Lymphatic yoga?

Tapir-mâché

New Member
So, I came across this the other day:
http://www.chopra.com/ccl/5-yoga-poses-to-detox-your-body

Which claims that:
In Ayurveda, toxins are called ama or sticky residue. Proper exercise, nutrition, and especially water consumption can help move these toxins out of the body. There are many yoga poses that can help stimulate the lymphatic system and move lymph through the 600 to 700 lymph nodes that are in your body.

Notions about "detoxing" aside, is there any credence to the idea that these poses encourage the drainage of lymph any more so than other forms of exercise (or other yoga poses, for that matter)?

I have a passing familiarity with the idea of lymphatic massage, but afaik that hasn't really been of proven benefit either. Google chiefly turns up a whole lot of people interested in selling me on the idea of lymphatic yoga, which (as much as I would love it to be true) is just sharpening my side-eye at this point.
 
is there any credence to the idea that these poses encourage the drainage of lymph any more so than other forms of exercise (or other yoga poses, for that matter)?
Where are you getting that idea from? I dont see that claim anywhere.
There are many yoga poses that can help stimulate the lymphatic system and move lymph through the 600 to 700 lymph nodes that are in your body. Try these five yoga poses to stimulate your lymphatic system. If you’ve had any lymph nodes removed, consult your healthcare professional before trying these poses
Content from External Source
 
Mostly from the way the article's structured-- these poses read like they're being singled out for that purpose, since
Remember, the lymphatic system doesn’t have an automatic pump to move toxins out of the body.
It's what made me curious about why they're promoted here as able to move lymph around. The claim of "stimulating the lymphatic system" sounds vague enough for pretty much any movement to qualify, so I'm curious about why the author chose these exercises in particular.
 
Mostly from the way the article's structured-- these poses read like they're being singled out for that purpose, since

It's what made me curious about why they're promoted here as able to move lymph around. The claim of "stimulating the lymphatic system" sounds vague enough for pretty much any movement to qualify, so I'm curious about why the author chose these exercises in particular.
oh. i just assumed they represented a "full body" workout at a semi difficult level to stimulate muscles.


Unlike the cardiovascular system, the lymphatic - system lacks an organ to act as a pump and move lymph against gravity from the initial lymphatics to the contractile lymphatics and finally to the cardio-. vascular system. Consequently, the lymphatic system must rely on both intrinsic and extrinsic forces
- to drive lymph formation and lymph transport.

Extrinsic mechanisms include active and passive limb
movements, pressure changes associated with respiration, and the pulse of nearby arteries,

while intrinsic mechanisms involve spontaneous, intermittent
contraction of the smooth muscle that lines the contractile
lymphatic vessels,[5,6], which has been documented
in both humans[18] and animals.[19] http://www.sld.cu/galerias/pdf/sitios/rehabilitacion-adulto/exercise_and_the_lymphatic_system.pdf
Content from External Source
this 'study' ^^^ is pretty old (2005) but sounds like there is some preliminary 'evidence' that different movements might be better.

The exercises included dynamic
knee extensions and two types of isometric contractions (leg flexed at 90° and leg fully extended). In
total, 100 submaximal contractions were performed
in 10 minutes for each condition and all conditions
were performed on the same day with 65 minutes
rest between each.

The results showed that lymphatic clearance rates were highest in both the dynamic
and isometric leg-extended conditions compared
with the isometric leg-flexed condition. Moreover,
the lymphatic clearance rate during the 65 minutes
of rest between exercise conditions was nearly
to exercise of short duration (walking eight 2-fold higher in the endurance-trained versus sedentary subjects
Content from External Source
i dont know what the deal is with behnid your back "cow face pose" but i see a similar suggestion given (MUCH easier exercises on this page) at cancer research uk.org

  • Put your hand behind your back so that the back of your hand is touching your bottom, then lift your hand up your back as far as you can without discomfort – repeat 10 times
Content from External Source
 
Mostly from the way the article's structured-- these poses read like they're being singled out for that purpose, since

It's what made me curious about why they're promoted here as able to move lymph around. The claim of "stimulating the lymphatic system" sounds vague enough for pretty much any movement to qualify, so I'm curious about why the author chose these exercises in particular.

Lymph is the fluid that circulates throughout the lymphatic system. The lymph is formed when the interstitial fluid (the fluid which lies in the interstices of all body tissues)[1] is collected through lymph capillaries. It is then transported through lymph vesselsto lymph nodes before emptying ultimately into the right or the left subclavian vein, where it mixes back with blood.
Content from External Source
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymph

Since the lymph just drains back into the bloodstream, even if these poses did help drain lymph it would provide no "detox" effect.
 
i dont know what the deal is with behnid your back "cow face pose" but i see a similar suggestion given (MUCH easier exercises on this page) at cancer research uk.org

Interesting! So there's some evidence, but not necessarily for yoga specifically. Neat. I wonder if it's more effective than lymphatic massage for sports medicine...

Since the lymph just drains back into the bloodstream, even if these poses did help drain lymph it would provide no "detox" effect.

Yeah, I skipped over the detox claims for that reason. Usually, massages and exercises are recommended to people with lymphedema, injuries, etc., so it was mostly the "lymphatic stimulation" effectiveness claim I was curious about. Treating injuries and reducing swelling is one thing, "detoxing" is a whole other animal.
 
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. Neat. I wonder if it's more effective than lymphatic massage for sports medicine...
well i imagine if you have an injury that is preventing you from movement massage might be better-if it works at all :) But i'm totally just guessing now, because i know nothing about 'lymphatic massage'. But i think if you CAN move, you probably should.
 
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