How Often Should You Get a Lymphatic Drainage Massage?

 

How often you should get a lymphatic drainage massage is a common question that I get asked.

The answer?  It depends.

That is not to dodge the question.  It really does depend on you, your state of health (diet, exercise regimen, etc.), your stress level, and whether or not you have had a recent injury or surgery.

For people who have had a surgery such as plastic surgery (but this applies to most surgeries) can check out my suggested schedule for post op recovery here.

For everyone else (who is not post op from plastic surgery), consider the following information to determine how often you should get a lymphatic drainage massage:

 

• People who have Fibromyalgia and/or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome don’t tend to have the energy to move, or movement causes so much pain that they don’t want to move any more than necessary.  Some people just are not very active in general.  Body movement moves lymph, and without movement the lymph becomes stagnant.  

Are you less active than your doctor would like you to be?

 

• Artificial sweeteners, colors, and flavors cannot be utilized by the body, but they are in most packaged foods.  When we consume them, the lymphatic system can become congested and a toxic buildup occurs in our tissues due to the “backed up toilet” effect. 

Is your diet a little less clean than it should be?

 

• Injuries (including surgery) cause tissue/cell damage and leave behind a ton of waste that the body has to clean up. 

Have you had an injury or surgery lately?

Have you begun a new diet and want to get rid of this waste?

Do you suffer from chronic levels of stress or are you experiencing a stressful time in your life?

 

What Exactly Is Lymphatic Massage? 

Before we launch into the question of “How often should you get a lymphatic drainage massage,” let’s talk quickly about what it actually is.

Lymphatic drainage massage is not standard massage.  In fact, despite it feeling like a very gentle massage, it technically is not a massage at all.  It is a gentle skin stretching technique used to treat lymphatic disorders (permanent swelling conditions) in order to reduce the size of arms, legs, etc.  The proper term for the technique is “Manual Lymphatic Drainage, (MLD)” but we will use “lymphatic massage” here in this article because it is what MLD is most commonly called in the United States.

The purpose of lymphatic massage is to aid the lymphatic system in picking up waste (“cell poop,” dead/dying cells after surgery, or toxins like artificial flavors/dyes), and make the area where they were clean again.  Once this waste has been moved into the lymphatic vessels (tubes), the massage moves it along the lymphatic pathways back to the bloodstream to be processed by the liver (protein waste) or peed out through the kidneys and bladder.

 

So, How Often Should You Get a Lymphatic Drainage Massage?

Now that we’ve discussed both what it is and the things that would make you want to consider getting lymphatic drainage massage, let’s take a look at how often you should get lymphatic massage.  Since it can depend on your situation, here are some common reasons for getting a lymphatic massage and suggested timelines for those issues.

 

Already Healthy Folks, Looking to Support a Healthy Lifestyle

For people who are looking to improve their overall well-being by adding to a lifestyle that is already very healthy – meaning a good diet free of junk food and light to moderate regular exercise, a one hour session once a month is a good schedule to keep.

 

For People Who Are Improving Their Health Through New Diet and/or Exercise

For people who are making a lot of changes such as a dietary change for weight loss or detox diet, a single session every week or every two weeks for a couple of months is generally good to help facilitate movement of wastes from the body.  Once your weight is stable and you are feeling better, feel free to drop back to a once a month protocol (unless you would prefer to come more often).

 

People With High Stress Levels

As mentioned earlier, stress causes high cortisol which affects lymphatic drainage and the health of the lymphatic system as a whole.  How often you should get a lymphatic drainage massage can vary depending how prolonged your stress is.  If you find that you have very high stress levels and want a therapy to help you relax while getting your lymph moving, lymphatic massage once every couple of weeks seems to do the trick.  

 

Lymphatic Massage After Cancer

If you have or have had cancer, the need for lymphatic therapy can vary quite a bit.  Some people just want to facilitate lymphatic movement to purge out the remainder of chemo (after it has had sufficient time to work – ask your doctors about this for what they recommend), while some people develop a permanent swelling condition known as lymphedema.

 

During/After Chemo

For people undergoing chemo on a regular basis and who can’t get specifics from their physician, I generally suggest waiting until close to the next infusion to allow the chemo to have time to do its work.  Many people go every week, every two weeks, or every three weeks for infusions.  For chemo visits one week apart, I would give it about 5 days (2 days prior to the next treatment).  For chemo visits 2 weeks apart, give it perhaps a week and a half.  For chemo visits 3 weeks apart, perhaps at the beginning of the third week (one week prior to the next infusion).

For people who have finished with their chemo, if it is soon after your last infusion, follow the instructions in the paragraph above for the first visit.  After that, you may come as often as you would like – perhaps once a week until you are feeling better.

 

After Surgery/Lymph Node Removal

After surgery to remove cancer, you can expect a good deal of swelling – as is the case with any surgery.  If lymph nodes were removed, it will be much harder for the body to bring down that swelling.  Getting in for lymphatic therapy can be very helpful in making you more comfortable as soon as a few days post op.  

You may wish to come 2-3 times a week for a few weeks, then taper to 1-2 times a week through about the 8 week mark.  The reason for this is that we want to get that swelling down as best as possible and keep it down throughout the recovery.  Lymph node removal has the potential to lead to a permanent swelling condition called lymphedema, and the goal is to keep the swelling down post operatively.  

It can take 2+ months to see if your post op swelling after a cancer surgery is more than just post op swelling (meaning, lymphedema).  Sometimes it takes years before it shows up – if it happens at all.  The more lymph nodes that are removed, radiated, or are affected by chemo, the higher your risk is for getting lymphedema.

The important thing to remember is that lymphedema (once the lymph nodes have been damaged or removed) is more likely to occur when there is trauma to the area.  This can be from something like lifting furniture (when you don’t normally do this), a scratch that becomes infected, or other situation that causes swelling (like a sauna, hot tub, or tattoo).  Likewise, the initial cancer surgery counts as a trauma that causes swelling.  This is why it is so important to address this swelling as soon as possible post op.

 

Lymphedema Therapy

For people who have a diagnosed case of lymphedema, daily management with compression garments (sleeves or stockings) are an absolute must.  Some people may even have an at-home pneumatic pump such as the LymphaPress or Flexitouch to help with management.  

Even with good self-management, lymphatic drainage massage (Manual Lymphatic Drainage) is still necessary to help keep the lymphedema under control.  While pumps are helpful and are encouraged, they don’t do as good of a job as the hands of a lymphedema therapist who can feel areas that are backing up and need a little extra care.

It is not uncommon for people with lymphedema to come weekly or every other week for therapy.  Given that this is a life-long condition, this does add up over time.  In order to keep massage costs down, the better you do with your at-home routine, the fewer massages you may need.  

Bring your garments to your first session so we can discuss the most effective management techniques for you at home.  I also have samples of many different types of garments that your doctor probably didn’t know about which you may prefer and that will make you more likely to wear them.  If we can find a system that works for you, we can save you both time and money by reducing the number of sessions you need per month getting lymphatic drainage done.

 

How Does Lymphatic Drainage Massage Help Your Body?

I have several articles and a video that explain this question in great detail.  Go look at those resources if you want more information. 

In short, the lymphatic system is like a sewage or septic system for the body.  It takes away things like dead cells and cell metabolic waste that would make our tissues and organs into a cess pool if not removed.  The lymphatic system returns that waste to the bloodstream where the heart then pumps it through the liver which breaks down (or recycles) the waste, and past the kidneys where fluid is removed.

To put this in simple terms, imagine that you were locked inside your home with your family forever and had no working toilets, sinks, or bathtubs.  Things would get nasty quickly.  Left in this state long enough, it would become unliveable, and sickness/disease would eventually set in.  This is what happens in the body when our lymphatic system is broken or clogged up with waste.

 

Where Do I Go to Book A Lymphatic Drainage Massage With You?

Great question!  All of my booking is done online here.

 

What Does a Lymphatic Massage Cost?

Details about my pricing can be found on this page.  I do offer package deals for people who want to come on a regular basis (or who will be coming several times after surgery).