Summary:
“Based on the cases described in this report and on our ongoing research, we are convinced that this type of inexpensive, harmless and easy-to-implement approach of manual lymphatic drainage can be beneficial to autistic patients and represents a new and promising treatment. We expect that the described protocol will play a central role in future treatments for autism, both alone and in combination with other therapies such as behavioral therapies or nutritional interventions.”
The full abstract:
“In this study we report the results of a protocol for improving brain lymphatic flow in autism through lymphatic drainage massage, a technique successfully used in a variety of conditions where intracranial lymphatic circulation is hampered by obstacles at the level of deep cervical nodes. At the end of May 2018, the Biomedical Centre for Autism Research and Treatment started implementing a protocol of manual lymphatic drainage of the deep cervical nodes on autistic subjects. By October 2018, several scores of patients had been treated with this protocol. In this report, we describe the cases of three autistic patients for whom manual lymphatic massage was remarkably effective. To our knowledge, this is the first report of lymphatic drainage massage at the level of the deep cervical nodes in autism. Symptomatic improvement was robust and we attribute these results to the effects of the massage on the intracranial lymph or sometimes referred to as the glymphatic circulation with improvement of brain lymphatic drainage believed leading to a decrease of neuroinflammation. In addition to stimulating lymphatic drainage, we postulate that the protocol may serve also as vagus nerve stimulation. The protocol also targets the larynx in a manner similar as described for laryngeal manual therapy for the treatment of dysphonia, and this factor may be contributing to the overall improvement of symptoms, with particular reference to speech. Based on the cases described in this report and on our ongoing research, we are convinced that this type of inexpensive, harmless and easy-to-implement approach of manual lymphatic drainage can be beneficial to autistic patients and represents a new and promising treatment. We expect that the described protocol will play a central role in future treatments for autism, both alone and in combination with other therapies such as behavioral therapies or nutritional interventions. Based on the cases described in this report and on our ongoing research, we are convinced that this type of inexpensive, harmless and easy-to-implement approach of manual lymphatic drainage can be beneficial to autistic patients and represents a new and promising treatment. We expect that the described protocol will play a central role in future treatments for autism, both alone and in combination with other therapies such as behavioral therapies or nutritional interventions.”
Source: EC Neurology
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