Introduction to Reflexology Lymph Drainage - AoR Reflexions June 2022

hello my name is sally kay and i'm here to talk to you a little bit about reflexology lymph drainage so reflexology lymph drainage also known as rld um is a technique that focuses on isolating and stimulating the lymphatic reflexes on the feet now the aim on this is to cause an effect on the drainage function of the lymphatic system in the body it's a unique sequence that i've researched and developed from first principles while working in cancer care so the creation of this came from the desire to help relieve the physical and emotional symptoms of secondary lymphedema in those affected by treatment for breast cancer and by using the anatomical reflection theory of reflexology to identify and isolate the lymphatic reflexes on the feet and hands and work them in a specific order to cause an effect on the body lymphedema is a chronic condition which causes swelling and due to the blockage damage or absence of lymphotraneous channels and there are two main classifications of lymphedema there's primary lymphedema which has a genetic predisposition and there's secondary lymphedema which is caused by accident injury trauma or some kind of damage to the system you know surgery radiotherapy etc and even insect bites so it's a debilitating condition and there's actually no cure only very limited management options um it's debilitating too so it also has an effect on quality of life when people are diagnosed with um left with lymphedema or develop lymphedema that's a better way of saying it so the management options include exercise compression garments and manual lymph drainage massage now also known as mld so mld is a specialist type of gentle massage a technique that was first developed by the orders in the 1930s but then there were other methods developed by leduc foldy and casli smith but it was the vodders who were first and probably they are the best known brand that they're yeah they're a global brand really now but the voda method of mld is well known worldwide so these other methods each have slight variations in terms of routine and hand movements just technique technical but they all adhere to the basic principles of a similar theme and the aim is to stimulate and increase the function of the immune system and drainage of the lymphatic system now mld is performed by applying um slow rhythmic or repetitive moves which gently stretch the skin using specialized hand movements the aim is to activate the contraction of the lymphatic vessels and to encourage the lymph to move forward so when the vodus first started to explore the possibilities of mld it was considered to be taboo to tamper with lymphatics because little was known about the system however they were undeterred they believed that by applying their techniques with a very light touch to stimulate the lymph they were purifying the body and to be honest the more i work with rld which has its foundations in mld and see the results from other rld trained reflexologists the more i believe the bodies had a point there's also simple lymph drainage known as sld it's basically a simplified version of mld uh and a form of self-help exercise so people who have been given these exercises to do may just consider it to be exercise they're doing their exercises recommended exercises um done by the individual to help reduce the swelling and manage the lymphedema now the first principles of rld are based on an understanding of manual lymphedema's massage coupled with knowledge of the lymphatic system this combination is mirrored on the corresponding reflexes of the feet and hands using the anatomical reflection of reflexology theory something that really resonates with me you know when you're trying to map out the feet because foot maps are great when you're learning aren't they but the more you work the more you realize that bodies are different feet are different so if you use the anatomical reflection theory you'll you know you won't go wrong with that so the original rmd protocol was formalized as part of the nhs ethics application that i had to go through for the first research project and actually it's a huge undertaking even though i only wanted to give six participants um four lots of reflexology each and measure them each time anyway um the sequence this sequence that was formalized as part of the first ethics application is has been used in all the subsequent research rld research and the original protocol is what i teach as part of the course so six participants with breast cancer related lymphedema um they just had the swelling in one arm took part in the project that way we could measure both arms and compare the swollen arm with the normal arm it was done over six weeks back in 2011 and actually it's quite hard to believe it's that long ago because i still eat sleep live breathe this stuff more than ever actually um so in week one and week six uh were data collection only baseline and follow-up and then during weeks two to five so that's two three four five four consecutive weeks participants received rld and arms are measured and compared before and after the treatment so the data collection tools used were objective limb volume circumference measurements which is a standardized way of calculating the volume of swelling in the arm and a subjective outcome measure my core measure yourself concerns and well-being so i'm unable to share a file here because i'm using the software from my camera um it's not like zoom but i think you get a better picture so i'm going to have to just show you this from page 53 of the book this is the graph and this is also uh will be in the article on the in the aor magazine so that's the that's the graph that's included in fact i'm going to get up again talk a little bit more about it no i won't no you can see it in the article um i shall carry on so that's the graph but i'm just going to explain it a little bit because what these results show you've got baseline and then follow-up and everything in between and they were measured at baseline and again at follow-up and before and after each treatment and the results show that each participant experienced the greatest reduction in swelling so they lost the most during the first rld treatment at week two so therefore you know week one treatment wise and then subsequent treatments appear to consolidate these results which made a significant difference to all of the participants and consistent results like this have been a familiar pattern in all rld research clinical experience and case studies where lymphedema swelling is concerned so the rld sequence can be used as problem-specific standalone treatment it can also be fully integrated into a general reflexology treatment as you kind of work through the reflexes whether you work systemically through the foot however you work you would normally work the lymphatic system so it can it can be stimulated in that way or it can be done as a focused treatment and then after rld training reflexologists can join the practitioner register on successful completion of a case study now case study submissions can be for clients with any condition not just swelling related and years of clinical experience and thousands of these case studies have provided sort of ever-growing body of anecdotal evidence that shows the benefits of rld for our clients so a well-functioning lymphatic system is believed to support a healthy immune system and this makes perfect sense because if the drainage function of the lymphatic system is stimulated and the rld research demonstrate this then surely there will be an effect on the immune system it would be hard to improve the function of one without the other you couldn't separate it you couldn't stop it even if you wanted to so i believe this is the reason that rld appears to be so effective for many of our clients with other non-cancer related inflammatory autoimmune conditions so in the latest research paper published in the british journal of community nursing the measured results show a significant reduction in swelling and very excitingly we used thermal imaging technology and this demonstrates visual changes in the body the effects of which can indeed be quite dramatic so for you to see for yourself on this video again i've got another um mark in here here this these are thermal imaging pictures which you'll find in the aor article and for you to see here sure that's better to get a better view there anyway this is just a video taster of the article so uh if you'd like to see any more uh if you'd like to find the links to the research all information about rld is on the website and you can see um along the bottom here so uh not only does rld help our clients greatly and again not just for lymphedema but you know so many other things rld teaches us how a reflexology treatment enables tangible and intangible outcomes to be measured and why data collection and analysis are beneficial to our profession to all of us to reflexology as well so if you consider the value in the eyes of other healthcare providers and importantly those who are responsible for the allocation of future health care funding and policy-making decisions the fact that early exploration of mld only began 90 years ago in the 1930s and is now widely accepted in integrated healthcare is very encouraging for the future of rld and evidence-based reflexology practice so um i hope you have found this interesting uh i'm also looking forward to reading the rest of the um articles about reflexology and lymphatic drainage and the immune system in the next journal in june so i wish you all the best in your reflexology practice whoever you're working with whoever you're helping with we are all only doing our best so thank you everyone bye for now