What is Lymph Drainage Massage

Postoperative wound healing is impaired by too much wound "water" in the tissue. The "water" excessive lymph fluid in the area between cells hinders the repair and reconstruction of the tissue. Excessive wound fluid can also lower the body's ability to fight of infection.

Lymphedema (the accumulation of intercellular fluids) can also be caused by numerous other conditions like cardiovascular insufficiency.

Manual lymph drainage massage (MLD for short) helps the interstitial (between the cells) fluid to be pushed to the lymph nodes which help the transport of lymph towards the bloodstream to be eliminated through the kidneys.

What is the lymph system and how does it work?

Every cell produces waste (I call it cell poopy :).

This waste has to be eliminated through the kidneys. Imagine the lymph system as a train system in a country.

The remotest sections of the country have lots of small train and bus lines that go from villages to bigger cities. The connections between the bigger cities go to the outskirts of a metropolis. Every metropolis has it's main stations.

Now imagine these little train and bus connections being your smallest of lymph vessels flowing to tiny lymph nodes (bigger cities). From there the lymph nodes have bigger vessels to allow for more lymph that was collected in the periphery to be pushed towards the main blood vessels. From the bigger cities, bigger lymph nodes it goes to more and bigger lymph nodes until it reaches the main ports behind your collar bone where it empties into your vena cava that goes via the heart to your kidneys and eliminates your lymph with your urine.

Lymph edema (collection of water in the tissues) develops if there is a traffic jam. Imagine a broken train on a main train route. All trains that need to use that stretch of railway are forced to a standstill. Which backs up into even the smallest of train routes to the rural areas, e.g. your tissues. The cells don't stop to produce waste and the amount of waste just accumulates in the tissue. If you have a wound or infection the bodies defense system sends more helper cells to the area contributing to even more wound water and waste.

Also, the accumulation of waste in the tissue render the areas more toxic and thus more painful. The stretching of the skin and pressure due to the extra amount of water also impacts organs.

MLD is the manual expression of the wound water to the next lymph nodes, to the next bigger lymph nodes until it reaches the blood stream. Thus helping the tissue to detoxify and strengthening against infection and promoting a faster wound healing or pressure relief on the tissues.

For everyone undergoing surgery or amputation, after an accident or lymphedema caused by cardiovascular inefficiency, MLD should be a mandatory rehab therapy recommended by every doctor. In the absence of these professional recommendations you can take matters into your own hand by looking for a trained therapist in MLD in your area.