When you have knot in a muscle, what feels so wonderful is our massage therapist to dig her elbow into that sore spot until you feel some relief. And when you have a clogged duct, the same logic should apply, right? You may be surprised about that answer!

Lymphatic System is Superficial

Because one of the main benefits of breast massage is to decrease the amount of lymphatic fluid that may have built up inside the breast tissue, light touch is recommended to move that fluid back to the heart to get recirculated. The lymphatic system itself is very superficial, so anything more than a light touch can bypass many of the lymphatic vessels. While a deep tissue massage can be beneficial for lymphatic support, when the main goal is moving lymph, a small amount of pressure is all that is needed.

Feather Touch

So what exactly is light pressure? Much of massage therapy is subjective: my deep tissue massage may be very different from another person’s. Because of this subjective nature, light pressure can be difficult to define. In order to have the “correct” pressure, you should be using no more than 1-2 ounces of pressures. Yes, 1 to 2 ounces! That is all!

This amount of pressure will still feel great, trust us. If you are someone that loves their deep tissue massage, even a light massage like this one can feel wonderful and be extremely beneficial to decrease swelling, engorgement, and other common breastfeeding challenges many people can face.

Everyday Objects That Weigh About Two Ounces

(Just in case you were interest what 1-2 ounces actually feels like!)

A C Battery (2.3 ounces)
A golf ball (1.6 ounces)
A slice of bread (1 ounce)
And probably about how much a baby a few weeks old is drinking!

So, 1 to 2 ounces is not that much! But how do you know what it feels like to use that little pressure when giving yourself a massage?

Education for Self Massage

Part of the goal of each breast massage session is to provide the education necessary to our clients so they can use self-massage techniques in the future for the health of their breasts. For that reason, we bring a food scale to each appointment so you can see exactly how much (or how little) pressure is 1 to 2 ounces. You would be surprised how little pressure that is!