by James E. Pickens, M.D., F.A.C.S. |
The vascular system includes arteries (red fluid i.e. oxygenated blood), veins (blue fluid i.e. without oxygen) and lymphatic, which are clear. The arterial systems have muscular pumps starting with the heart all the way to the arterioles and smooth muscle control of the diameter of blood vessels. The venous and lymphatic systems have control of the direction of fluid with valves, which always point toward the heart. The blood goes through the lungs and picks up oxygen to carry to all parts of the body. The blood then returns to the heart to be re-oxygenated through the venous and lymphatic systems. These systems do not have a pump, i.e. active muscular contracture, to bring it back to the heart. Therefore, it must depend on other measures to provide this pumping mechanism. In a normal situation, muscle contracture and protein pressure are the only things that the body provides to return the blood to the active pumping system.
In the resting state, approximately 35 percent of the capillaries are active. The active state that might improve this situation the most is to get all the capillaries involved in “oxygenation/nutrient/ get rid of waste” process. The positive and negative pressures of lymphatic massage provide the vehicle for vasoconstriction and vasodilatation extremes that increases material output. Thus, lymphatic massage provides increased metabolism to the area being treated.
As a result of the positive and negative pressure application extremes, histamine, a vasodilator, released from the mast cells, materializes in the skin turning red. This local phenomenon increases the result. Lymphatic massage increases metabolism at a local level, which promotes active congestion. These extremes of positive and negative pressure cause changes in the adipose (fat) cell membrane permeability resulting in some fat cells being destroyed and injuring others.
After the above is accomplished, the ultimate way of moving fluid out of an area is muscle contracture underneath the subcutaneous tissue stimulated by an external pump. This promotes vasodilatation that will activate the blood vessels and push it into the extra-cellular, i.e. interstitial (between cells area), to be pumped by external pressure into the lymphatic and venous system which then escapes from a passive state to become active at the heart. Then the kidneys, physical activity or involuntary energy expended by breathing, peristalsis (bowel activity), or heartbeat can eliminate the waste.
What happens in an area of the body in a passive state, such as in congested cellulite, is that waste material builds up to a certain point so that the blood vessels become active in this area and attempt to move the waste out into an active process. What we are doing with lymphatic massage is not waiting for the waste material to build up to that extreme point when the body finally acts on it. The extremes of positive and negative pressure “wake” up the capillaries and say “let’s move this waste material out.” You tell the body to bring in fresh blood and nutrients. In this active state, the body brings in more oxygen to tissue that increase metabolism in an area that has been passive or resting waiting around for waste material to build up. We are helping the active state occur faster with mechanical and chemical measure.
For more info, contact Kaleigh Richards of Sierra Body Contouring at (775) 233-0346.
