Appalachian Medical Massage Associates

Eunice Mooney, a certified lymphatic therapist, demonstrates a massage technique for lymphedema on client Donna Braham. Herald photo by Angela Hill.

An article written by Angela Hill for the Prince Albert Daily Herald tells us that today is Lymphedema Awareness Day in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Let’s promote awareness here as well!  Why not?

See the article at http://www.paherald.sk.ca/News/Local/2010-02-25/article-824113/Lymphedema-recognized/1.

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Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much, a recent New York Times article by Benedict Carey, encourages more fist bumps, shoulder pats, hugs, and high fives. So do we!

Does Your Bra Really Fit? Most women with whom we work wear bras that are WAY too tight. Too-tight bras significantly restrict lymphatic flow and produce fascial binding, both of which can lead to a host of ills.

Finer Things for Her is having a Swim and Fit Event from 25-27 February. Swim trunk show, bra specials, giveaways & a special reception until 7pm Thursday evening.

Remember that a proper-fitting brassiere should allow you to easily slip two fingers under the band and under the straps.  Call 423.343.9043 to schedule your fitting appointment.  Tell them that Amber sent ya!

An article published by Reuters verifies what we lymph drainage specialists have suspected all along, stating:

After a year, women who did a twice weekly workout while wearing a compression garment had less arm pain and swelling, a condition known as lymphedema.

“Weight lifting reduced the number and severity of arm and hand symptoms, increased muscular strength and reduced the incidence of lymphedema,” a team at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Read more at http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE57B5RE20090812.

She did it!  US skier Lindsey Vonn won the GOLD medal in Women’s Alpine Downhill Skiing at the Olympics.  Hard work, determination & plenty of lymph drainage massage has paid off.  Way to go, Lindsey!

See the video at http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=04fb8dfd-11ac-413d-88ad-efb130f93ebd.html

U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn is glad to be back on the snow and credits lymphatic drainage massage with assisting in her recovery. On February 2nd, she experienced “an excruciatingly painful deep tissue bruise on her right shin in a slalom training crash.”

Lymphatic Drainage can be wonderful for all deep bruises and sprains, as it directly affects the lymphatic system to decrease swelling and inflammation.

Sometimes it seems to work too well.  It can take away the pain way too fast!  (I have to remind people that just because their ankles don’t hurt doesn’t mean that they can go right back out running or dancing or skiing.  The body still needs rest to allow time to for the body to fully heal. . . .)

We hope that Lindsey will be able to recover fully and compete in this year’s Olympics without further injury.  Good luck, Lindsey!

Read more at USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/vancouver/alpine/2010-02-11-lindsey-vonn-cover_N.htm.

While it may seem a bit far-fetched to speak of ladies’ undergarments being out to kill us, it makes perfect sense that brassieres could at the very least increase our risk of breast cancer. A few days ago, I ran across an interesting article on this very subject whilst updating myself on world news.

Most of the women with whom I work wear bras that are WAY too tight.  This constricts lymphatic flow, making it extremely difficult for the body to cleanse the area of toxins (including carcinogenic chemicals).  These toxins build up and form lumps, cysts - even cancerous cells and tumors.  From a lymphologist’s standpoint, anything that binds too tightly (especially in bands - like bra straps, bra bands, underwear elastics, tight belts, etc.) can be a serious obstruction to proper lymphatic flow.

The research cited goes on to say that locally increased temperature may alter hormone production, thereby increasing the risk of breast cancer.  Melatonin production also seems to decrease the more a woman wears a bra.  Melatonin has powerful antioxidant qualities and has been shown to decrease the rate of breast cancer growth.

Please take a few minutes to read the linked article.  More research needs to be done, but the numbers are nothing short of shocking.  Of the 4700+ women involved in the study:

• Women who wore their bras 24 hours per day had a 3 out of 4 chance of developing breast cancer.
• Women who wore bras more than 12 hour per day but not to bed had a 1 out of 7 risk.
• Women who wore their bras less than 12 hours per day had a 1 out of 152 risk.
• Women who wore bras rarely or never had a 1 out of 168 chance of getting breast cancer - The same as men who don’t wear bras!
• The overall difference between 24 hour wearing and not at all was a 125-fold difference.
• 80% of bra-wearers who experienced lumps, cysts and tenderness saw the symptoms vanish within a month of going braless.

Please take this into consideration.  If you are going to wear a bra (and most of us women will, nonetheless), it is important to take some precautions.  A well-fitting healthy bra should be slightly loose. . . .  You should easily be able to slip two fingers under the shoulder straps and under the band at the rib cage.  Also, be sure to massage your breasts after removing your bra.  This will help stimulate the lymphatics to do their job and take care of you!

Read the BiomedME’s article at http://biomedme.com/general/could-bras-be-the-missing-link-to-breast-cancer_5766.html.

MedPage Today recently published an article reporting on the findings of a group of researchers in Spain. Their finding were published in the British Medical Journal this year. They found that breast cancer patients who received manual lymph drainage (MLD) after surgery had up to a 72% decreased risk of developing lymphedema!

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By Linda S. Mah | Kalamazoo Gazette

November 12, 2009, 10:19AM

DELTON —

Fern Taylor, of Delton, wears a compression sleeve and glove on her right arm to help prevent buildup of lymph fluid after having lymph nodes removed from her breast.

Fern Taylor never knows when her lymphedema is going to flare up. She’ll notice a rash, then there’s a burning sensation and soon her arm swells up to three times its normal size.’

The first time it happened in 2003 “I had no idea what was going on,” said Taylor, who lives in Delton.

Since then, Taylor has learned that the swelling in her right arm is the result of a buildup of lymphatic fluid, which occurs because the lymph nodes in that arm were removed as part of her treatment for breast cancer.

“Basically, the fluids in my body went where they were supposed to go, but the lymph nodes were not there anymore to carry it through the body,” Taylor said. “So it got stuck.”

The lymphatic system drains fluid from bodily tissue and allows immune cells to travel throughout the body. Lymphedema occurs when the lymph nodes are unable to drain that fluid. The fluid pools in an area, causing the body part to swell and sometimes leading to discomfort from the pressure of the fluid buildup, a sense of heaviness, a decreased range of motion, chronic wounds and ulcers and skin breakdown.

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2009 is almost over. . . . Are you wondering how to best use the money in your Flex Account? A brief workshop will be held discussing how Flex Spending Accounts and HSAs can be used to pay for certain kinds of massage therapy treatments. This 30-minute workshop will be held at 6:00pm on Thursday, November 19th at our office at 317 Cherokee Street in downtown Kingsport. Massage and other manual therapies can play an important role in helping you attain short and long term goals of better health and performance. This workshop is perfect for human resources personnel of large or small corporations, or for individuals with key health challenges they’d like to address.

This short workshop will also provide in depth and often surprising ways in which massage and other manual therapies can help with a variety of health challenges. Some conditions that respond particularly well to treatment include chronic and acute pain, neck and back pain, generalized joint pain, headaches, migraines, TMJD/jaw pain, postural problems, pregnancy, carpal tunnel syndrome, and sciatica. It is also great for detoxification. Join us for an evening of education and discussion.

Amber and Paul Vachon are Nationally Certified Massage Therapists, with advanced training in several forms of bodywork as well as medical massage. To reserve a seat, please send an email to paul@ammatn.com or call us at 423-288-2662.