The lymphatic system is our purifying system and is very important to our proper physiological functioning and overall health.  You’ll remember learning in school about the lymphatic system from a traditional/reductionist perspective. As you also know, the reductionist perspective looks at our body as separate systems, functioning independently. 

Max Plank, the father of quantum physics stated in 1923 that reductionism is a very inaccurate and distorted way of viewing the human being. Even today, many still cling to these old paradigms that get in the way of the true understanding of the beautiful function within our body as a total interactive complex. But what is the lymphatic system, really? And how can we leverage its power to our benefit and to the benefit of our clients? 

The Lymphatic System at a Glance

The lymphatic system, like the circulatory system, lies within the fascial system. Restrictions within the fascial system can create severe dysfunction within both systems. Our arteries terminate in tiny capillary beds where oxygen and nutrient rich blood flows through the smallest arteries (arterioles). Then, venules (small veins) move this nutrient depleted fluid and return it eventually to our heart. Approximately 10 percent of the fluid contains large protein molecules that cannot pass through the apertures of the venules. These large protein molecules are removed by the lymphatic system.

The lymphatic system has a series of one-way valves that contain immune system cells that cut off microorganisms like viruses and bacteria that are sometimes in the lymphatic fluid. These lymphatic nodes are extremely important, and are also surrounded and controlled by the fascial system. Fascial restrictions can impede their function. 

Systems Working Together

The fascial system is essentially a glide system. The lymphatic and circulatory systems are designed to glide within the fascial system. A visual to help us understand how the fascial system affects lymphatic flow is to imagine a garden hose. Unimpeded, water flows freely through the hose. But, what happens when someone steps on the hose or the hose kinks? The water is blocked. Fascial restrictions are the equivalent of someone stepping on the garden hose and blocking the flow, which in turn creates pressure on pain sensitive structures, eventually producing symptoms that your clients hope you can help resolve.

How Myofascial Release Helps Relieve Fascial Restrictions

Manual lymphatic drainage can have a positive effect on the client. The problem, however, is that the results are too often temporary and symptoms return within days if not hours. The reason for this is that no one took the foot off of the garden hose or, in other words, the pressure of the fascial system.

Many massage therapy techniques can have a positive impact on the fascial system, but only about 20 percent of the fascial system is being altered, mainly the muscular and elastic components. Myofascial release deals with the fluid dynamics of the fascial system, which can help the other 80 percent of the fascial system that some other techniques miss. In other words, myofascial release helps massage therapists take the pressure off the fascial system or “the foot off the garden hose.” 

The Cellular Function

On the cellular level, every cell is surrounded by the ground substance of the fascial system, which is fluid that can become more and more viscous. From our various traumas, this increasing viscosity becomes pressure that can impede the cells absorbing fluid, oxygen, nutrients, biochemistry, hormones and energy that every cell needs to thrive. Within the cell, there is also a micro myofascial system. The ground substance, the fluid surrounding our cells, are of vital importance because as the cell goes to excrete it, it must go through the fluid of the fascial system to even reach the lymphatic system.

Understanding the Challenges

It is important to understand that past information on the fascial system did not fully consider that fascial restrictions do not show up in many of the standard tests. Trauma, surgeries, thwarted inflammatory responses—to name a few—are capable of producing crushing pressures (up to approximately 2,000 pounds per square inch) on the lymph system and pain sensitive structures. 

Adding myofascial release to your area of expertise in massage therapy may greatly enhance your effectiveness with your clients.

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