After just one day of increased stretching exercises in addition to my usual hiking my legs are feeling better. The stretching exercises for lymphedema shared in a video link in the last post help move fluid by muscle power. Lymphatic vessels run parallel somewhat to the blood vessels but have no heart pumping action to circulate the fluid to the lymph nodes where it mingles with blood vessels and immune system white blood cells. The movement of the surrounding muscles is needed to help move fluid through the lymphatic vessels. They are near the skin surface so very gentle massage motions towards the areas of drainage can also help. Lymphatic massage is a special type of massage that may be medically recommended after lymph node surgery or for lymphedema. (Read more: How to Perform Lymphatic Drainage Massage.)
Exercise can help reduce inflammation by promoting the movement of the fluid around cells and in the lymphatic vessels to lymph nodes for detoxification and eventual excretion once it is absorbed into the blood vessels. Exercise has also been found helpful for mitochondrial health which help provide the body energy and protect against myelin loss. (1)
Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.
- Parikh S, Saneto R, Falk MJ, et al. A Modern Approach to the Treatment of Mitochondrial Disease. Current treatment options in neurology. 2009;11(6):414-430. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3561461/
- Advances in Cellular Neurobiology, Chapter: Demyelination, by F. J. Seil (1982), Unrelated to exercise: Figure 1, Bovine basic myelin protein structure includes 25 molecules of glycine within a chain of 169 amino acids and this type of protein was thought to be involved in encephalopathy. page 242, What was related to lymph nodes was on page 263, the serum of patients with demylinating disorders can cause demylination in lab animals so autoimmune type antibodies against myelin were suspected to be present. Science isn’t easy and takes a long time. My take home point: I will continue to exercise in the kitchen preparing meals with foods that were not grown with glyphosate containing herbicides such as Roundup. https://books.google.com/books?id=R5niAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA261&lpg=PA261&dq=lymph+nodes+and+demyelination&source=bl&ots=RHxSRpXesy&sig=7HAJMmHVjCARnAFlwNfCy2F54As&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjsvYW3vtTcAhVNWq0KHYIFDtw4ChDoATACegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=lymph%20nodes%20and%20demyelination&f=false
The importance of glycine within the Bovine basic myelin protein seemed visually obvious, however I itemized all of the amino acid chain just to double check. Glycine is most prevalent and the other point that became clear is that most amino acids (cysteine is not included) are incorporated so having a good variety of protein foods in the diet including all the essential amino acids would be important:
- Gly – glycine – 25 (Conditional, may be needed in diet)
- Arg – arginine – 18 (Conditional, may be needed in diet)
- Ser – serine – 18 (Conditional, may be needed in diet)
- Ala – alanine – 14 (Nonessential, we can make it)
- Lys – lysine – 13 (Essential in the diet)
- Pro – proline – 12 (Conditional, may be needed in diet)
- His – histidine – 10 (Essential in the diet)
- Leu – leucine – 10 (Essential in the diet)
- Asp – aspartic acid – 9 (Nonessential, we can make it)
- Gln – Glutamine – 8 (Conditional, may be needed in the diet)
- Phe – phenylalanine – 8 (Essential in the diet)
- Thr – threonine – 7 (Essential in the diet)
- Tyr – tyrosine – 4 (Conditional, may be needed in the diet)
- Ile – isoleucine – 3 (Essential in the diet)
- Val – valine – 3 (Essential in the diet)
- Asn – asparagine – 2 (Nonessential, we can make it)
- Glu – glutamic acid – 2 (Nonessential, we can make it)
- Met – methionine – 2 (Essential in the diet)
- Trp – tryptophan – 1 (Essential in the diet)
- Ac -acetyl group – 1
- N -nitrogen, an element – 1
- COOH – a carboxyl group – 1