Lymphoedema

In our business as manual therapists, we are aware that there are, - broadly speaking, - two body systems that we can have a significant influence over; these are the circulatory and the nervous systems. Your influence in these areas can be positive, or damaging, depending on your intention, your training, or your current attitude.

I'm prompted to speak to you today about circulation - there are many people with sedentary jobs - maybe computer-stuck - others are elderly, or not energetic for whatever reason; their lower limbs will suffer from poor circulation, maybe leading to varicose veins.

Unfortunately, walking, as an exercise, has its upside and its downside, for all of us.

Walking, whether slow or brisk, means the leg muscles, (and many others) will call for additional fluid, to provide the fuel for the task. A lower limb that is already struggling to cope with normal, day-to-day functions, may not be able to deal with a surge in the fluid that walking invites.

A solution , you ask ?

You can answer this yourself - this is a column for thinkers, for massage scientists.

Ban walking ? Unless you have severe skeletal difficulties and ailments, this would be poor advice.

Apply a garment to the lower limb? If it is to be effective, any garment, whether surgical or bandage, must be firm-firm enough to influence the peripheral circulation -that's the whole point - so there will be negative outcomes.

There is oedema, that is our starting point. If you have read my other publications, you know that oedema is, in a way, self propagating; oedema is one of the side-effects of poor circulation, and oedema has a seriously negative effect on the circulatory system - the very system that was originally designed to deal with oedema.

I propose, that unless dealt with promptly, varicose veins, like other forms of oedema, will self propagate.

One of the solutions is inversion therapy - think about this, possums, and we will speak again.