Female Breast Massage For Breast Cancer Help & Prevention

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Female Breast Massage For Breast Cancer Help & Prevention

Made into an article by Dave in Phoenix with authors support and permission.

Original Author: baldycotton@mindspring.com
Who did a Memorial web page for his wife at http://joyceiwansky.home.mindspring.com but years ago and no longer there.

My wife died from breast cancer just over a year ago, after a ten year fight. She was 41. I worked with her over the years in various ways, and one of them was draining her swollen arms caused by lymphodema, a result of mastectomy and lymph node removal. She had a longer life than many women who have active breast cancers, and I believe that our diligent work with circulation and drainage was a part of that. We were both trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital by lymph specialists. We also read and studied a great deal. As a certified massage therapist, I'm hopeful that I can be of help to others to prevent this horrible, painful disease that killed my wife.

There was a book published recently, by an author whose name I don't have handy, (I'm sure someone out there is familiar with it) entitled "Dressed to Kill". I gave my copy away, so please forgive me for only quoting specific info from memory. The book deals with evidence that wearing tight bras restricts the body from proper blood and lymph circulation, allowing more than a normal amount of toxins to remain in the breasts, contributing to the increase in breast cancer. In the 1960's breast cancer struck 1 woman in 10 in this country. Today the number is 1 in 8. According to studies the author quotes, the incidence in women who wear tight bras is far higher. The body creates it's circulation by both the hearts action, and by exercise. The blood is mostly moved by the heart, while the toxin-bearing lymph uses muscular movement to push it along. Wearing restricting bras, along with the limited muscular association in the chest, does not encourage proper flow.

(Another factor is diet. In Japan breast cancer in women during the 1950's was almost nil. Today, with western diets, the incidence almost matches the U.S.)

It is important for women to understand that they can be effective in preventing breast cancer by not wearing bras that restrict blood and lymph flow, and by using massage techniques to increase blood circulation, and move toxins out through the lymph glands and blood. They can also strengthen muscle and support tissues through massage.

I don't take any credit for developing any of the ideas. They are gleaned from methods shown to me at various times.

1. The first technique is Veinous and Intercellular Circulation. The hands are placed flatly across the breast, covering as much as possible. Pressure is then applied, exactly as if you were pressing water out of a sponge on a flat surface. Press and release. Repeat several times. This should be done horizontally and vertically. The circulation created is obvious.

2. The second part of Veinous and Intercellular Circulation technique is by petrissaging (kneading) and massaging while lifting and pressing the breast. This is done in all directions to move fluid about inside the breast.

3. Supportive Ligament Care is helpful in many ways, some of which are in increased circulation, and strengthening the ligaments and chest muscles. This is done by pressing the breast with the hands flat, as in (1) above, and by both lifting and stretching the tissues, and twisting clockwise and counter-clockwise.

4. Lymph Drainage is normally done through regular exercise for most of the body. If the breasts are not manipulated, lymph will tend to remain. Most lymph is moved through tiny ducts just beneath the surface of the skin. From there it is moved to the blood and toxins are filtered out. Picture in your mind a lock in a canal. Lymph glands are constructed similarly. The lymph is easily moved along by gliding the fingertips over the surface of the skin VERY lightly. Too much pressure will compact the glands, resrting the flow. Try this... place a nickle on your mouse-pad. Use your fingertips to push the nickle across it. That's all the pressure you use. But there's a lot more to know. The direction of the lymph drainage from the breast should be from the nipple outward in all directions, but the actual method is very important, and this is why a therapist can be very helpful. Picture again those little canal locks. They open at each end. You cannot drain one full lock into another full lock. You must first drain a full one before sweeping the second along into it. Another way to picture it is with a pack of Lifesavers. You can't take the middle one out. You have to move the first one out, then move the second one into first position, then out, and so with the third, fourth, and so on. The lymph gets drained the same way. Start at the perimeter of the breast, and sweep lymph out. Then move inward perhaps 1/2 inch, and sweep it out, then inward one inch and sweep out, and so on to the nipple. Then start the process again. So remember, drain, fill, drain. This process gets repeated once for each inch from the perimeter to the mipple. Women should do this once a week followed by upper body excercize. Lymph is drained from other parts of the body in the same way, but where possible, always towards the heart.

I hope this is of help to some of you. I also hope that readers will try to understand that Massage Therapy is a lot more than "rubbing" people. There are things we can do to truly be helpful to people. Touch is extremely important. The human body wants to heal itself. Neither doctors not massage therapists heal people. But we can be guides to that end. Learn and teach.

Another person has pointed out:
The research on massage and cancer mostly deals with the potential for massage to reduce pain and anxiety experienced by cancer patients -- it isn't about "curing" cancer.

There is also some research on the potential for massage to boost the immune functioning of breast cancer survivors. This does have potential to be "curative" in the sense that natural killer cells can be tumor-destroying cells.

This research is being done by Touch Research Institute at the U. of Miami Medical School. The lead researchers on it are Maria Hernandez-Reif and Tiffany Field. Research is also being done by Pauline King at James Cancer Hospital in Columbus Ohio on massage with cancer patients.

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Other medical articles that support this:
This self breast massage technique is designed to move lymph out of the breast as an aid in woman's health. Reducing toxins from the breast tissues is believed to reduce breast cancer risk for cancers related to toxins.
Source:
http://rarediseasesandmedicines.blogspot.com/2007/11/breast-massage-technique.html
However having someone else do it vs self massage is nicer!

Massage Benefits Women with Breast Cancer
"Breast cancer patients have improved immune and neuroendocrine functions following massage therapy"

Thirty-four women with Stage 1 or 2 breast cancer were randomly assigned to either a massage-therapy group or a standard-treatment control group. Each participant had completed radiation or chemotherapy treatment at least three months before the study started.

Urine samples were taken from the women on the first and last days of the study, and their blood was drawn.
Results of the urine tests showed that serotonin and dopamine levels for the massage group increased, and the blood tests showed that there was a significant increase in their natural killer (NK) cell numbers and lymphocytes.

"NK cells spontaneously destroy a wide variety of cancer and virus-infected cells and are involved in eminating metastases," state the study’s authors. "Lymphocytes are precursor cells of immunological function as well as regulators and effectors of immunity."

Source: The Touch Research Institutes, Department of Pediatrics, Hematology/Oncology Clinics, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Medicine at the University of Miami School of Medicine.

Of course masturbation also cuts cancer risk in men!
See http://www.libchrist.com/sexed/masturbationvscancer.html