Happy New Year!
A perfect time to start a detox regime, welcoming in new energy to start the year in the right way.
I hear your burning question, “how can I detox with massage?” Read on!
We can’t avoid toxins, they are all around us and no matter how hard we try, we ingest them virtually every day. However, our body has a sophisticated system that “flushes” toxins out!
The main system that is in play here is, the Lymphatic System (see image):

The Lymphatic system is a defence system in the body that works alongside the circulatory system. As well as removing impurities from your system, the lymphatic system kills microorganisms, you can see it highlighted in green in the image along with the Thymus and Spleen highlighted in yellow.

The lymphatic system is just beneath the skin’s surface, especially the ducts (small green dots in the image). A very important detoxing mechanism!
However, even though it’s alongside the circulatory system, it does not have a pump mechanism.

How to activate Lymphatic flow, examples:

1.Exercise: keep your body moving
2.Hydration
3.MASSAGE!!

The sweeping motions over the skin during a massage acts like a pump, as I just mentioned, the lymph nodes are located near the skin’s surface, so the massage strokes are literally “flushing” your system out! Amazing right? This is also why you will usually need to go to the toilet after a massage session (completely normal!) and is also why I recommend to drink PLENTY of water before and after a massage.

Muscle Tension and toxins:

Tension in your muscles is also linked to toxin build up, which is why after a massage some areas that the therapist has worked on will be red and quite tender, again, this is NORMAL and nothing to worry about. In fact, this is worth celebrating because new, fresh blood is entering the once toxin ridden muscle, carrying new an abundance of healing nutrients, such as oxygen and protein.

All this leads to:
1.Less toxins
2.Reduced pain
3.Refreshed feeling

Detoxing in action:

Just this week (5th/6th January 2023) I have had a couple of clients in for sessions, one of which had tension in her ITBand on one leg. This led to pain when said client was sitting down and/or going up stairs, after some flowing massage strokes along the affected area, the client said “that feels a lot looser already,” walking down stairs was easier straight after the massage as well. This is just one example of the healing power of massage!

Imagine what it can do for you. Make massage part of your self-care routine!