Your lymphatic system is vast. Like the blood circulatory system, the network of lymph vessels serves almost every cell in your entire body.

Strung along those vessels – like pearls knotted on a string – are lymph nodes, which act as a kind of filter. You can sometimes feel the nodes under your arm or in your neck when you’re feeling unwell. As lymphatic fluid percolates through the nodes it becomes ‘cleaner’, as toxins and other impurities are removed.

While your heart sits at the centre of your cardiovascular system, your lymphatic system has no central pump. Instead it relies on muscle movement, deep breathing and, sometimes, manual manipulation (or via a lymphatic drainage machine like Body Ballancer®) to move the fluid.

If your lymphatic system gets blocked or overrun due to illness, surgery, toxic overload or lack of activity, lymph fluid can build up. That’s when you get some of the problems mentioned earlier, like swelling, cellulite, joint pain and illness.

Stress, poor diet, pollution and a less active lifestyle are just some of the reasons why your lymphatic system can become blocked or overrun.

When this happens, it can lead to a wide range of problems such as swelling, cellulite, bloating, joint pain and fatigue. In extreme cases, if the lymphatic system isn’t working properly it can seriously affect your immune function and put your body at risk of even more serious diseases.

Having a healthy lymphatic system is vital for preventing illness and disease, and for keeping in great shape. A few things we can all do to promote lymphatic system function are eating a balanced diet (that includes healthy fats), getting lots of regular exercise and avoiding toxins (smoking, alcohol, pollution, etc) as much as possible.

You can also support your lymphatic system with a lymphatic drainage massage. This targets the lymphatic system, helping it to accelerate the removal of toxins and producing a wide range of benefits.

The lymphatic system depends on muscle contraction and deep breathing to remove fluid and toxins from our body. But lymphatic drainage massage is another important way to keep the system running smoothly.

Less well-known in the UK, lymphatic drainage is a specialised form of massage used widely in Europe, the Far East and other parts of the world to improve lymphatic flow.

We get asked this a lot! By ‘ordinary’ massage, people tend to be referring to aromatherapy, sports massage, Swedish massage or any of the other massages available today in salons and spas.

With these massages, a therapist is usually working on the muscles, and will often need to use deep massage techniques to reach the muscular layer. Lymphatic drainage massage, however, is targeting the delicate lymphatic vessels and nodes that sit just below the skin, which only require very light pressure in order to move fluid through.

What this means is that if you suffer from water retention, bloating, cellulite or poor skin tone, using traditional massage may not give you what you are looking for.

Historically, lymphatic drainage massage has been carried out manually by trained therapists. This involves using light pressure and long, rhythmic strokes to increase the flow of lymphatic fluid – ‘lymph’ – helping the lymphatic system remove toxins and other harmful waste from the body.

Body Ballancer® is a groundbreaking lymphatic drainage machine that removes the need for a trained lymphatic drainage massage therapist. Instead, the Body Ballancer® uses clinically designed garments that fill with air to provide a powerful, consistent and effective lymphatic massage.

Furthermore, it’s based on proven principles of the Vodder method, using fluid compression strokes that gently work from the base of the leg or arm up to the torso – known as ‘distal to proximal’ – to efficiently decongest the entire treated area of excess fluid.

Depending on the area of your body being treated, you’ll be helped into the Body Ballancer® trousers before reclining comfortably on the treatment couch. The garments are then attached to a computerised air-compression device programmed to apply exactly the right amount of pressure through all, or a combination of, the 24 overlapping air chambers.

Once the treatment starts, the garment’s gradual and gentle inflation will provide a smooth, flowing lymphatic drainage massage over the targeted area, providing a relaxing, enjoyable and comforting experience. When the treatment is complete, the garment will automatically deflate and you’ll emerge feeling lighter, more energised and refreshed.

This depends on your particular reason for using the Body Ballancer® lymphatic drainage machine.

For example, if you’d like to reduce bloating and puffiness caused by water retention, you can enjoy noticeable results in as little as a single session.

But if you’re looking to reduce cellulite or improve skin tone, you’ll probably require a course of treatments. We typically recommend 12 sessions over three to four weeks.

A Body Ballancer® lymphatic drainage massage can also be used to improve the results of treatments like liposculpture. One or two sessions right up to the day of the procedure will help boost lymphatic flow and clear the area of excess fluid.

After treatment, a course of four to six sessions will reduce bruising and swelling, helping you to achieve your desired body shape faster and with less discomfort.

We usually recommend comfortable clothes such as leggings with socks for the lower body.