Your healthcare professional (HCP) can help you to create an exercise plan. Lipedema exercise programs include a mixture of building muscle strength and aerobic exercises. Good examples for aerobic exercises are Yoga, Pilates, Nordic Walking, cycling, or exercise in water.
Current treatment of lipedema includes liposuction of the fat cells, healthy diet and exercise, and manual treatments to keep the fluid to a minimum. More research is needed in the area of lipedema to help the millions of women affected by this condition.
Being active is beneficial for your lipoedema: it reduces pain, helps to manage your weight and improves your overall well-being. Exercises for lipoedema should focus on building muscle strength and incorporate aerobic exercises.
Aerobic exercises such as swimming, walking and cycling are especially recommended because they increase lymphatic drainage and improve blood flow through the affected limbs. High impact exercising (i.e. jogging, step-aerobics) or contact sports are better avoided as they may exacerbate join pain and lead to bruising.
Liposuction is the only treatment available to lipedema patients that eliminates the troublesome fat deposits from the legs, hips, buttocks, stomach, and/or arms. Liposuction enables doctors to improve the look of the legs and restore better mobility for the long-term.
Treatments for lipoedema
The main treatments are: eating healthily, doing more exercise and trying to maintain a healthy weight. wearing compression stockings or bandages to reduce pain and discomfort, and make it easier for you to walk.
Physical activity encourages fluid to drain into the lymphatic system in the abdomen. Walking, swimming, yoga, pilates and Tai chi all might help to encourage the lymph to move. Pelvic floor exercises may also help. These target and strengthen the muscles in your pelvis.
If general health and fitness are not maintained at current levels for an individual with lipedema (body weight and emotional health, specifically) the lipedema symptoms of excessive fat deposits and pain will typically progressively worsen hand-in-hand with increased body weight and/or psychological distress.
While surgical intervention remains the dominant therapy option for long-term successful lipedema control, both cosmetically and medically, regular sessions of lymphatic drainage massage in conjunction with wearing compression garments have proven beneficial for many.
If they have lipedema, they might receive a recommendation for the RAD diet, or rare adipose disorders diet, which involves low consumption of pasteurized dairy, animal protein, fats, simple sugars, carbohydrates, and salt.
Obesity responds well to diet and exercise, and weight loss is experienced usually from all areas of the body, but sadly in Lipoedema this is not the case. Weight loss will occur from the upper part of the body, but absolutely minimal improvement will occur from the areas below the waist affected with Lipoedema.
Symptoms of Lipedema
The typical symptoms are a large lower half and column-like legs, which are often tender and bruise easily. For example, the top half of your body may be a size 8, but the bottom half may be a size 16. As the condition progresses, fat continues to build up, and your lower body grows heavier.
Unlike obesity, lipedema tissue does not respond well to diet or physical exercise alone. Therefore, in this review we discuss the effect of various dietary supplements that, along with diet and physical exercise, cause fat burning and weight loss, and which could potentially be important in the treatment of lipedema.
The acid in ACV can also bind to toxins which can assist in removing toxins from the body. Apple cider vinegar's potassium content helps to break up mucus in the body and clearing the lymph nodes. This also aids in the removal of toxins. Add apple cider into your diet and check out these other ways to detox.
For your lower leg, place one hand on your shin and the other hand below your knee. Gently massage upward with both hands to encourage lymphatic fluid to flow upward, occasionally moving down a bit lower on the leg.
Avoid Alcohol, Caffeine and Diuretics
Does drinking water help with lymphedema? Absolutely! Because the body is more prone to hold onto excess liquid when it feels dehydrated, drinking enough water is especially important for those with lymphedema so they can maintain a healthy fluid and chemical balance.
Lipedema is not influenced substantially by diet or exercise [12]. In the absence of targeted treatment, there is no significant improvement in body dis-proportions or in signs and symptoms.
The tissue tenderness that is characteristic of lipedema can be checked with the pinch test, which is often felt as very unpleasant in the affected areas but causes no pain elsewhere. Increased capillary fragility manifests itself in spontaneous hematoma formation.
Treating Your Lipedema
As mentioned, dry brushing and whole body vibration are just a few of the several different therapies that are effective in reducing your symptoms of lipedema. Pain and swelling from lipedema can become almost unbearable without the proper treatment in place.
Place your hand on your hip on the side that has lymphedema. Gently massage from the outside of your hip (beside your hip bone) using several small strokes. Massage upward along the side of your body to your underarm. Gently stretch the skin as far as it goes naturally and release.
Compression may help to stop your lipoedema getting worse, even if it can't reduce the size of your limbs. But if you have advanced lipoedema (called lipo-lymphoedema), there may be fluid collecting as well. If so, compression therapy will help to reduce that.