Painful edemas burden millions of people every day - luckily, there’s Lymph Drainage. In this article, we take a close look at the therapy, show you where it’s being used and what to pay attention to.
What is Lymph Drainage?
Lymph Drainage is a medical massage form that is used to treat lymphedema. A lymphedema results from the lymph drainage being interrupted because of a sick interstitium. Liquid builds up in the tissue; arms, and legs and the face swell up.
Four basic methods are being used to treat lymph edemas:
- compression therapy with bandages
- exercises to remove blockages
- skin care
- manual Lymph Drainage
A Lymph Drainage has four different effects:
- it removes blockages
- it alleviates the pain
- it relaxes the muscles
- it strengthens the immune system
Where Does Lymph Drainage Help?
Lymphedema are either innate or the cause of a different illness. The following diseases are often being treated with this therapy form:
- chronic lymphedemas
- chronic venous insufficiency.
- post-op swelling
- CRPS
- swelling after hemiplegia through heart attacks
- chronic polyarthritis
- headaches
Pregnancies can also cause lymphedema; cellulite is being treated with these techniques as well.
But it’s not advisable to get treated with Lymph Drainage if you have certain diseases like:
- malignant tumors
- acute inflammations
- cardiac arrhythmia
- hyperthyroidism
If you want to educate yourself in the area of preventive lymph drainage, we recommend the fitting educational DVD by WellnessInPerfektion (available in German). This way you can easily and comfortably learn how to move lymph and clear blockages.
What To Do After Lymph Drainage
After the treatment, you should pay attention to some important aspects to support the positive effects.
- Tight, cutting clothing and accessories are a no-go, because they block the lymph flow additionally.
- Take care of your skin with a pH-neutral cream, because lymphedema increase the infection risk. Especially when taking care of your nails, you should be careful because small cuts already give way to germs and viruses. For the same reason, we advise you to wear gloves when working around the house or in your garden.
- Put your legs up regularly to improve the drainage of lymph.
- Limit your physical activity to easy movements like Nordic Walking, swimming, etc. Stay away from the sauna, solarium, or sunbathing. But do not stop exercising altogether!
By the way:
We do not advise using dehydration tablets as they cause a higher protein concentration in the tissue.
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