- Manual Lymph Drainage (lymphedema and post-surgical)
Dr. Hillebrand is a certified lymphatic therapist with years of experience. Your lymphatic system is your body’s natural drainage system coming from the tissues, back into the blood but can develop blockages can occur whether from trauma, surgery, or other disease processes. Manual him drainage massage redirects the fluid through secondary vessels in the lymphatic system to allow the lake to properly drain which can reduce pain which can reduce pain, stiffness, swelling, and other complications regarding her due to the swelling. The importance of seeing a certified lymphatic therapist complete this treatment is to take your entire health history into account when providing treatment and make recommendations based on solid training and experience to allow you to achieve the best outcome each time. For lymphedema, the average treatment is 45 days per week for 4 to 5 weeks with each session being 60 minutes long. In the case of lymphedema, we do follow-up wrapping as it’s the only effective way to maintain the gains in the reduction of swelling in between sessions. This is often done with mappings Until we get you down to white would be your smallest size for that treatment. Then fit you for compression socks. After six months or so, we would see you back in to repeat the process to try to increase the reduction in limb size as your body will take time after each treatment cycle to adjust to the smaller size. We can also use manual lymph drainage for Lipoedema, which is the collection of excess fat in the legs. For this, the treatment cycle is often shorter because there’s less fluid to be moved and it’s more about getting in fit for proper compression in the future to minimize the size of your legs. Dr. Hillebrand also will use manual lymph drainage after orthopedic surgeries or with chronic pain as it’s been shown to reduce swelling and pain either post-surgery or post-injury and even taught a course on it for other physical therapists and occupational therapists around the country. If manual lymph drainage is something you’re interested in feel free to contact us and will be more than happy to complete your evaluation and discuss your treatment options.