Main description:

Manual Lymphatic Drainage for Post-Operative Recovery - Creating the Flow provides practical knowledge in using manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) techniques for post-operative care of relatively healthy patients recovering from elective procedures. There is a plethora of information referenced for treating patients with compromised lymphatic systems from cancer-based and other similar medical treatment methods; however, none that specifically focus on the care and treatment of this unique niche of optional surgical procedures. This book covers the basics of the lymphatic system as it is impacted by some common procedures in cosmetic/plastic surgery, orthopedics, and others that are performed on healthy individuals. It clarifies the differences between edema and lymphedema, provides an extensive review on the current published research, outlines the appropriate MLD skills and training needed, and gives recommendations from experienced physicians, surgeons, and therapeutic practitioners who have worked with these cases for many years. This book is aimed to provide a solid resource for practitioners looking for evidence-informed guidelines in the application of MLD techniques for elective post-operative care.

Patients generally desire to return to normal activities sooner and prefer to decrease dependency on pain medications during their recovery. Recent trends indicate that patients request referrals from their physicians to include MLD as part of their post-operative recovery processes. However, many physicians are challenged in finding qualified manual/massage therapists to provide adequate care for their patients. This book will identify the appropriate MLD qualifications and actual scopes of practice for utilizing MLD techniques with healthy individuals recovering from elective surgical procedures. Recommendations for acquiring the appropriate level of MLD skills training are provided as a helpful guide to the reader.

This book discusses the interprofessional education model of health care practice and its benefits for physicians and manual therapists working together in patient care. Interprofessional collaboration for effective patient outcomes is introduced and discussed using the contexts of proper communication and information sharing while considering the patient's surgical goals and desired results. The book highlights the expectation of providing updates and feedback to the referring physician and operating within the physician's recommended treatment plan. Therapists may certainly suggest a different approach to treatment after a patient has been assessed, but it should be discussed with all members of the patient care team to modify the overall treatment plan. It also provides examples of documentation, informational research, and collegial promotion of post-operative recovery information benefitting all members of the interprofessional partnership or team. One of the overarching goals of this book is to provide a valuable resource for both manual therapists and physicians in promoting interprofessional collaboration for realizing ultimate patient benefit and ideal treatment outcomes.