Contraindications | Manual lymph drainage

Contraindications

Contraindications, i.e. in which cases a therapy must not be applied, are in the case of manual lymphatic drainage: in these cases there is a risk of spreading the disease even further by stimulating the circulation or of overloading the weakened heart or kidney even further.

  • Acute inflammation
  • Febrile illness
  • Eczema on the skin
  • Fresh thromboses
  • Heart failure
  • Kidney weakness
  • Malignant tumors

Pretreatment

Manual lymph drainage, as it is called in therapy, is used when lymph accumulates in the tissue and swelling occurs. As described above, this can have various causes. For example, after operations or diseases of the system, “MLD” is prescribed to support the body in physiological drainage, to stimulate the activity of the lymph nodes and thus to prevent too many waste products or proteins from accumulating in the tissue.

In general, lymphatic drainage always begins with basic pre-treatment – it does not matter at first where the swelling is located in the body. Pre-treatment The patient is placed comfortably in a supine position; he should be able to relax as much as possible to allow lymph flow to be as unobstructed as possible. The head lies flat, the legs or arms, depending on the location of the swelling, slightly padded.

In this way, the fluid no longer has to fight against gravity. The basic requirement for performing manual lymphatic drainage is precise knowledge of the course of the vessels, as they are gradually worked through in a certain order. The procedure always starts in the region of the vein angles, i.e. the final destination of the lymph.

From this point on, the way is clear, with slowly evenly circling and pumping handles. The hands are placed flat on the skin and move it – and thus the lymph vessels of the first layer of skin – first in a transverse direction to open the vessels and then to push the lymph with a flowing movement in the direction of flow. In this way, the pathways from the terminal to the site of swelling are gradually worked through, the lymph nodes and the entire circulation are stimulated.

The classic handles are the so-called standing circle and the pump handle. The general pre-treatment also includes deep breathing. As described above, the resulting negative pressure acts like a suction on the vascular system.

It is important to breathe deeply into the abdomen instead of superficially into the chest. To support this, the therapist places his flat hands at various points with gentle pressure, such as on the lower ribs or the middle of the abdomen, in order to provide a stimulus for the direction and depth of breathing. The so-called contact breathing is followed by the colon treatment, the stimulation of the colon.

This also supports the entire circulation and stimulates the deeper lymphatic trunks. Then the large lymph nodes are stimulated by deeper grips. If the legs are affected, the important lymph nodes are in the groin, for the arms in the armpits and for the face in the neck.

Once the pre-treatment is complete, the treatment moves on to the specific region. The individual areas are explained in the following. The sequence is always from proximal – close to the body, to peripheral – far from the body.

For the arm region up to the hand, the lymph nodes of the armpit are intensively stimulated after the pre-treatment. From the shoulder region to the upper arm from all sides, the next accumulation of lymph nodes in the crook of the arm is reached. Once a path from proximal to peripheral has been cleared, the lymph is always “reworked” again, i.e. the lymph is pushed towards the vein angle via pumping handles or circles.

This continues in the direction of the forearm, which is worked free from the front and back to the hand. On the hand itself there are special grips for the thumb region or the individual fingers, for example. In the area of the swelling, work is done until the tissue becomes softer and the fluid can be pushed further.

Each time, the fluid is transported away again to the next large lymph node trunk. For the leg treatment, over the knee and up to the foot, the lymph nodes in the groin are intensively stimulated after the pre-treatment.Over thighs front, outside and inside, as well as the back, all lanes are stimulated and the paths are cleared. In the knee region, the hollow of the knee is particularly important, where the lymph nodes are stimulated with deep grips.

The inner side must also be treated intensively, as it is an important drainage connection between the lower leg and the thigh. Like the forearm, the lower leg is freed from the front and back. On the foot, the region behind the ankles is very important, where most of the swelling usually accumulates.

And here, too, after each trajectory, the swelling is removed again up to the groin. If the swelling is located in the face, the pre-treatment is still carried out via the abdomen, intestine and breathing. Afterwards, the various lymph nodes in the neck region are stimulated and transported down again and again towards the vein angle.

Via the chin, to the side of the nose, next to the ears and up to the eye region, the path is cleared from bottom to top. Throughout the entire therapy unit, the patient should breathe evenly and be as relaxed as possible. After the lymphatic drainage it is recommended to drink enough water and to keep the lymphatic extremity high for a while to maintain the effect after the therapy. In order to be able to check and follow the success of the lymphatic drainage, a circumference measurement is carried out on the affected areas before and after the treatment.