Preparation of the lymph channels
In general, before treatment in the oedema area, the path for removal must always be cleared and lymph node activity must be stimulated. Regardless of where the swelling is located, the neck is always treated to clear the transport route at the vein angle. If this would not take place, the effect of lymph drainage would only be short-lived.
Since the lymphatic drainage is not free, the treatment attempt would be comparable to a car trying to push a mile-long traffic jam in front of it. The lymph is “forced to wait” and there is a high risk that it will sink down again under the force of gravity. The lower treatment success without the pre-treatment at the neck is only accepted if there are contraindications, such as an unadjusted hyperthyroidism (because the central pre-treatment at the neck stimulates the thyroid gland to produce more hormones) and an absolute aversion of the patient to be touched at the neck.
Abdominal drainage
For the treatment of the lower extremity and the left half of the upper body, the central pre-treatment at the neck is followed by abdominal drainage. Only the right arm and face are excluded, because the anatomy of the lymphatic system does not require any preparation of the lymphatic system in the abdomen. In the abdomen there are many large lymph channels that run through the diaphragm.
The diaphragm sinks when inhaled and rises when exhaled. If the abdominal drainage is used to influence breathing, deep breathing can be used to exert suction on the lymph vessels, which makes the treatment even more effective. The patient can also perform these breathing exercises at home.
Abdominal drainage must be omitted during treatment if there is unclear pain in the abdomen, in pregnancy, ulcerative colitis, chronic disease, radiation colitis and conditions following deep pelvic vein thrombosis. After these two pre-treatment steps, the edema can improve simply by stimulating the lymphatic vessel system. This is followed by the treatment sequence, in which all lymph nodes located between the angle of the vein and the edema area are stimulated and in which the fluid is gradually pushed on.
