Manual Lymph Drainage for Alzheimer's Dementia: A Clinical Trial Whose Time Has Come?

Abstract

Mounting evidence implicates brain lymphatic drainage in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Several recent basic and clinical science discoveries have suggested the impact of lymphatic therapy to stimulate lymph flow in the head and neck including improvement in cognition. Manual lymphatic drainage has potential as a simple inexpensive way to promote brain lymph drainage and is worthy of a well-designed clinical trial to evaluate its potential as a primary or adjunctive treatment of Alzheimer's disease at this time.