Foot spa....yes or no??

[Lovemyprincess4eva]

Hi

I am suffering really badly with aching and swollen feet and my mum has offered me her foot spa which sounds amazing right now.

But some people have said that I shouldn't use a foot spa in pregnancy. But others say that its fine.

So basically does anyone know the actual truth?? Are they safe?? I really want to use it as my feet are so sore but don't want to risk the baby. Should have said I am 26 weeks xx

Anyone know about this?? X

I think there is a school of thought that a foot spa can stimulate certain pressure points that may in turn stimulate contractions.

This is totally anecdotal and I can't prove a link but at 32 weeks I had a night of really painful contractions after I'd had my feet in a jacuzzi for 20 minutes. I honestly thought the baby was coming but fortunately they died down after a few (scary) hours. As I said, I can't be sure it was connected to the jacuzzi but it didn't happen again all pregnancy. It was enough for me to decide not to risk another foot spa or jacuzzi again!

I am still really unsure. I think I'm going to wait til I see my midwife this week and ask what they think x

when my feet get swollen and hot I usually put them in a cold bowl of water and that works for me or maybe you could try running the shower on them after all theres no harm in getting a shower but I also put bath salts in hot water and soal my feet in that somtimes and im fine xx

Thanks katrina. I have soaked them in cool water but thinking the spa would be good for the aching x

As rally says - I asked a madseuse friend about this and there are pressure points in the feet (those used by reflexologists to 'massage' the reproductive organs. Simulating them during pregnancy can therefore cause contractions. I imagine the risk is very low, but there is a risk nonetheless.

I think it will be fine. Absolutely fine. I'm fairly sure that the reason they say not to use jacuzzis etc is because of the risk of raising your body temp, and that's only in the first 12 weeks anyway.