Integrative Strategies to Increase Lymphatic Circulation

Because toxins are generally fat-soluble, and become stored in fat and other tissue, it is important to stimulate blood and lymphatic circulation. To successfully be removed, toxins need to journey out of cell or tissue storage, into the lymph, to the blood, to the organs of elimination and successfully out of the body. Because the lymph system is operated at the lowest pressure gradient, physical movement, including exercise, massage and skin brushing all support lymphatic circulation.

I generally recommend at least including exercise two to five days a week with conditioning, strengthening, and stretching exercises which promotes sweating. Patients can also optimize lymphatic circulation with the hydrotherapy technique, the wet sheet wrap, or Epsom salt baths, lymphatic massages, sauna and/or colonic hydrotherapy.

Colonic hydrotherapy: A therapy provided by colon hydro therapists. The procedure needs a colon irrigation machine that introduces water into the colon, retained for short period, and then expelled. Thought to stimulate the gallbladder to release bile and irrigate the colon. Sessions are generally repeated over a period of time.

Epsom salt baths: An at home hydrotherapy. Soak in warm bath with at least two cups of Epsom salts for 20 minutes three times per week during a two-month detoxification protocol timeframe.

Exercise: Conditioning, strengthening, and stretching exercises which promotes sweating, ideally three to four times per week.

Lymphatic massages: A therapy provided by licensed massage therapists. Techniques vary but focus on improving lymphatic drainage within the muscles and tissues of the body. Frequency varies, but to aid detoxification a patient could consider one session every two weeks during a two-month timeframe.

Sauna: A small room used as a hot-air or steam bath to induce sweating. Can be infrared, steam, dry or other type of sauna.  Most moderate recommendation is 140 -180 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes, three times per week. Some protocols increase up to five hours daily, with periods of rest, daily for two to six weeks.

Wet Sheet Wrap: An at home hydrotherapy technique. Nick name “poor man’s sauna” because it activates a sweat response that can aid detoxification and stimulate immune function like a sauna but requires no equipment. The technique involves a full body wrap in a cold wet sheet. The treatment progresses in three phases, which include cold or cooling, neutral, and heating. I generally will recommend doing this at home once per week over a two-month detoxification protocol timeframe.

Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from the e-book, An Introduction to Clinical Detoxification in Integrative Medicine. To access the full text, click here.