What's the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about a struggling lymphatic system?
I bet it's swelling...
To be honest, a few years ago it used to be my first thought. Swollen ankles, swollen legs, swollen hands. And that was it.
As a practitioner of the Bowen technique, I knew that what we did and how we used the technique had a big influence on the lymphatic system. But as with most other teachings, the lymphatic system was just skimmed over at best.
The thing is - the lymphatic system is involved in just about everything happening in the body at any point in time.
How does it work?
About 8 litres of fluid is lost out of the cardiovascular system into the surrounding tissue over a 24 hour period - that is after all the way the nutrients are able to make their way to al of our cells.
But at any given time the fluid levels should always be balanced, or as balanced as possible - enter the lymphatic system.
The lymphatic system is responsible for picking up excess fluid and making sure that the fluid lost out of the cardio vascular system is filtered and returned to the blood stream.
It is pretty much proven and accepted now that the lymphatic system is responsible for collecting 100% of the fluid lost out of the cardiovascular system.
So yes, it is responsible for helping to maintain fluid homeostasis, and if it can't do that properly it will result in oedema or swelling.