Did you know there’s a special massage that can speed up your ability to fight off illnesses and recover from surgeries? Check out this quick introduction to lymphatic drainage massage.
Quick, What’s The Lymphatic System?
The lymphatic system is basically a network of tunnels filled with lymph fluid for your white blood cells to swim around in. Your white blood cells do their job and dump the little bacteria corpses into the lymph fluid to be disposed. It’s incredibly more complicated than that, but that’s all you need to know in order to understand the benefits of a lymphatic drainage massage.
What is a Lymphatic Massage Like?
First of all, a lymphatic massage is rather gentle and very relaxing. It involves long, gentle strokes over the majority of your body. More specifically, the massage focuses on using these strokes to move this lymph fluid through the network.
How Does This Speed Up Healing?
I’m going to refrain from simply using the word “detoxify” just because it’s thrown around wrongfully so often lately. Your lymphatic system relies on muscle movements to get that lymph fluid moving, unlike your cardiovascular system which has a dedicated pump organ.
During a lymphatic massage, the techniques are designed to stimulate and relax the skin and muscles to speed up the lymph fluid, which will promote lymphatic drainage. Since the lymph fluid is full of garbage (especially if you have some sort of virus or something), getting this fluid moving is going to promote quicker healing.
It Even Helps With Surgeries?
A few weeks after surgery (or after your doctor clears you for a massage), a lymphatic massage could definitely improve scar healing. With the same principles as above, a lymphatic massage can reduce swelling in localized areas by sort of “rearranging” the lymphatic area that was damaged from an incision.
Any Other Benefits?
The benefits you just read are certainly some of the biggest highlights of a lymphatic drainage massage, but you’ll of course experience many of the other benefits from a standard massage session.
If you’re interested in getting a lymphatic drainage massage, give it a try.