If you've never heard of manual lymphatic drainage, you are not alone. In my years of practicing massage therapy here in Greenville, South Carolina, it is one of the most underrated and least understood therapies I offer — and honestly, one of the most powerful. I can't tell you how many clients have come to me feeling puffy, sluggish, congested, or just plain off after winter, with no idea that their lymphatic system might be at the root of it.

Spring is when I talk about lymphatic drainage the most, because this is the season when your body is most primed to let go of what it's been holding onto — and the lymphatic system is the unsung hero of that process. So let's get into it: what the lymphatic system actually is, what manual lymphatic drainage feels like, who it can help, and what the research says.