For details of how to become a member, click here. The LSN is receiving an increasing number of enquiries regarding advances in lymphatic drainage massage that are being made as a result of Fluoroscopy imaging. The LSN requested the following articles which explain how and why things are changing, their influence on the way many MLD practitioners are carrying out massage, and how these new developments might benefit you.
Manual Lymphatic Drainage, or MLD, is a specialist form of massage carried out by trained therapists and used to stimulate the lymphatic system. In the late s, partly in response to this but also to allow people to carry out more frequent treatments for themselves to maintain their condition between clinic appointments, pioneers of lymphoedema management such as Caroline Badger and Eunice Jeffs introduced Simple Lymphatic Drainage, now called Self Lymphatic Drainage , SLD.
In SLD individuals carry out a simplified version of the massage for themselves. Techniques have developed somewhat over the years due to science, our common sense and greater understanding but have basically stayed the same.
New assessment tools for lymphoedema are always evolving. I have been working with the imaging tool of lymphofluoroscopy or ICG fluorescent imaging for the last 5 years. A small amount of tracer is injected under the skin and a specialist camera is used to show where the lymphatics are working or failing Fig 1.
Lymphofluoroscopy Imaging has allowed us to evaluate many treatments and products used in lymphoedema therapy. This article will discuss some of the changes that have taken place due to the new understanding that we have gained from lymphofluoroscopy.
