Massagers

[linda6]

Hi has anyone ever bought or used a massager electric or otherwise to massage an arm, If so could you tell me what make of massager you found to be useful, I know massagers that have the heat facility should never be used. Thanks

[norberte]

hi linda

sorry no-one's been in to say hello!

most massage machines would be much too fierce to use on a lymphie arm

if you have manual lymphatic drainage or do simple lymphatic drainage yourself, you'll know that we use really light strokes - the lymph is in the layers of the skin, & as soon as you press too hard you're keeping it stuck instead of helping it flow

some of us, including me, use little paint rollers, the skirting board size - helps with harder to reach bits!

if you've not been shown how to do sld, the lsn sells a dvd lymphoedema.org/Menu5/Index...

or get yourself referred to your local lymphoedema service & they'll show you & talk through whether any contraptions would work for you before you shell out any money buying things

hope that helps

[linda6]

Hi norberte thank you for your reply it was very helpful I will get a small paint roller as you suggested. I do some massage myself and do exercises for lymphoedema but it doesen't seem to be very effective. I see a lymphoedema nurse but all he does is measure my arms I try to prise information from him regarding massage but it is very difficult, I found the massage techniques myself from the LSN site.

[norberte]

some practitioners are better than others with any specialism, aren't they?

but v frustrating when you feel you're groping in the dark a bit

i've found that the best thing for me has been to become a bit of an 'expert patient', taking bits of information i get from everywhere & deciding for myself what i need then trying to get it

it's not exactly a full-time job but is pretty time-consuming

& i know that, for me, going back to the lsn dvd every now & then can be really useful - the massage works much better if i do it properly, & my standards can gently slip!

good luck, if it's still not working then pm me if you want to, happy to chat