Swollen Legs, Fingers or Toes? I have some good news and healthful hints to help!
I speak to many people that tell me about their constant evening leg swelling, especially after a busy day at work where they sit or stand still for multiple hours a day. It stinks to feel stuck in a slump – from our shoulders to our spine, from our neck to our trunk.
One of the common issues that people face in today’s sedentary culture is leg swelling, but it doesn’t have to so common or normalized experiences. Honestly, I have several people in my family who suffer from leg swelling – otherwise known as lymphedema in the legs – quite often. It’s strange, painful, uncomfortable and limits physical activity as well as places unnecessary burdens on someone’s mental and emotional wellbeing too.
So a couple things to note about the WHAT is lymphedema before we dive into ways we can think about treating and preventing it altogether.
LYMPH – another circulatory system in our body like our blood circulatory system or nervous systems that runs from head to toe; the lymphatic system primarily works via the bone marrow, thymus, spleen, tonsils, gut, immune system regulation and detoxification, liver, several lymph nodes throughout the body and other vital organ systems.
The lymphatic system is very important to understand for everyone’s health and wellbeing, but especially as people get older, anyone with cancer risks, or battling through recurring infections or multiple chronic conditions.
Proper lymphatic circulation allows the lymph fluid that carried to and through and traveling out of peripheral tissues of the body, like arms, fingers, legs, and toes. Due to inactivity and gravity, poor musculature and other reasons, many people struggle with poor lymphatic flow or what you could called stagnant energy in their lymphatic system. When this is the case, when the lymphatic system struggles to be in optimal circulation, an individual is at increased risk of disease burden and potential infections that stick around because the body’s immune system is not optimized for circulation and detoxification.
Multiple Opportunities for Health
As someone who sees the big picture and likes to connect the dots for folks to better understand how to take health into their own hands, proactively participate in their health care and natural therapeutic lifestyle activities that lead to happier healthier living, I have a handful of awesome suggestions for anyone struggling with lymphedema or swelling in their legs, toes, arms, fingers, and so on.
Personally, I use a rebounder (mini-trampoline) every morning to help kickstart my lymphatic flow as I begin my day. 3-5 minutes intentional pressure sensitization for my calf muscles helps fire the circulation back up towards my heart and vital organs to assist in cleaning any stagnant lymphatic energy or debris still stuck inside.
After a long day of work, or a long run if you’re a runner, one of the simplest things you can do is massage or foam roll your legs to promote circulation as you intentionally apply pressure, release tight tissues and your brain and body listen to the message you’re sending with the massage.
Along with a mild massage, you can think about putting your feet to the ceiling, as you prop your legs up on pillows, chairs, or placing your behind up against a wall and flying your feet vertical as you let gravity help you in promoting your lymphatic drainage back towards your center of mass.
There’s many more tips and tricks we can prioritize to help with the reduction of swelling that is the most common negative experience associated with lymphedema. Using self-massage, safely hopping on a trampoline, foam rolling, and propping your legs against a wall vertically are just a few. Let’s look at some more.
Exercise!
Yep! I know it might sound strange or counterintuitive but even though exercise can feel more difficult for someone experiencing leg swelling, exercise can help reduce the symptoms and actively help prevent it from coming back the more active, and proactive we are in our health routines. Staying active throughout the day for instance with a moderate intensity walk for 10-15 minutes and a 5-min stretch to finish just a couple times a day can go a long way to help treat and prevent the severity of leg swelling one might experience if they were just standing on a concrete floor all day for example.
Staying mobile is key. Swimming is another incredible form of exercise that helps tremendously with optimal lymphatic circulation. And personally, I always feel significantly healthier from head to toe when I’m following a regular swimming routine. Try to find a 20-min aerobic exercise you feel good about to help you offset the symptoms of your lymphedema, walking, biking, resistance training, swimming, etc.
Okay, so I don’t want to neglect another really important component related to the lymphatic system – that is the lymph nodes, skin health routines, and topical products. It is critically important to focus on using clean and natural ingredient formulas for your skin and hair, whether we’re talking lotion, creams, shampoos, and especially armpits! Many anti-perspirant deodorants actually CLOG our pores to prevent sweating which MAKE THINGS WORSE. We want to sweat.
Sweat = detoxification.
Sweat is the result of helpful circulatory processes taking place as we actively filter fluids and electrolytes, toxins, and bacteria and infectious debris through our pores. Lookout for heavy metals and try to avoid excessive use of most chemical formulas that prevent us from sweating appropriately as humans were designed.
Same with our skin, where we don’t want to block our pores, we don’t want to block our arteries and blood circulation when we sit or when we stand. One of the more common things you might find is that many people cross their legs when they sit, and they hyperextend their knees when they stand. They don’t remain loose and mobile. When we cross our legs, we usually obstruction proper circulatory flow of both blood and lymph in our legs.
Try not to cross your legs, promote proper posture in your spine, hips, shoulders, and core strength. Sit straight and adjust your sitting position at least every 15 minutes or get up and stretch a little bit every 20 minutes.
When you think about clothing, try to choose loose fitting clothes and not tight stockings, pressuring cuffs, or tight socks. Similarly, we don’t want to wear tight or pointed toe shoes or restrict our waistlines with tight belts or waistbands that don’t give our blood and lymph the chance to breathe and flow freely.
I love breathwork. I love love LOVE breathwork. Breathwork is so amazing for all it can really do for our lives. If we focus on strategic breathwork training, we can actually help stimulate the flow of blood and lymph.
As it relates to nutrition, it’s pretty easy to understand why watching your salt and sodium intake would be helpful for reducing swelling. Simultaneously, we need to recognize that our electrolytes all work together as a team, like a soccer team let’s say. Some of them are forwards, some are defenders and mid-fielders and there’s even a goalie. Everyone plays a specific role. Likewise, when we think about reducing sodium to fight against swelling, we can also highlight the wonderful roles of magnesium and potassium to improve blood pressure, circulation, relaxing and supporting musculature and blood flow.
So it’s not just a conversation about sodium, it’s also a discussion about holistic health and nutritional principles which include the big-picture, seeing all of our electrolytes, focusing on a whole foods, plants-based diet with sufficient fiber, fluid, and appropriate portions at optimal feeding times.
There is so much we can do to improve our health, far beyond the status quo. Most people don’t know, and even more people don’t know what they don’t know.
That’s why I care about learning, education, and empowering others forward. I don’t want to see people suffer. I don’t want to see people unnecessarily and inappropriately accept defeat for the lovely life they still have the gift to live.
With love and encouragement, wishing you well and wellness alike.
As always, if you have any specific questions, concerns, or topics you’d like me to cover, let me know in the comments below and I’ll highlight your question in an upcoming story and serve you with the best information and education I can find and teach myself.
You are powerful. You are strong. You are incredible if you accept your personal abilities. I believe in you.
I hope you boldly believe in yourself as well.
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