Reflexology & Massage Techniques to Deal with Swelling in the Ankle and Feet

hello and welcome Adam Thomas from balancing touch reflexology so good to see you and thanks for joining me today I made a video a little while ago about how to work with swollen feet and ankles um but I didn't actually talk over it it's just a video so um today I wanted to share with you some of those techniques but I'm gonna actually share some information talk about it um with you because that was a request by some people so that's what I'm going to show you today but I need some tea first [Music] all right so I'm going to be showing you a couple different techniques that I did actually show in that video before but the same Concepts and way of working um will apply so if you haven't seen that video it's you know worth a watch let's go take a look at how to do this okay so let's just check out the feed here and I already know this but uh she does have swollen ankles right around there you can just feel and see it's a bit puffy right around the ankle area there right around uh inguinal lymph area which is the lymph that's found in your hip so I just want to feel around and get kind of a idea of how swollen it is so that at the end of the session I can do a check-in and see if it has improved at all foreign [Music] action here that I'm going to come back to here and there and what you really want to focus on is pumping the feet so with the heel there see how that moves I'm pushing the heel back and moving so I can move the whole foot right and so that's where I want to put the focus the top hand just moves the top of the foot but really the whole pumping action is really from the bottom hand right so that's a really good technique to get circulation flowing right back up to the top again now I'm going to use a little bit of a different action here I'm going to make my hand kind of like a C C cup here and I'm going to put that part right around the ankle where it bends and I'm going to actually be pushing down at the same time as I'm pumping up this tends to really help with moving all that and stimulating all the sort of swelling that's in the ankle here so just giving it a good workout up and down here again the right hand is pushing down and then the left one's bumping up [Music] I also like to do a this is one of my favorite things that I always keep coming back to but it's I'll call it dot to Dot and I use it as an overall kind of scan so I get a good picture of the entire foot so it can tell me where there's tightness or in this case where more stuff is swollen and I find this area really well like I work this area really well and my main focus here is taking any type of swelling or congestion that I see and I want to work it up towards the knee so all those techniques are at least all of them that I can think of that I'm going to show you are all pushing and moving fluid Upward at least that's my intention so you can't see on this side but I'm working around the ankles and moving up [Music] then I'm going to work between the valleys of the toes between each toe basically and walking straight up let's see in between here right the fleshy part and I'm going to move all that up using one hand and then the other [Music] whichever hand is you know better for you but you can see here on my hand how I'm doing it right I'm doing stimulating right in between and pressure is on both sides so with the thumb and the fingers pushing towards each other just the foot will be in the way right so grab and move it up and down this is really good for moving any type of the lymphatic [Music] and then this one in reflexology is working to lymph in the head and neck and you want to make sure that you when you're kind of pinching action here that you're not pinching just the skin you're going a little bit deeper in and you're grabbing make sure that you're grabbing the meat the Flesh of it so not there right because that would hurt but deeper down so it's a it's a different type I heard right it's a good kind of a hurt see there you can see that I'm not just pinching the skin and then you stimulate that and it looks like I'm pulling up but really I'm pushing straight in towards each other I like to just work across the shoulder reflex there pushing down towards the heel and then my favorite dot to dot again just to work up the whole area so what I'll be doing here um as well is just not only working on um just lymphatic stuff or or a congestion or swelling I will work in little desserts or little warm-up treats in between so that it's all you know it has a nice flow to it [Music] lympheria the ankle area moving it again in the direction of upwards towards the knee and then I'm gonna do all the others same stuff on the other foot now so again any type of pumping action is going to be really good right so again with this one I put most of my focus on the heel area which in this case is my right right hand right lots of twists really help the dot to dot just really stimulates and works every area on the plantar surface of the foot and all the way down gives me an idea of what needs to be worked foreign [Music] deep into the hip area [Music] and then stimulating the lymph in the hip area inguinal lymph so right where the ankle bends are foreign [Music] has a bit more swelling in the ankle than the left did [Music] that's just good to note that as well [Music] it's going to be working right around us the ankle bone there and then I'm going to move up towards the knee just move anything that I can okay I'm going to use my fingers to do it just use the little walking technique [Music] and then I'm going to come to the other side and do the exact same thing so starting on this side of the ankle bone and wrapping around [Music] kind of like a check mark I'm pushing up into the bone and again working up towards the knee so again I'm going to show that sort of C-clamp around the ankle right you push down and the other hand is going to pump [Music] so I'm holding myself a little bit awkward here to show you behind the video camera but yeah that's what you're going to do is just move like that way and as you pump you're you're thinking about moving fluid up the leg right and then again just working the inguinal lymph foreign [Music] between each of the bones of the toes [Music] Valley and then in reflexology to me this is known as the lymph in the head and neck and simulating between the webbing but again just be really careful not to pinch skin you want to actually get a little bit deeper into that webbing and push the flush [Music] so I notice on the right side here that there's a bit of congestion around her neck area so I'm just going to work that out [Music] and I'm just going to work a little bit of the sinuses on this foot as well foreign [Music] back to the shoulder and pushing down [Music] and then the combination of pushing the kidney one point and pushing that sort of C cup around the ankle and again pumping action foreign so I push the heel point and then I push the shoulder point and then I'm going over and pushing the other shoulder point I find this just really helps good with you know balance issues and things like that opening up the foot a bit more and this is a nice little squishy Box Thing type thing squishing the feet together to stimulate and move any type of fluid [Music] and because I squished it one way I'm gonna open it up again and because I didn't do those on the other foot I'm going to come back and do it here so I'm going to work the heel Point shoulder point the outside of the foot and shoulder point on the inside there [Music] and just give it a good shake and then we'll go back to Wag the foot there we go [Music] [Music] okay and then I want to actually put some oil on so I'm going to switch camera angles here so at the end of the session especially with somebody you know the focus here is uh uh swollen I like to use more of massage techniques and I like to use a stimulating balm that has you know some qualities of you know creating circulation so it's a warming and then I also like to pair that with um a sesame oil that I have cured basically I did make another video on that earlier like way earlier so if you're interested in that you can check it out but I just really find this combination really great [Music] and so I really want to put it on the whole entire area that I'm using and if you notice I put a towel underneath her whole leg there it's the green striped one there so that I'm not getting my chair all oily [Music] and I also have two towels that I will be using as a foot wrap at the end to keep our feet nice and warm and also to get rid of any excess oil so the first thing I like to do is is we've already done this but now I'm doing more of a massage technique and this is between the bones of the uh the toes there okay and you're again raking up towards the knee and so this is a little stimulating I'm using my knuckles to stimulate as well again all actions that I'm going to be doing all massage techniques are going to be pressure going towards the knee so right now it looks like I'm dragging backwards but I'm actually pushing forward okay so right there too so I'm pushing forward all the way so push so we already did this line but now I'm doing more of a massage technique and I'm keeping my thumb really stiff pushing up so in a way it's kind of like you're trying to get the last bit of toothpaste out of the the tube right you're kind of holding it nice and stiff and then just really scraping it all the way along there so again pushing towards the knee [Music] and actually bringing it right up to the knee and as I'm doing this as well I'm making sure that I cover the whole inside of her calf area right so I'm getting as much as I can reach from the bottom and then going around to the other side and then I'll come over to the other side again going around the ankle and sliding up so this is a part of the thumb that I'm using I'm using that whole area so I'm keeping it nice and stiff and straight and then using it like a scraper and pushing any type of fluid that I encounter all the way up foreign [Music] 's really great because I'm in a way attacking both sides here foreign [Music] [Music] so this is a similar technique with the pumping except this way I'm just working right around the ankle bones on the medial side inside and the lateral side as well [Music] thank you now this is a bit of a tough technique but I'm gonna be working the back of the calf muscles here and I noticed that I need a bit more oil because it's it's dried out on the back there but [Music] one hand needs to hold the foot solid while the other hand stimulates the whole calf area Okay so you'll notice here or else the leg will just flop all over the place but see I now my left hand's holding the foot and now my right hand is holding as I'm switching sides so it's a bit of a dance between your right and left hands and balancing the leg it's a really good one to just stimulate the back of the leg and again it's all towards the knee and because we worked it all the way up to the knee I'm going to work the knee a little bit as well just to simulate all that foreign [Music] I like to kind of end here by doing a pumping action [Music] foreign [Music] and then I'm just going to wrap the foot here while I work on the other side [Music] this also allows the oils to soak in [Music] and then I'm just going to repeat everything on the other side as well [Music] just using oil is is fine as well but I really like to use this I started using this when I went to Thailand and experienced some of their reflexology sessions which are completely different than anything around here it's more of a massage the entire time but they had this green tie bomb eucalyptus and camphor and a whole bunch of other stuff in it and it's just such a great Aroma and it would really has a warming quality so it stimulates the feet and so I think it's really great for anything you know to move any type of circulation as well just just to help out as well as the massage does right so you're kind of getting a two for one [Music] [Music] so raking in between again foreign [Music] circular motion with my knuckles it's a cool little technique and again if you're focused on this you're really you're going in circles but really you're pushing more so towards the knee and then your hands relax and then push again [Music] so really you're going in a circular motion but it's almost like you're doing U shapes [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] it's hard to tell how much pressure I'm putting and I do adjust my pressure depending on who I'm working with because people that do have swollen ankles and sort of calves and stuff like that it can be quite uh tender when you're working out so just adjust how needed when you're working on somebody and you can feel them too when you're as I'm pushing up here I can feel her like resisting so I'd want to hurt her but at the same time I really want to move as much around as possible it's a riding kind of that threshold of good kind of ouch foreign [Music] you can try this technique but the leg does flop around it's not it's not as user-friendly as most of the reflexology techniques and of course I'm right in front of the camera so you can't see me see what I'm doing but again you're going to hold one foot one one hand is going to hold the foot and the other one's gonna rake up the calf and then you're gonna switch so there I just did a switch and rake up with the right hand switch over hold and rake up but the idea here is that you're working the whole back of the calf now because we've worked the sides and the top like here you can see I'm working the sides in the top at the same time but yeah we haven't worked on the back yet so that's what that little technique does [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] wrap I also learned while I was in Thailand a long time ago [Music] which I do have a video on which I made a really long time ago as well that you can watch on my YouTube channel here [Music] [Music] so this is a technique that brings good circulation and helps with balance and stuff like that but you want to make a tight fist as much as possible when you're doing that part of the desserts video I made a long time ago if you want to check that out if you haven't already and then I'm just kind of checking how see how much oil is left on the foot as well as just assessing now how uh ankles have gone down [Music] foreign [Music] and sometimes I'll just notice a little bit but usually there is a a difference right [Music] I like to put a bit more like I said this um stuff that I'm using this bomb is stimulating so I'm going to put it right around her ankles in the hopes that after the session that will continue to kind of stimulate and keep circulation moving around foreign [Music] [Music] so I'm just putting the wrap back on just because it is colder and I'm gonna actually leave her here for a bit while I go you know wash up my hands or do whatever um but this way she can kind of just relax so those are some of the best ways that I know how to work with um swollen ankles and feet in and it's really just the concept of moving fluid up the legs again right getting that to go back up is really important and simply just having clients sit in the chair is going to be a benefit you'll notice a big difference so if you know your client comes and they do show signs of swelling um and the client I was working with today she was you know in depending on a woman's cycle where they are um you'll notice that the ankles swell just before right and so um timing wise you know it just happened to be that we were working on it uh when the swelling was highest and just having them sit in the chair um noticed that the swelling went down so that's kind of a cool thing too so uh you know passing on information like getting them to raise their legs putting it above when they're you know sitting and are watching TV or something like that can be a benefit right so there you go hopefully that helped if you have any tips and tricks on dealing with swollen feet uh comments below I'll put a couple links in the description below to the previous video that sparked this video um so you can take a look at there so as a little aside here of course um the person I was working with today is very healthy person right she just happens to get a little bit of swelling during the month and here and there from standing on her feet all day and things like that at work but if your client has serious problems issues with swelling and it doesn't go down right that you know maybe they're diabetic or things like that of course this will these kind of techniques will help the person and but um this doesn't replace medical um you know your medical practitioner right so if this is a serious issue they need to get checked out for either um GP their practitioner right their their health care provider um we are just here to you know add support have a look around on this channel see if there's any other videos that might be of interest to you uh thanks again for watching and I will see you in the next one remember to keep those feet happy bye if you're interested in learning more about reflexology you could subscribe to the channel below it's also very helpful to hit that like button and feel free to share it with anybody who you think might be interested in it you can find my online courses reflexology charts and other reflexology goodies over on my website which is bouncingtouch.ca thank you so much for watching today and if you have some more time you can check out some other videos till next time this is Adam Thomas from balancingtouch.ca see you later