I wanted to first apologize for not having a blog post last week. It was never my intention to skip a week, but between preparing for Hurricane Dorian (which luckily missed us, but I feel so much for everyone affected in the Bahamas!) and missing a bit of work because my Mom had a partial knee replacement—I had a hard time catching up. Forgive me. But Mom’s surgery experience has reminded me about a type of patient I absolutely love working with: Patients Who Suffer From Swelling.

Of course, swelling is normal post-surgery. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, patients may deal with swelling for up to 3 to 6 months after surgery. Surgery is a form of injury, though we don’t think of it that way because it is usually happening as a means of fixing or improving an injury. The body’s natural response to an injury is inflammation (our deal old friend on this blog), and along with the inflammation comes the swelling (and the bruising UGH!). This swelling can hinder movement and increase the level of pain post-surgical patients experience.

Adding massage to a patient’s recovery routine is a fantastic idea. The right time to do this is after the wound itself heals. A lot of my patients who have been seeing me prior to surgery want me to jump right on in and work on them days after they have a surgery because they want to feel better. I get it. But it’s just not the time, not yet. After the wound heals, the inflammation has had a little time to lessen and we can actually begin to help instead of hurt. Massage post-surgery is not supposed to be “all in” Deep Tissue—in fact, I won’t do any Deep Tissue Massage at all for the first few weeks after I start post-surgery. It’s always a good idea to consult with your surgeon to see when the exact right time is. Massage after surgery should be first to address the swelling—meaning lighter, faster, and “flowy-er” surface work. Lymphatic massage is also great at this stage, addressing any built-up lymph fluid. When it is tolerable, I love using my silicone cups (as light as possible and moving) to further ease swelling.

As a massage therapist, few things make me as happy as seeing the Before and After results of massage for swelling. I try to have the patient take a look at the area of swelling before we begin so they can go back and compare it afterward. A great way to see this is comparing right and left sides when the area of swelling is in one of the limbs, as in the case with my Mom’s surgery. Before we started working on her knee today, I made sure to have her take a look at the knees, ankles, and feet compared to her other side—that way she could really see the difference afterward. It’s amazing how much massage therapy applied this way can take the swelling down. I love hearing from my patients how massage helps them, but being able to actually SEE it happening is something else. Massage to address swelling is so much fun because I can actually see it working. What a nice feeling.

If you have any questions or are dealing with swelling yourself, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 863-385-7105 or at sebringmassage@gmail.com. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog!

—Stephanie

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