This is a recovery trick I learned from the movie Choke Dee, which is the movie about kickboxing legend Dida Diafat. In the movie, you’ll see the lead actor using a legs-up stance to help him recover. This method is something that made me think of inverted yoga asanas, like: Viparita karani or Salamba Sarvangasana. Positions like this can really benefit athletes’ recovery and can help with lymphatic drainage.
To perform Viparita Karani, what you need to do is: lie down with your legs perpendicular to the floor and supported by the wall. You will need to bring your hips to the corner where the floor and wall meet. Make sure your lower back is touching the ground. Your hands can be by your side with palms facing up, similar to the corpse pose in yoga. You can focus on your breathing in this position.
This helps with recovery, as inverted poses use gravity by stimulating the flow of lymphatic fluid and increasing the rate of lymphatic drainage.
The lymphatic system is a network that is responsible for transporting lymph, which is a liquid containing white blood cells throughout the body. The lymphatic system also helps remove toxins and waste products, which can be a result of training.
The functions of the lymphatic system consist of:
Removal of interstitial fluid from tissues.
Absorbs and transports fatty acids and fats from the digestive system.
It acts as a system that transports white blood cells to the lymph nodes from the bones and vice versa.
Responsible for our immunity and transports antigen presenting cells to the lymph nodes.
During the process in which the arteries provide nutrients to the tissues, arterial pressure forces plasma from the arteriole end of the capillaries into the interstitial fluid between the cells of the tissues. Most of this blood plasma enters the capillaries at the venous end due to osmotic pressure; however, some of this fluid enters the lymphatic capillaries. Our body sends 20 liters of blood through the arteriolar end of the capillaries and 17 liters of it reaches the venous end. The 3 liters lost is what enters the lymphatic capillaries. Three liters is more than half of our total blood volume and it is very important that these 3 liters end up in the circulatory system.
Lymphatic fluid does not have a pump, as our circulation system does with the heart; rather, the lymphatic fluid is moved by muscle contraction or massage. That is why exercising or being physically active improves the immune system. This also explains why light workouts help with recovery, as the lymphatic system helps eliminate waste products and toxins. Massages and inverted positions like Visparita Karani are also great for helping with lymphatic drainage.
The three liters of blood that enter the lymphatic capillaries pass through several lymph nodes and end in two main lymphatic ducts: the right lymphatic duct or the thoracic duct. The right lymphatic duct returns lymph to the circulation by sending this fluid to the interjugular vein. The larger thoracic duct sends lymph back to the subclavian vein.
For those who spend many hours sitting every day, it is very important to activate the lymphatic system. Much of the current research focuses on how sitting affects the circulation system, but the lymphatic system is also affected and to boost our immunity it is very important to walk 5-10 minutes after every hour of sitting.
According to ancient yoga texts, it is claimed that this posture will fight aging and keep you young. It is also claimed to have helped with headaches, anxiety, depression, muscle pain, arthritis, digestion problems, insomnia, blood pressure problems, respiratory disorders, urinary tract diseases, and menopause. .
This pose is also stated to:
Improve the immune system
Calms the Central Nervous System
Help regulate blood pressure
Helps with lymph collection in the feet.
Balance the endocrine system
Olympic lifters like Dmitri Kholov use inversion tables to help decompress the spine, but this can also help with recovery. They may not focus on the benefits of lymphatic drainage, but this is still something they get when they use it. Since the lymphatic system does not have a pump and is activated by massage, it is very important to perform exercises with foam rollers, lacrosse balls, and other myofascial release methods after workouts to help with the lymphatic drainage process. After workouts, rocking methods and inverted poses are great to help with recovery. Inverted poses also improve the function of the cardiovascular system by helping deoxygenated blood in the extremities flow back to the heart.
In addition to Viparita Karani, Salamba Sarvangasana, other inverted poses such as the headstand or antigravity yoga poses work in a similar way.