There are several factors, both from an anatomical and physiological perspective, as well as from an environmental perspective, involved in the incidence of breast pain, tenderness and cancer, in our current culture.

One of the main players in the health of breast tissue is the lymphatic system. Both the body design and environmental issues rely on the lymphatic system to maintain healthy breasts - as well as other tissue.

The lymphatic system is part of the vascular system, which also includes blood vessels, both arterial and venous. The vascular system is a system of moving the fluid tissues through the body, mainly through tubular channels, to deliver nutrients and to clear waste from the site of the fixed tissues, where metabolism takes place. Fixed tissues are all the regular cellular structural tissues that give our body its shape and form, including both soft tissue and bones, as well as hair and teeth, etc. Since the body’s cells are fixed and cannot travel to the source of nutrients, and their excretion of metabolic waste would eventually poison them if the toxins were to remain proximal and local, there has to be a system of circulating the waste and nutrients, so that cells can remain healthy and effective in their various functions. That system is the vascular system.

The vascular system is responsible for elimination of waste material from the tissues, via the venous system and the lymphatic system. The venous system is part of the arterial system, in that they both circulate blood and also because they are two ends of a closed system. Arteries leave the heart and veins feed into the heart. At the more peripheral end, the more distal from the heart, the vessels become very tiny, and at this level the arterial capillaries are united to the tiny veins or venules. We call the level of exchange between the capillaries and the venules, the micro circulation, because at this level blood cells move in single file because the diameter of the vessels is so small. When it comes to the more superficial tissues, like the skin and the fatty layer, we are relying on the micro-circulation. It is also at this level that toxic build-up is most common, because the micro-circulation is easily occluded.

Lymph is also a feature of the micro-circulation but it differs from the venules in that venules take up toxins through the absorption of waste across the one cell membrane of its walls, and lymph, not being part of a closed circulatory system, originates in the peripheral tissues, at the micro circulation level and the vessel is open, like a tiny tubule. The two systems also differ in that the venous system is built for water based toxins and relatively small molecules, while the lymphatic vessels are designed to take up (oil) lipid-based toxins and larger molecules. The lymphatic vessels are strategically placed in the fatty layer, just below the layer of the skin, where lipid based toxins are most freely circulating.

Both the venous and lymphatic systems have a method of propulsion. The venous system has the heart, whose action at the periphery is quite weak, the volume pressure of the arterial blood pressing through a closed system, and the action of the skeletal muscle pumping the larger vessels and drawing the blood from the periphery. The lymph also benefits from the movement of skeletal muscle, but it relies on the jiggling of the fatty layer to propel the oily lymph from fatty globule to fatty globule, picking up toxins and moving it freely, so it can be siphoned off into the open mouthed vessels of the lymph channels. The importance of the jiggling of the fatty tissue, as well as vibration and light afferent stroking, to move the lymph, cannot be overstated or overestimated. The outer layer of the body represents a tremendous surface area and the fatty layer is just under the surface. The movement of the lymph through the fatty layer and into the vessels, that originate at the micro-circulation level, all suggest that stimulation of the surface and peripheral tissues has the most profound effect on the movement of lipid-based toxins and large molecules that rely on the lymph vessels for disposal because they are too large to pass through the venule wall via osmosis.

The breasts, being largely fatty tissue, act as a pump for the lymph, when they jiggle. In women’s bodies, the breasts, as well as the thighs and buttocks, are natural areas to accumulate fatty tissue. This anatomical attribute helps to accommodate the expansion of the hips and breast in the event of procreation, but it has another interesting and valuable function in the everyday maintenance of the health of the body – jiggling. Jiggling is not an unfortunate effect of moving fatty tissue, it is a pump for the lymph system. The jiggling need not be excessive nor need the fat content, but there must be free movement in order for the tissue to benefit from the design it belongs to. The lymph is very shallow and when, for instance, a garment, like a bra or underwear, for instance, is tight enough to leave a mark, it is at that line that the lymph is impeded, the vessels compressed and congestion begins.

Lymph nodes, which are the processing station of the lymph fluid, are situated under the armpits and at the groin, close to the areas of fatty deposit, and close to the reproductive organs. The importance of the reproductive organs is obvious to the survival of the species, but what is less obvious is that these colonies of lymph nodes do not just attend to the local region of the procreative areas, but they are the clearing stations for most of the body. The thorax, or upper body, clears from the waist up to the auxillary (arm pit) nodes, and most of the lower body clears to the inguinal (groin) nodes. Besides other random nodes, there is also a colony of nodes down the center of the abdomen, as insurance for the health of the abdomen, where many important digestive and elimination functions take place.

When we look at the increased incidence of breast tenderness and cancer we must look at some of the practices and stresses of our modern lifestyle. Breast cancer, is one of the only cancers that is more common in higher income brackets. And the primary cause is believed to be the underwire bra. Conversely, studies show that in African, and other tribal cultures, where women, until very recently, have not worn bras, that there is no history of breast cancer; zero.

With most of the upper body clearing to the auxillary nodes, we must think of the effects that bras have. Most women do not have properly fitting bras, they are often too tight, do not match their body type and they contain underwires, all of which impede the flow of lymph. Remembering that the nodes do not just clear the breasts but all the upper body, and all the toxins that are processed through the body that are lipid based as well as large molecules. With many environmental toxins being large molecules and lipid-based, access to the lymph nodes is absolutely essential. Impeding the circulation to the auxillary nodes has an effect on the body as a whole as well as on the breasts. The way that the strapping and mechanics of a bra are configured, it effectively quarantines the breasts away from the nodes, the breast area from the rest of the thorax and inhibits jiggling.

Lipid based toxins, which are trying to make it to the nodes, will need to be stored if they are not being processed, and they will store in the fatty tissue of the breast and sometimes, in the upper arms. Backed up lymph becomes thick, like lard, and then it no longer moves freely and jiggling can only effect the healthy light oily substance of healthy lymph. Further, many women have breast tissue that exceeds the confines and configuration of the bra they wear and underwire cutting into breast tissue can cause any number of problems besides impeding the flow of lymph, depending on how deeply it cuts into the tissue, it can rupture vessels and bruise the bone, causing inflammation, fibrous tissue build-up (which is part of the inflammatory response, tenderness, and possibly tissue changes.

If you wear a bra it should fit you without binding (it should not leave a mark,) avoid underwires, massage your breasts and jiggle them when you remove your bra - to excite lymphatic movement, go without a bra whenever possible and you might read this article a few times, until you have an embedded sense of how your breasts fit into the package of your body and how it operates, then incorporate healthy practices that are particular to you. If you wear a bra you should absolutely have breast massage several times a year.

Breast massage (approximately 20 minutes) can be included as part of any regular massage, or it can be added on to a full regular massage for an additional $15.

Breast massage alone is available as a 30-minute treatment for $40; breast massage with castor oil packs takes roughly 40 minutes and costs $60.

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