Authors & affiliations:
Ángela Río-González — Asociación Española de Linfedema y Lipedema (AEL); Dept Physiotherapy & Woman & Health Research Group, Universidad Europea de Madrid; Sanamanzana Physiotherapy Clinic · Esther Delgado-Pérez, Elisa García-García, Laura González-Fernández — Dept Physiotherapy & Woman & Health Research Group, Universidad Europea de Madrid · Sara García-Isidoro — Woman & Health Research Group, Universidad Europea de Madrid · Ester Cerezo-Téllez — AEL; Woman & Health Research Group & Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Alcalá, Spain
This multicenter observational study enrolled 293 women undergoing lower-limb liposuction for lipedema. Within 24 h post-surgery they received an intensive, tailored variant of Godoy Complete Decongestive Therapy: gentle manual lymph drainage, short-stretch multilayer bandaging, gravity-assisted active exercise, pulsatile mechanovibration and self-management education delivered twice daily for the first five days and every other day for three weeks. Mean limb volume fell by 12 %, pain dropped from 6 ± 1.4 to 2 ± 0.8 on day 7 and only 1.9 % developed seroma or infection versus 14 % in our historical cohort. Return to normal activity was halved (14 vs 28 days). Early lymphatic physiotherapy is therefore synergistic with surgery: it blunts reactive edema, preserves reconstructed lymphatic continuity and prevents fibrosis that would undermine aesthetic and functional results. The creative advance lies in defining a critical postoperative window during which targeted lymphatic stimulation modulates tissue remodeling and lowers recurrence, paving the way for evidence-based standardized protocols.
Tags: assessment; complications; liposuction; pain; physiotherapy; treatment
