Lymphoedema Management

Melbourne Hand > Hand Therapy Services > Lymphoedema Management

Treatment of lymphatic conditions and lymphoedema management

Lymphatic conditions benefit from seeing a certified lymphoedema therapist. Melbourne Hand Rehab lymphoedema management therapists are physiotherapists or occupational therapists with accredited lymphoedema training and who have completed over 135 hours of training specific to the lymphatic system.

What is lymphoedema?

Your lymphatic system is a part of your body’s circulatory system. It’s job is to:

Help move debris and waste from your tissues
Protect your body from infection and
Help return fluid and proteins from the tissues back into the circulatory system

In short, the lymphatic system is the sanitation department for your body.

It’s time to get help if you think you have any stubborn swelling. This could show up as:

Swelling post cancer treatments
Poor circulation
After a surgery
Obesity
After an infection
Swelling with an ulcer or
You could have just been born with it

We are also skilled at identifying and treating lipoedema, a condition in which irregular fat cells are distributed in specific areas of the body. These fat cells are resistant to dietary changes and cause swelling to remain in the tissues.

Assessment and treatment

At Melbourne Hand Rehab, we perform a detailed assessment which may include:

Detailed history
Limb volume measurements
Staging analysis and/or
Skin assessment

Lymph therapists use a number of different techniques to get your fluid moving. Our therapists are trained in the Vodder technique as well as the fluorescent guided manual lymph drainage method. Both techniques use gentle, rhythmic movements that work in time with the lymphatic vessels.

Your therapist may use:

Compression bandaging
Lymphatic taping
Exercise programme and/or
Fit you with specialised day/night garmenting

Let’s get you moving…