Lymph Drainage
Manual Lymph Drainage is a very slow, repetitive and always done as a routine....It's not a holistic treatment and is a little boring to do
I just returned from a Lymph Drainage Therapy course (different curriculum than Manual Lymph Drainage. Both work effectively with the lymph, but LDT seems to have a more holistic approach). If you're worried about the work being boring or repetitive, I recommend this curriculum instead. It's taught through the Upledger Institute and has wide-ranging and creative applications for people of all levels of health (not exclusively people with lympedema). As an example, here were some results experienced by students of the class, simply from the practice we did on each other over 4 days:
- One student had a torn MCL which made walking painful for the past few months. By the end of class, she was walking normally.
- Another student had a 5-year-old rash that the doctors could neither diagnose nor treat. It disappeared.
- Another student had tendonitis of the elbow. By the end of class, his pain had reduced by 50 percent.
- Another student had a headache disappear after literally a few seconds of treatment.
Not all of us had dramatic results. But we did all experience deep relaxation effects from the work, as well as increased range of motion throughout our body. LDT is also very helpful for detoxing the body.
The teaching assistants were massage therapists as well as LDT practitioners. They said they combine LDT in every massage session -- sometimes only 10 minutes. They said that incorporating LDT makes the muscles release faster, injuries heal quicker, and deep tissue therapy more comfortable for the client. The creative applications of this technique are really infinite.
Now, if you pursue advanced training to work with clients with Lymphedema, that is very specific, careful and repetitive work, but it can also be extremely rewarding.
Here's a link to the LDT training website:
http://www.iahe.com/html/therapies/ldt.jsp