Lymphatic drainage for the stomach: what it can do for bloating (and what it cannot)

Why your stomach bloats

The short answer: the most common reason for bloating is having a lot of gas in your gut. It comes from some foods and drinks, and from air you swallow when you eat.¹ Constipation, overeating, reflux, lactose intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome can also cause it.^{1, 2}

That is why it helps to separate two things that go by the same name. A bloated stomach from gas is digestive, and it is most of them. Fluid retention shows mostly in the legs, ankles or face, and that is what lymphatic drainage is aimed at. Massaging the skin of your tummy does not move gas out of your gut.

How to debloat today

• Eat slowly with your mouth closed, to swallow less air, and have several small meals rather than one large one.¹
• Fewer fizzy drinks, less gum, alcohol and caffeine.^{1, 2}
• Move a little. In a study with eight people prone to bloating, gentle exercise, pedaling while lying down, halved the gas left in the gut (from 45% to 24%) and eased their symptoms.³ A walk after eating is along the same lines.
• If you are constipated, treat it: it is one of the most common causes.²

The 5-minute routine

“Calm belly” is almost all breathing. It starts with belly breathing, opens the collarbone, neck, armpits and groin, breathes with your hands resting on your abdomen and, at the end, moves the skin of your lower tummy towards your groin. It follows the order of NHS leaflets: breathe and clear the tummy and groin before going on.⁴ The skin below the navel is moved towards the groin because that is where it drains: in one study, before surgery, all superficial lymph from that area went to the groin.⁵

Breathing deeply with your diaphragm widens the thoracic duct, the main lymph vessel in your chest, and helps lymph flow.⁶ No cream, sitting up straight, loose clothes at the waist and ideally not straight after eating. These are the eight steps:

What drainage can do, and what it cannot

What you can expect is a calm few minutes and a more relaxed tummy: five minutes of slow breathing with your hands resting on it. For bloating from gas, no studies show that lymphatic drainage helps, and it does not flatten your stomach either: there is no evidence that it makes you lose fat or inches.⁷

If what you want is to go to the bathroom, the massage that has been studied is a different one: abdominal massage for constipation, which added one and a half bowel movements a week in a meta-analysis of 23 studies, although it did not reduce laxative use.⁸ Rinpa does not teach it: if you are interested, ask your doctor or nurse.

A stomach that swells when you eat

Some people’s stomachs visibly swell after eating. A team at Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona found that, in these cases, it is not just gas: it is a reflex in which the diaphragm drops and the tummy wall relaxes. In a trial with 42 people, learning to control those muscles with a biofeedback device reduced distension scores by 66%, while the placebo did nothing.⁹

It is a treatment guided by a gastroenterology specialist, with their equipment, and it is not the breathing in this routine. If it happens to you often, it is worth asking about.

When it is not normal

Questions

Can lymphatic drainage flatten your stomach?

No. There is no evidence that it makes you lose fat or inches.⁷ If your tummy feels more relaxed afterwards, that is the calm, and it is temporary.

Does it help with gas?

There are no studies of drainage for that. What does help you pass gas is moving.³

Can I do it after eating?

Better not straight after: on a full stomach it is uncomfortable. If you have just eaten, go for a walk instead.³

What about during my period?

You can do it, as long as it does not hurt. If the pain is strong or different from usual, get it checked.

What is the difference between lymphatic drainage of the stomach and abdominal massage?

Drainage only moves the skin, with very little pressure, towards the groin. Abdominal massage for constipation is a different technique, meant to get the bowel moving.⁸ They are different techniques, for different things.