experiences for the better.
Quote from Laura
“And I think that massage and bodywork marry into these services really well. As far as knowing massage comfort measures, taking a course, understanding how to help calm the nervous system and relax the nervous system. We don't want our clients to be in fight or flight mode. We're working, we are there to help prevent that. And those comfort measures are going to also help get them out of their head, into their body, and understanding that being in your body is not always a safe place for people. So you providing that comfort for them and you being there as an ally to witness them and hold space for them is gonna be huge.”
Meet Laura Wurst:
Laura is a Trauma Informed Licensed Massage Therapist, Shamanic Healer, Educator, and Wellness Coach who is consciously working and involved to support the client's own intentions and self-healing, whether the focus is physical, emotional, or spiritual.
With over 14 years in the field, she also has extensive experience as a Perinatal Doula and Midwifery Assistant. Prior to finding her zeal as a healer, she was a Human Services & Medical Social Worker. When she is not busy following her career passions, Laura is often found cycling and spending time with her wonderful dog.
Connect with Laura:
www.powerfulhealingarts.com
Instagram.com/powerfulhealingarts
CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram
https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach
https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/
If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula
Doula Tips and Tits is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Doula Biz Blueprint Self-Paced Class for Doulas Launching Successful and Sustainable Businesses!
Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay
