Lymphatic Drainage Massage

LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE MASSAGE

Lymphatic drainage massage is a therapeutic massage treatment that uses very light pressure and long, gentle, rhythmic strokes to increase lymphatic flow and get rid of toxins in your body.

Lymph is a clear, slightly yellow fluid that flows around your body, carrying white blood cells and antibodies to your tissues and organs. These are essential to your immune system and help you fight infection.

Day after day, we dump toxins into our bodies: we eat badly, we live in dirty cities full of pollution, we drink too much alcohol, eat too much sugar and our lifestyles are unforgiving and unhealthy. Your lymphatic system's job is to flush all the toxins away, and keep you healthy.

Lymphatic drainage massage boosts the flow of lymph around your body, refreshing your immune system and flushing out toxins.

As lymph is so key to keeping your immune system working properly, improving its flow and drainage around the body is good for you in lots of ways. Lymphatic drainage massage can have a powerful effect on your general health:

* It can help your body fight infection and speed up healing and recovery from illness
* Effective treatment for cellulite
* Reduces water retention
* Boosts weight loss

It can improve your skin texture by:
* reducing swelling, puffiness and blotches
* giving you clean healthy pores
* speeding up healing in scar tissue, so it can, for example, improve the appearance of stretch marks

Precautions

You should tell me about the following:

* are, or think you might be, pregnant
* have any medical conditions or are receiving any treatment or medication
* have recently had an injury or operation
* are allergic to anything, particularly skin allergies
* have any broken skin or sores on your scalp

Many women do not have lymphatic drainage when menstruating, but this is a matter of choice. Avoid large meals or alcohol before treatment.

What to expect from lymphatic drainage massage? This massage treatment takes place in a heated room; warmth is an important factor in increasing lymphatic flow. You are also likely to be more relaxed if you're not cold. The lymphatic drainage massage is given on a massage table. You do not need to remove underwear and you will be draped with discreetly placed towels.

Lymphatic drainage massage uses very light pressure, as well as long, gentle, rhythmic strokes and soft pumping movements in the direction of the lymph nodes, (the main lymph nodes are situated in the neck, armpits, and groin). Therefore you will be massaged in these areas and down the centre of the chest. Please look at the diagram above - wherever there are lymph nodes and vessels you will be worked on. If there are places that you wish not to be massaged you must make this clear at the start of the session. Breast massage is NOT conducted unless specifically asked for.
A session usually lasts upto 60 minutes for a whole body treatment. Part body 30 minutes sessions are available.

Afterwards

Lymphatic drainage can leave you feeling exhausted. It is likely you'll want to rest for awhile, or at the very least, a very undemanding schedule for the rest of the day. You might like to stretch yourself to a gentle swim or a sauna afterwards. Give your body time to ease back into activity. As with any treatment, you will get most benefit if you give yourself time to get the benefits of it, try to avoid rushing off for an appointment straight afterwards. It's a good idea to give yourself plenty of time either side of the massage, so that you don't feel rushed.

It will also leave you really thirsty. It's quite strange the first time you experience this; even if you're not usually a water-drinker you will need to drink lots of water or other fluids soon after to flush the released toxins away.

Please be aware that all Lymphatic Drainage work is carried out by Dr. Richard Wain, Centre Director who is a very experienced Massage Therapist.

Lymphatic Drainage Massage including Breast Drainage

What does breast massage do?
The lymphatic system is part your immune system. The lymph (blood plasma and white blood cells) circulate through the body tissues transporting debris and toxins from tissue to the lymph nodes. The lymph nodes enable the body to rid itself of these toxins. The stroking, kneading and pressing of breasts with good massage technique causes the tiny capillaries to deposit unwanted materials, cellular debris and toxins, from the cells into the lymph nodes. From there, these biological waste products are carried away for proper disposal with other lymph wastes from the body.

This therapeutic treatment targets these concerns:

Softly drain the many lymph nodes around the breast
Encourage circulation in the breast tissue with gentle massage
Relieve swelling or pulling from scars
Is believed to help in the prevention of cancer
This therapeutic treatment provides for the monitoring of tissue changes; it helps heal edema, post-surgery scars, and other chronic breast problems.
Because of breasts’ particular need for good circulation, tissue mobilization and regular care, a Lymphatic Breast Treatment is effective in achieving optimal breast health.

Breast Health Care Notes:
It is suggested that there is a very high incidence of breast cancer in the UK for two main reasons.

1) The prevailing culture holds in disdain breast massage therapy. This is not so in many other countries world wide where there is a much smaller incidence of breast cancer.

2) The wearing of bras, especially underwire and tight fitting bras, severely reduce lymph circulation, thereby raising the risk of disease due to collected toxins in the lymph nodes in the breasts.
Do bras restrict lymph flow and therefore increase the risk of breast cancer?

A recent study of over 4700 women (2056 previously diagnosed with breast cancer, 2674 never diagnosed with breast cancer) indicated that there was a positive correlation between breast cancer and the length of time that women wore bras per day:

Those who wore a bra all day-long (defined in the study as any period more than 12 hours) had statistically 21 times greater risk of breast cancer than those who only wore a bra for only part of the day (defined in the study as any period up to 12 hours).
Women who wore their bras all day and night (essentially 24 hours per day) had a 5 times greater chance of developing breast cancer than those who wore it all day-long.

The study conjectured that wearing a bra may constrict the flow of lymph fluid in the breast, which then causes the higher risk of breast cancer. Lymph fluid is the natural watery fluid which surrounds and bathes cells in body tissues. Lymph fluid carries disease-fighting cells and helps remove accumulated toxins, some of which may be carcinogenic (cancer-causing). The impaired flow of lymph fluid is thought to allow toxins to build up, thus causing breast tissue cells to be exposed to higher concentrations of cancer-causing toxins for longer periods of time.

The study suggested that women wear their bras for fewer hours, thus giving their breasts time to "recover" and also not wearing bras that feel constrictive or tight. For Americans in general, viewing breasts in a nonsexual way is difficult. The fact remains that breast tissue is like any other tissue: It needs to be massaged.

How your breasts will be massaged

The nipples are never touched and only one breast is exposed at any time. Smaller massage strokes may be used along side the major ones illustrated below.

The Lymphatic Drainage Massages are based on natural processes. The effectiveness of the massages cannot be guaranteed and as such affects everyone differently. No claim is made that they will help all persons achieve the desired results.