Lymphatics and the diaphragm
Where lymph goes
- The right lymphatic duct drains the right head and neck, the right arm and the right side of the chest above the diaphragm.
- The thoracic duct drains everything else and usually empties into the left venous angle, where the left internal jugular and subclavian veins meet.
- The thoracic duct starts at the cisterna chyli, around L1-L2, and rises through the aortic hiatus with the aorta and the azygos vein. Its path through the diaphragm is the classic OMM reason to treat the diaphragm before pushing fluid from the limbs.
- Lymph moves because of skeletal muscle activity, pressure changes from breathing, contraction of the lymph vessels themselves, and one-way valves.
The rest of this guide is for founders
Founders get every guide, endless cases with an AI tutor, and Anki export of their misses. Here is what is inside:
- Where lymph goes
- The diaphragm
- The treatment sequence
- Techniques
- When not to
- The common compensatory pattern
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