DIY Lymphatic Massage

Swollen ankles, calves, and even wrists can be a real pain—literally! That stiff, puffy feeling makes it hard to move, let alone tackle pulling on a pair of compression stockings (especially when fingers are just as swollen)!

As we’ve touched on before, the lymphatic system plays a crucial role in carrying away tissue waste and toxins while delivering essential hydration and nutrients throughout the body. It’s basically your body’s internal clean-up crew.

Now, a quick disclaimer: we are not healthcare professionals, nor are we diagnosing, treating, or curing anything whatsoever.

If professional lymphatic drainage massage is something that sounds interesting to you, reaching out to a trusted chiropractor, physical therapist, or licensed massage therapist would be great. They can work wonders— if it's within your budget.

Now, let’s dive into a DIY lymphatic drainage self-massage!

5 Tips to get the most out of a self-massage

#1 Drink plenty of filtered water.

#2 Remember to gently massage your skin – like you would a baby kitten. Being rough can interrupt the underlying lymphatic vessels.

#3 Repeat each massage step several times to get the flow going so doing this 2-3 times a day can be great if feeling puffy or congested.

#4 Reroute it if needed. If somewhere on your body begins to feel fuller or warmer while massaging, then you may have a fluid backup in this area. That is often associated with scar tissue, especially from surgery. You can help reroute the fluid by massaging it towards a different path. For example, around a c-section scar, massage it out to the sides and then up the back.

#5 Use a cream either during or after that is blended with proven herbs that support lymphatic health and flow, such as Earthley’s all-natural Lymphatic Cream made with Ginger Root, Burdock Root, Yarrow, Calendula, Cleavers, and Castor Oil.

How to perform the self-massage

The goal is to get things flowing well. That makes it helpful to know the “main areas” of flow. In the case of lymphatic flow, that is likely around the lymph node-heavy areas, so always open up those main centers first.

Priming the system

The main lymph drainage is higher in the thoracic area, and the second biggest is lower along the lower end of the spine. These areas can get “clogged up” easily, so generating flow through them first is very helpful. I generally do each step 5-10 times (10 for the most congested areas).

Main Lymph Node Centers

Thoracic area

Neck: Starting at the back of your neck, slide your hands down around the sides of your neck to the soft, kind of squishy spot below your collarbone and gently rub or pat it ten times with your palm.

Chest: Rub across the front of the shoulders to the middle of your chest several times.

Armpits: Use your palms to gently rub from the top and underside of your arms to down below your armpits to down below the sides of your chest.

Lower area

Slide your hand from the back of the knees along the inner thigh up towards the groin, gently following the natural V shape, and up to the middle of the abdomen.

Moving the fluid

Now that those areas are moving well, it is time to get the outer fluids brought in.

Head

Imagine a line down the center of your face. Starting at the top of the line, gently rub from the middle of your face towards your ears. Go from the forehead down to the chin.

Place your two fingers on each side of your lower earlobes down to the squishy spot below your collarbone, where you can gently tap a few times.

If you have jaw pain, press firmly but gently into the top jawline up into the corners towards your earlobes while lowering your bottom jaw.

Gently rub down the back of your neck and around each side to below your collarbone. If you have a pronounced bump at the base of your neck, press firmly but gently, bringing the fluid around to the front.

Arms

Rub the palms of your hands together then go up the palm side of your fingers and down the back side of your fingers (the lymph vessels are on the back side of your hands).

Follow from the back side of your hand down following a natural curve to the inside of your elbow to the top, underside of your arm going down below the side of your chest.

Abdomen and Back

Reaching as comfortably as you can from the middle of your back – while still being gentle, rub around to the front.

The upper part of your abdomen drains to the thoracic area, and the lower abs drain down to the lower end of the spine in the sacral region.

Legs and Sacral Region

Next is the lower half of the body. We want to open the flow in this area just like we did around the neck and arms.

Comfortably spread your legs, gently rub from your inner upper thigh up towards your groin and then towards your lower abdomen (following about the line of underwear briefs would fit – because of this flow and the risk of UTIs, it is best to wear loose ones). Repeat several times.

Rub your hands from the ankles and top of your foot up towards your upper thigh. Start at the inside and go around each leg, paying extra attention to the knees.

Supporting Earthley Resources:

Lymphatic Cream

What You Need to Know About Your Lymphatic System

Castor Oil Detox Pack