What You Need To Know - Pediatric Massage
Kids needs massages too!
Whether it be for stress reduction, easing growing pains or dealing with “tech neck,” regular massage therapy treatments can be very beneficial for children.
Kids need massage and here’s why:
1. Devices. Seriously, it’s a concern. “Tech neck” is a real thing!
2. Stress. Life can be hard - even for kids. Massages can help with relaxation and reduce anxiety.
3. Growing pains! Massage therapy can help ease the aches and pains from growing.
4. Minor Injuries. Muscle aches and strains - kids get them too!
5. Consent. Treatments with a professional practitioner allows a child to learn and engage in early consent and body autonomy activities.
Practicing Consent
My absolute most favourite thing about providing a massage to a kid is that we get to practice consent. Seriously. It's the best. Let’s all practice body consent starting with a safe massage with the parent or guardian in the treatment room. During a paediatric massage the child gets to call the shots because it’s their body! This is an important lesson for them. The client, no matter what age, always gets to decide what to wear, what body part to work on and how the massage should feel. Period.
This consent and body autonomy stuff includes:
- Asking permission at every interval “do I have your permission to work on your legs now?”
- Communicating everything from what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and always checking in on comfort, safety, and enjoyment.
- Having a parent or guardian in the roomI always have a parent while focusing all of the attention, intention, and conversation with the child
- Educating and empowering. We talk about how awesome and cool their body is, how beautiful, unique, powerful, amazing, and important their body is. And how to take good care of it.
Schedule your kiddo for a massage with an RMT you trust. Please note that not all RMTs work with children, so be sure to ask when booking the appointment. Also, ask about direct billing to insurance for pediatric massage therapy.
Holly Behringer is a Registered Massage Therapy and co-owner of Wolseley Wellness Centre. She is a graduate of Evolve College of Massage Therapy (formerly the Massage Therapy College of Manitoba). She believes that it is important to treat the person as a whole, and that the calm, supportive, and safe treatment environment of her treatment room is conducive to better health outcomes for both mind and body. She seeks to build trusting relationships with her clients, inviting them to be active participants in their own health and well-being.