What you do at home can make a real difference

Applying self-drainage techniques daily will help keep your vessels active and open. It’s especially important for those with damaged vessels needing to redirect lymph through nearby anastomoses channels in lymphoedema.

There are a lot of resources online on how to assist your drainage, some techniques a little off the mark according to Sal, but they do carry some benefits for drainage when compared to doing nothing at all.

Keep an eye out for Sal’s upcoming youTube channel for lymph drainage videos, interviews and talks on everything muscle and lymph. A link will be shared once all is ready to go.

In the meantime, during your appointments, Sal will share techniques, best methods and tools such as dry brushes, specialty gloves, or if preferred how to use just your hands.

Sal has found a beautiful soft lymphatic brush that is made from recycled materials and specifically designed for lymph drainage featured… also available for purchase through Sal.

After a year of wearing compression leggings every day, and now, with the addition of a pneumatic compression pump into the mix, it has changed Sal’s whole perspective. Yes, she’s still wearing her leggings on workdays (to avoid painful legs at the end of the day) and to the gym (for support of her heavy legs). But now, she can feel confident that if she chooses to wear her other wardrobe favourites to go out, it will not undo all of her good work. The pump has definitely become a favourite in Sal’s routine now!!

     Proven benefits of the pump include:

• Reduce inflammation
• Assist the removal of waste products and diseased cells
• Increase venous & lymphatic return
• Improve circulation and harmony in the tissues, allowing all other processes to work effectively
• Reduce oedema
• Improve limb appearance
• Reduce sensitivity & pain
• Soften fibrosis
• Sports recovery (DOMS)
• Relieve muscle pain

For chronic oedema, compression garments and/or bandaging is a MUST to managing the condition. Once your oedema has shown itself, it indicates that your system is damaged or under long term strain, so, it’s likely you will be wearing some form of compression for as long as you need to manage your condition.

Please Note – Not all compression is the same. Sports compression is not medical grade compression. For the majority of us with lymphatic conditions, limb distortion is common, therefore a sports compression legging made to standard sizing is not likely to conform to our contours with the correct pressure gradient for upward circulation. However, in the early stages of lipoedema (and a normal shape to your leg) some brands can be helpful and quite ok to wear. 

There are many different types, knits, textiles, designs, colours and accessories to choose from. Be aware that different types suit different conditions.

It’s imperative that you are measured correctly and have been prescribed the right type of compression for your stage and co-mobidities.

See the Compression Garment page for details….. under Lymphatics Header

Broken or dry flaky skin can be inviting to external bacteria causing infections. By keeping your skin hydrated will ensure your skins’ integrity and maintain an adequate barrier to external factors.

Tip – apply your moisturiser at night before going to bed, so it has all night to absorb into your skin. It is increasingly difficult to put on your compression with moist skin if applied in the morning, and some creams can have an impact to the integrity and longevity of the fabric/knit within your compression

There are many light weight and simple movements to assist your lymph flow, especially whilst in your compression or bandages. Your therapist will be able to give you some gentle exercises to get you started and build on from there. Keep in mind it’s a process and a lot to take in, so there’s no point rushing.

For non-lymphoedema conditions, exercise increases heart pump, muscle contraction and weight management that will also serve a great purpose for your symptoms.

Water Walking – simple walking (not swimming) in water creates a pressure gradient perfectly simulating manual lymph drainage. The deeper the limb the greater the pressure on the skin. Therefore, your foot on the bottom, has a higher pressure to the rest of the limb decreasing gradually as we go up to the surface.  Resulting in perfect directional flow for both venous and lymph circulation. Plus, the cooler temperature in the water helps to reduce inflammation and pain.

Rebounder / Mini Tramp – vibration and movement of the body from the bounce whilst low impact on your joints, helps with muscle contraction as the body interacts, which in turn helps with the pumping in the lymph vessels. Don’t be surprised if you need to pee after, either from lymph movement or downward pressure on your pelvic floor.

Vibration Plate – exercise on the plate or just allowing the vibration to radiate through your body helping the muscles to contract, hence helping the lymph vessels to pump (Sal has found this especially good to help with lower leg pain for venous insufficiency)

Weight Training – besides having a great magnitude of benefits (metabolism, muscle strength, estrogen, endorphins, mental health) building muscle helps to reduce body fat, which will assist with mobility issues and health concerns related to excess weight. Whilst also helping to reduce your symptoms.

By maximising the pump action, will result in decongestion of fluid, whilst also removing the waste products and inflammation out of the tissues.

“Better for our overall health and ability to fight disease!!”

Good health always starts with healthy eating and healthy habits. Particularly good for lymphatic issues is an anti-inflammatory diet. Ensure that all attempts are made to help your fluid retention by avoiding the foods that cause inflammation, irritation and swelling. Then you’re off to a good start.

The below tips are a guide and what has worked for Sal, there are many differing opinions out there, and this could most certainly relate to other health concerns along with your lymphatic conditions. No one size fits all, you just need to trial and error what works for you, engage your medical team to monitor your health and ensure you are not at risk of any other problems.

avoid white, white flour, white sugar, refined grains, pasta & white salt (these are often highly processed and even bleached for colour)

Reduce sugar, is just a sensible choice for weight management and reduction in refined processed sugars

Reduce alcohol intake, we all enjoy a glass from time to time. But alcohol is highly inflammatory. Be mindful of mixes too high in sugar.

Limit coffee intake, no need to cut coffee completely as it has some beneficial antioxidants and minerals for your health, but too much depletes your body of hydration, which is damaging to your lymph system

Increase water Intake, water is your lymph’s transport vessel. If your vital organs or life preserving processes are lacking in water, they will take it from wherever it can, leaving all that toxic metabolic waste stagnant in your tissues.

Cut out deep fried foods, there a large array of problems with deep fried foods. Usually highly processed, depleting of any nutritional content, high in saturated fats and other above mentioned (white) ingredients. But most of all for your lymphatics, these are long chain fats. Your body does not use long chain fats for energy, they are excreted only through the lymphatic system. The thick and heavy fat molecules have the potential to clog up/overload your system, leaving them in your abdomen cavity causing more digestive issues and inflammatory problems through your mid-section. I wonder if this may possibly be a trigger for Lipoedema????

Avoid or limit dairy, besides being inflammatory (and not necessarily inflammatory for everyone – trial and error to find whether it is for you) I heard a saying way back when was a fitness trainer that has stuck with me. Dairy is intended for a cow not humans, cut it out unless you are happy turning into a 400kg cow.

Increase Fiber – fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains 

Increase Omega-3 fatty acids – salmon, mackerel, sardines, and tuna, as well as vegetable oils like flaxseed and canola 

Sal also stocks a line of Omega-3 supplements that is pure, clean and safe, containing up to 99% DHA-triglycerides without all the nasties, made from deep sea seaweed