As summer comes into full bloom, some may be dreading the raise in temperature. If you’re someone who deals with mild swelling during the winter, summertime can make it much worse. Why is this?
Swelling occurs when fluid from the blood vessels (Not blood! Just fluid!) is forced into the interstitial tissue, which is the space between cells. When it’s hot out, our blood vessel dilate or expand. A visible example of this occurs when we get hot and our faces get red. The vessel dilation helps the blood to cool off but it also increases the amount of fluid that goes through the vessels. If there is increase fluid in the vessel, there is increased fluid pushed into the interstitial tissue.
This increase fluid means your socks and shoes feel too tight and your legs can feel heavy and hard to move. Some people even feel the need to avoid being outside for too long when it’s hot out. Here in Maine, we get such a beautiful summer, it would be terrible to miss any of it.
At Jade, we can work on treating and controlling your swelling with hands on therapy and compression garments. This can help you to stay active all summer long as comfortably as possible!
Learn more about Lymphedema.
Meet our Certified Lymphedema Therapist, Kirsten Twaite, DPT, CLT, CYT.