Your lymphatic system, in large part, is your immune system. Lymphatic vessels all throughout your body pick up waste, and either recycle it, or remove it. Your lymphatic system can be viewed as an internal river - and just like a river it can get sluggish and backed up with debris. Manual Lymphatic Drainage can clear that debris and help get things moving properly again.

In most cases, there is no difference. Lymphatic Massage is the common term for Manual Lymphatic Drainage. Although more recently, “Lymphatic Massage” is used to describe Brazilian Lymphatic Massage and other “manual contouring” lymphatic techniques. This describes an aesthetic approach to your outward appearance. At Prime Therapeutics and Recovery, we only do Manual Lymphatic Drainage, which is a medical approach to assist with many different internal issues you may be facing.

Any time there is a trauma to the body, the Lymphatic System becomes sluggish while trying to process additional waste. While your lymphatic system still works perfectly fine, it does operate on a time versus load capacity. Whereas the speed at which its processing fluid is likely the same during your healing process, the load has greatly increased. Manual Lymphatic Drainage is like a “jump start” to your system. It can speed up the time capacity to allow the system to better handle the additional load. Common positive results include: decreased swelling, decreased pain, faster healing and improved scar results.

Common side effects include: dehydration, head-cold-like symptoms that last less than 24 hours, body aches and sluggishness. These symptoms are considered normal due to the fact that Manual Lymphatic Drainage rapidly increases waste byproducts being moved into your lymphatic system to be processed. Our approach to mitigate these symptoms is to work at a gentle and intentional pace in order to not overwhelm your lymphatic system. These side effects are almost completely avoidable. With proper preparation, like hydrating beforehand, and being well-rested, clients are much less likely to experience these side effects.

The goal of Medical Deep Tissue Massage is to affect deeper layers of the muscle, work closely at the attachment sites of muscles, and treat common injuries. The goal of Sports Massage is to assess which mechanical deficiencies are affecting your activities or sports. These deficiencies may look like muscle weakness, issues arising from old injuries or lack of range of motion. In sports massage there is a much greater emphasis on the connection between the brain and the body, and how we can use this connection to encourage stabilization of those mechanical deficiencies. Sports massage is often geared toward athletes and gym enthusiasts.

For Sports Massage, the client will wear athletic attire such as gym shorts or leggings, and a T-shirt or tank top. A massage table is used, but we do not cover you with a sheet. You should expect a pre-assessment, possible mid-session re-assessments, and a post-assessment. This is to see if we are achieving the change we are looking for. Client involvement is expected during Sports Massage. You will, in most cases, be moving your body and using different muscles during your session.