Lymphatic Drainage Therapy
Lymphatic Drainage Therapy
Sonja practices both lymphatic drainage therapy (LDT of the Chikly methodology) and manual lymphatic drainage (MLD of the Vodder and Klose methodology). Both are gentle hands-on modalities to promote the healthy flow of lymphatic fluid through your body. These techniques activate the circulation of lymphatic fluid, blood flow, cerebrospinal fluid and synovial fluid while simultaneously removing stagnant, protein-rich substances that cause swelling and contribute to pain. Lymphatic drainage helps to regulate the autonomic nervous system, plays a vital role in defending against infections and helps to keep your entire cardiovascular system functioning well.
Benefits of LDT and MLD are numerous, and they can be used to:
- Recover from an injury or surgery, or to prepare your body before undergoing surgery
- Promote tissue regeneration and reduce inflammation in areas of orthopedic injuries, fractures or scars
- Assist in detoxifying your body and boosting your immune system
- Reduce symptoms of autoimmune conditions (including rheumatoid arthritis), MS, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and neurological/ neuroinflammatory disorders
- Treat brain fog and systemic imbalances caused by COVID infections
- Support systemic detoxification after mold or heavy metal exposure, and support people with genetically-based detoxification disorders (e.g. the MTHFR gene mutation, among others)
- Re-route stagnant fluid away from areas of congestion, dysfunction or pain
- Reduce symptoms related to painful or difficult menstruation and boost fertility by enhancing the cellular health of reproductive organs
- Relieve the burden that chronic venous insufficiency and other venous conditions place on the cardiovascular system (but please note that congestive heart failure is a contraindication for this therapy)
- Regulate your nervous system due to its analgesic and parasympathetic-inducing effects
- Enhance your natural beauty (lymphatic drainage of the face, head and neck improves skin health and creates a beautiful, healthy glow - in addition to clearing your sinuses and helping your brain to detoxify!)
What is the lymphatic system?
When blood reaches travels through an artery and reaches a capillary (the transitional space between the arterial and the venous networks), much of it “leaks out” into our extracellular matrix, which can be imaged as a jello-like space. This is how our cells are able to absorb important nutrients, such as oxygen. This process also allows for the transport of hormones, which are large protein molecules.
Almost all of what is left behind in this extracellular matrix/ interstitial space is not able to be picked up by our veins, which have narrow valve openings. Our lymphatic system is responsible for collecting and moving these proteins, fats, cells and excess water, then processing it via immune surveillance in our lymph nodes, and ultimately transporting it all back to our heart. Once lymphatic fluid reaches our heart, it joins our bloodstream so that its contents can be processed by our liver or kidneys and either be recycled (as is the case with many proteins) or eliminated from our body (in the case of toxins and pathogenic substances).
We can see that because veins valves are too small to pick up what is left behind in the extracellular matrix around capillaries, having a healthily functioning lymphatic system is crucial for maintaining good tissue health and preventing toxic build-up. Unlike the flow of blood, which is pushed through arteries by the beating of our heart, the lymphatic system does not have a central pump. This is why lymphatic drainage therapy can be so incredibly important as a way to gently and effectively guide this fluid back to the main circulatory system.
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