Skin Brushing & Lymphatic Massage
Our lymphatic system is responsible for important physiological functions. It maintains balanced fluid proportions inside and outside of cells, assists in regeneration of tissue, filters foreign substances and debris, and transports hormones and immune cells. If the lymphatic system is compromised you see it as edema - swelling - but all those unseen functions are reduced. Usually this hydraulic system can repair itself after an injury, but there are situations where manual therapy is used to assist the natural pumping action so that fluid will begin to move again. Surgeries, old or new injuries, lack of movement and cosmetic laser procedures can stress or shut down the lymphatic system.
Manual Lymphatic Drainage is a modality that trains therapists to assess and feel the subtle rhythm of a lymphatic wave. This hands-on bodywork style uses a very light pumping stroke. It’s weight-of-a-nickel light, but it actually amplifies the natural fluid wave so that more lymph fluid begins to be pulled into the vessels and out of surrounding tissues. It’s an amazingly effective treatment to re-activate a stagnant system. Swelling is often noticeably reduced after just one session. (Note, this is not the case for actual lymphedema; lymphedema therapists have more extensive training and the treatment protocol is more rigorous in number of session requirements.)
When clients come in for any kind of muscle ache or ongoing soft-tissue pain, I always teach about lymphatic work because so many people have never heard of it. It’s effective and powerful as a bodywork technique, and I want client’s to know that they don’t have to walk around with an old ankle injury that has remained ‘puffy’ for a long time. I want them to know that LDT is a therapy that will be necessary after node dissections in breast cancer patients. And I want my clients to have heard of the technique, consider trying a session, and be aware that it can be taught as self-care. This is information that clients are too often surprised to hear about for the first time if they find their way to massage work after an injury that won’t stop swelling or after a mastectomy or lumpectomy. Lack of awareness isn’t the same as lack of efficacy - many kinds of effective treatments have been housed as ‘alternative’ here in the U.S. when actually there’s much research that puts them square into the medical camp. In a way, this is a benefit because if they were housed under ‘real’ medicine, massage therapist’s wouldn’t have access to the training.
Lymphatic drainage work is practiced standardly in Europe and South America after any surgery. Doctors and PT’s do utilize it in the U.S., but not standardly. Aestheticians train in LDT in order to plump the skin and rejuvenate it. Massage and lymphatic bodywork both offer more for well-being than how self-care is currently marketed as a ‘way to escape’. For that matter, spas themselves offer more to well-being than the typical limited narrative of ‘indulgence’.
Skin Brushing
Asian cultures have used a modified lymphatic technique for centuries and though the anatomy of the lymphatics was mostly ignored and unknown until recently, the technique of skin-brushing as a lymphatic booster is highly effective. Sometimes called dry-brushing, this practice works on two levels. First, our skin’s top cellular levels regenerate pretty quickly, but they don’t necessarily slough off easily. And when they do slough off, it can look pretty cloudy when you give a scratch - ewwww right? In fact, some of us get rather itchy because the skin is asking for some ability to be free from the top non-working layers. For some reason it isn’t a daily hygiene/health practice in many Western cultures, but once you start you won't forget it in your routine since it’s waaaay more fun than flossing! By using a fairly stiff dry brush over the entire body before showering, the top layers of dead skin cells are removed (and in a contained room!). And this means that the active, living and breathing, absorbing cells are now on the surface where they can function efficiently.
The second level is of benefit for the underlying lymphatic vessels. Most of our lymph vessels (fine as a single hair) are superficial. About 70% are just below the layers of skin. We do have deeper lymphatic vessels, especially in the abdominal organ area, but it’s the surface lymphatics that are given a little boost when we practice skin brushing. Keeping the lymphatics ‘exercised’ by brushing the skin, gives them the same promotion described above in the section about manual LDT. Daily skin brushing adds amazing benefits to your physical health since this system houses our immune cells and our hormones. For deeper lymphatic vessels, deep breathing and movement keep them fit.
Directions
Skin-brushing is simple; brush the entire body and towards the heart. Start at your feet and work your way to the top of the legs. Continue hands to shoulders making sure to do all the ‘sides’ of the limbs. Chest and abdomen - same thing - toward the heart. Do as much of your back as you can reach (and practicing that reach is another great body move to do each day - gentle twisting of the spine keeps it more lubricated and we don’t do that motion enough - but that’s another blog). Now you’re ready for the shower and in fact it’s possible to do this as a wet technique with a loofah in the shower, but I prefer the dry brush and how that feels.
Benefits
Much of your body’s immune system is housed and cued within the lymphatic vessels and nodes. LDT improves the functioning of immunity by amplifying the fluid wave and literally getting things flowing. Additionally, as various cells die within our bodies, their left-over parts, or debris (remember endoplasmic reticulum and the golgi complex from 7th grade science?), are carried away through the lymphatics. Dry brushing is not as nuanced as a session of LDT, but this self-care technique does still ‘cue’ the lymph vessels so it’s a rewarding daily practice. While dry skin brushing probably will not encourage swelling to leave an injury, a manual LDT session can. After just one session, a client was finally able to get back on her feet - literally - when stubborn edema had not healed from a six month old ankle surgery. Even as a nurse, she and her care-team did not even know about lymphatic work! Turns out the lymphatics just needed a little professional help to get the hydraulics moving again. After that, simple self-care dry brushing continued to maintain.
In case you’re able to book a lymphatic session near where you live (you don’t have to have edema to receive this style of bodywork), here are the benefits:
stimulation of fluid circulation to eliminate edema after surgery or injury
regeneration of tissue damaged from burns
rejuvenation and ‘plumping’ of tissue (aesthetician)
stimulation of the immune system
relief from chronic and acute inflammation such as sinusitis, acne, and allergies
deep relaxation since the lymphatics connect/communicate directly with the parasympathetic nervous system and this relaxation side-effect becomes a great ally in reducing chronic pain or fatigue. Especially if there as been trauma injury, encouraging the body to leave the fight or flight response just might be the best introduction to touch and healing that deeper massage techniques won’t accomplish until the system gains ability to regulate itself again.
