The Lymphatic System is one of the most overlooked systems in the body, despite the fact it plays a central role in your overall health. Keeping your Lymphatic System in top shape is an important aspect in maintaining a healthy life.

The Lymphatic System is a network of vessels that runs through your entire body. Lymph nodes are strategically located throughout the system for optimal performance, and are clustered in areas like the underarms, lower abdomen and neck.

Be Aware!! Cancer loves an acidic environment. It can’t survive in an alkaline one. Your Immune System is the most important in the fight against this disease, so a healthy Lymphatic System is essential.

But back to talking about your body’s amazing filtration system!

In a nut shell, the bloodstream acts as the cell environment and ideally the lymphatic system prevents much debris from getting in the way and slowly drowning and poisoning the tissue.

Once enough of the tissues become acidic then the vital organs gradually begin to lose their ability to maintain optimal blood, and this is just the environment in which cancer thrives. This is your body`s amazing filtration system!

Aquarium enthusiasts know that without a filter to constantly renew the quality of the water for the fish, the fish would die swimming in their own acidic, toxic excrement.

Now think about many trillions of cells packed tight and close together and every single one of them requiring groceries and waste management services. That presents quite a demand that only approximately 90,000 miles of blood capillaries and an estimated 180,000 to 300,000 miles of lymphatic vessels can fulfill!

To our many trillions of cells this is the equivalent comparable to fishes in a fish tank with the most amazing filtration system conceivable. This is simple, basic “groceries and waste management services” for the cells.

What does the Lymphatic System do?

Your Lymphatic System performs the vital function of cleansing the fluid that surrounds the cells in your body by removing impurities and waste products. This process not only protects your body from toxins, but also allows cells in the body to function at their best.

So how does our Lymphatic Fluid move?

Mainly through our normal daily movements, and especially during exercise… the more vigorous, the better.

Now, having said that, I have treated girls who were Physical Training Instructors in the services who displayed swollen Lymph Nodes and no one could be doing more exercise than them. So how come?

This is my take on it. Imagine hosing out a drain. The water runs free for a time until a stick or something gets caught along the way. Soon, a bit of grass, maybe, gets hung up on the stick and before long a leaf or two does the same. As more and more builds up on the stick, we notice the water is backing up behind the debris and the drains effectiveness is compromised. This is what happens with your Lymphatic System.

What happens when the Lymphatic System can’t function properly?

An unhealthy Lymphatic System can have a serious impact on your health. Poor lymph function is associated with fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, aches and pains, bloating and poor digestion. Studies have shown that an unhealthy lymph system can contribute to cellulite, fat deposits and obesity as well.

How can you keep your Lymphatic System healthy?

Drink plenty of water. The Lymphatic System depends on a constant supply of fluid, so it’s very important to drink at least eight glasses of water a day to keep it functioning at its best. Purified or filtered water is the best choice.

Choose healthy foods. Preservatives, artificial sweeteners, refined grains, excess sugar, chemicals and processed foods all put strain on the Lymphatic System. Choose foods that are organic, whole and natural as much as possible.

Eat your fruits and veggies. Fruits and vegetables supply the Lymphatic System with important vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients. The chlorophyll in green vegetables is especially beneficial to the Lymphatic System.

Get your essential fatty acids. Healthy fats are necessary for the proper function of the Lymphatic System. Good sources of essential fatty acids include pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds and avocados.

Stay active. When your muscles move, they essentially massage the Lymphatic System and promote the flow of fluid through your lymph vessels. Regular exercise like stretching, yoga, daily walks and strength training are all great ways to keep those lymph juices flowing.

Practice deep breathing. Like exercise, deep breathing promotes the movement of fluid through the Lymphatic System while providing it with fresh oxygen.

One of the exercise methods recommended for improving Lymphatic function is rebounding… or bouncing gently on a small in-home trampoline (called a rebounder). Since our Lymphatic Fluid circulates upward via a network of vessels, through one-way valves, this bouncing action helps push our Lymphatic Fluid up through these tubes and throughout our bodies. The more it circulates, the healthier it can keep us.

Of course, we’ll also benefit from the cardiovascular workout, but the Lymphatic function is just as critical. Without proper circulation through the system and into our detoxifying organs, poisons just sit there.

That’s why, when an older person breaks a hip and is bedridden, other problems often arise. It’s not the broken bone… it’s the inactivity that follows. Even the modest movements of independent living (walking, sitting down then standing up) are far superior to extended bed confinement.

Do you need a Manual Lymphatic Drainage?

Maybe you do if:

There is stress in your life…
If you are dark under the eyes…
If you aren’t getting enough greens in your diet…
If you aren’t getting enough sleep…
If you feel as if you have already done a days work when you wake up…
You tend to be short or snappy with people…

Give the nod to half of the above then the answer is most definitely “Yes!”

A Manual Lymphatic Drainage is especially supportive of the Lymphatic System and removes the toxins that have accumulated in your body making you lethargic and run down. (A general Swedish or Remedial massage will reveal the extent your Lymph Nodes are swollen). However… be sure to wear loose fitting underwear because you don’t need anything acting as a tourniquet and restricting fluid movement.

If you’ve already had a Lymphatic Drainage, you’ll know how good you feel afterwards. Sometimes there can be side effects, but this is relevant to the amounts of toxins that were removed from your body and how it is performed.

Posture is the bearing in which you hold your body plumb when you are standing, sitting or lying down.  Good posture involves training your body to stand, walk, sit and lie in positions where the least strain is placed on supporting muscles and ligaments during activity or weight-bearing movements.

Correct Posture:

• Keeps bones and joints correctly aligned so that muscles are being used properly.
• Decreases the stress on the ligaments holding the vertebrae together.
• Decreases the abnormal wearing of joint surfaces that can bring upon arthritis.
• Prevents the spine becoming fixed in abnormal positions.
• Reduces fatigue.
• Prevents strain or overuse problems.
• Prevents back and muscular pain.
• Contributes to a good appearance.

It’s mortifying to hear “Posture is inherited.  My parents had bad posture, so did their parents, and so I have bad posture too.  I guess I’m just stuck with it”.

What an absolute load of rubbish!  The theory of inheriting bad posture is completely false, so why do so many sufferers of back pain believe it?

The answer is simply that medical profession is failing to help people with postural problems.  So much trust is put into our doctors, that when they can’t help us, we often give up all hope.  What most people don’t realise is that doctors aren’t really experts on posture, and 80% of Australians suffer from back pain.”

Improving your “computer posture” is one of the most effective ways to avoid getting rounded shoulders and neck ache.   While we need to be aware of your posture on any computer, using a laptop makes it is especially easy to pick up bad habits.

The trouble with laptops is that they keyboard and display are too close together, which means you are either you are looking down too much which is bad for your neck, or your hands are too high which encourages tense shoulders.   If only used for short periods at a time, laptops don’t really pose much risk, but increasingly people are spending more hours a day on them.

A sign of the aging process is poor posture, but it is actually possible to prevent this with posture exercises.

We can’t do anything about wrinkles or gray hair as we grow old…  (well, maybe the ladies will disagree,) but it is possible to maintain good posture as we mature.

Avoid sending your child to School.

Obviously, we can’t do that, but watch any child when they are in their preschool years and you will see an example of a good posture.  Children naturally hold no excessive tension in their bodies and move effortlessly regardless of what they are doing.  We look at them galavanting around and think “I wish I could still do that”.  This stops when the child starts school, and is made to sit in poorly designed furniture, in a static position, for hours on end.

Holding the body still for any extended period of time causes the muscles to tire and tense.   A typical school chair slopes backwards, thus tipping the pelvis away from the desk.   This leaves the child with no option but to round their back and shoulders in order to reach their desks.

In countries where children are not made to sit at school desks, you will almost always see that they maintain their perfect posture into adulthood.

Lack of Exercise.

Movement and exercise is commonly overlooked.  Actually they are perhaps one of the best posture exercises that you can do to ensure good health.  The reason for this is that our bodies are designed for continuous movement.   We are never really still for any length of time.  Even the act of standing, which many would assume is a static position, actually involves mini movements that are performed unconsciously over and over.  An exercise you can try is to stand on one leg and then close your eyes and see how hard it is to maintain your balance.  It shows how much we rely on our eyes to make the tiny adjustments in muscle tension that keep us upright.

Despite movement being such an important activity, we often make no plan for it.  Instead, people linger and tell their posture has become progressively worse to the point where they have to go and see a doctor.  Sadly, the doctor has not much to offer for back pain, and anti inflammatories just hide the symptom doing nothing for the cause.  However, if a little exercise were taken a few times a week it would probably have a more significant effect than anything a doctor or surgeon could accomplish.

The major problem seems to be that from the time a child goes to school until a person expires, we are typically expected to spend most of a day in a sitting position.  It’s no wonder that so many people have back pain these days when you consider the time that the average adult will spend in a chair.

In spite of age, muscle strength can be achieved even at 70 and above.  It’s simply a case of use it or lose it…  So use it! Walking, cycling, jogging, swimming, etc are all good posture exercises that you can enjoy and do you a whole heap of good.

Have you ever wondered why one side of your neck sometimes gets really tight.  Maybe it hurts to turn your head to the right.  Stand relaxed and check in the mirror to see if your left shoulder is raised.
You might be thinking you slept badly the night before, but it might be that your crook neck  is an indication of a more extensive muscular imbalance that has been coming on.

Ever felt the outer thigh get really tight or sore on, say, the left leg? Sportsmen might know the muscle as the ITB or iliotibial band.  Possibly combined with that the inner thigh (adductor muscles) on the other leg is tight or sore? Stand relaxed with your arms loosely down by your side and check to see if your right hip is higher than the left.
If in this instance your right shoulder is also lower than the left, you probably have at least a mild scoliosis…  a curvature of the spine.

Posture gives a remedial massage therapist numerous clues about likely causes of muscular and joint aches and pains.

Qualified therapists are trained to recognise what muscles are likely to be involved in postural imbalances, how to check the muscles for flexibility and strength, and how to loosen or strengthen them if there is a problem.

It can go without saying of course,that postural problems may be due to an injury, a birth defect or other reasons.  However, in the vast majority of cases it is simply due to an imbalance in the muscles between left and right side of the body, or the front and back.

As well as Remedial Massage, a therapist will often give stretching exercises to help correct a problem.

Massage is the manipulation of muscle and connective tissue to enhance the function of those tissues, improving relaxation and well-being.
There are many benefits that can be obtained through massage therapy. Relaxation, stress and pain relief are just some of them, but there are also many added benefits that can be achieved through massage therapy that you might not even be aware of.
This can include better physical and mental health, as well as anxiety relief.  Sometimes just talking to a caring massage therapist can take a load off your mind.  Much study has been done on a variety of massage therapy techniques and their effects on patients, and the results have been so very promising.

The benefits of massage therapy proven through research-based studies showed that people who get a massage before an exam or other potentially stressful situation had a significant reduction in anxiety and respiratory rates, as well as an surprising increase in white blood cells.
Another study showed that office workers who get a regular massage are more alert, perform more efficiently and are less stressed than those who aren’t massaged on a regular basis.
It has also been shown that seniors and elderly nursing home residents ane likely to be less agitated after massage.
Another study showed that heart surgery patients showed a significant decrease in anxiety and stress after receiving a massage, suggesting that their post operation health could be better since stress and anxiety are directly related to heart conditions.

The essence of massage is touch… and, through it, healing.

It’s healing power is attained from the fulfillment of a basic human need for human contact.  As siblings, physical contact with family was in the form of holding, stroking, cuddling and touching. Touching is essential for our emotional and physical well being that the lack of it or its withdrawal can lead to serious disturbances such as depression and lack of self-esteem in children.

Touch is the magical ingredient in massage that does not exist in modern medicine.

Not too many doctors touch their patients much any more.  Touch just isn’t there. Years ago massage was a big part of nursing. There was so much touch, and so much care communicated through touch and massage. Now nurses are as busy as doctors writing charts, dealing with insurance notes… they’re busy with procedures and sadly, there is no room for massage in their duties, at least not in the Queensland Health system.

Massage is also becoming increasingly popular. Many people are having massage on a regular basis, and discovering they have less stress and anxiety, and better general health.  With any massage however, it’s advisable to wear comfortable underwear that’s not too tight as the flow of Lymhatic Fluid can be impeded.

If you haven’t tried massage therapy make a call today.  Make an appointment and experience the many benefits that massage has to offer.