What is swelling — edema — actually made of? Edema is a phenomenon of stagnant water and fluid; more precisely, it is fluid such as lymph leaking out of the blood vessels into the surrounding tissue. The reasons lymph escapes the vessels are varied, but they are usually bound up with inflammation. In Korean Traditional Medicine (KTM), the traditional healing system of Korea also known as Hanbang (한방), this is where any sensible account of swelling has to begin.
Is Inflammation a Bad Thing?
We tend to think of inflammation as purely bad, but it is an essential, life-sustaining reaction that clears unnecessary material from the body. When toxins — toxic substances, infectious agents — enter the body, or when toxic material builds up inside it, inflammation is the response that removes them.
The main signs of inflammation are fever, redness, swelling, pain, and loss of function. To clear the toxins that have collected in a tissue, the blood vessels first dilate so that lymph, and the immune cells that carry out the inflammatory response, can move into the tissue — and that movement is what produces the swelling. Pathological edema has many and varied underlying causes, but broadly they come down to two: an accumulation of toxins, or a decline in the body’s capacity to excrete them.
When Does the Swelling End?
Once the toxic material that needs clearing has been removed, the edema subsides on its own. And here it helps to widen what we mean by “toxin.” It is easy to picture only viruses, bacteria, and potent poisons harmful to everyone — but in truth, anything present in greater quantity than the body needs becomes a toxin. Cholesterol is indispensable to the body, yet in excess it becomes hyperlipidemia, provoking various forms of vascular inflammation and disease and, entangled with other metabolic disorders, producing edema. The metabolic by-products of excessive stress and overwork bring on swelling in the same way.
How Do Anti-Swelling Creams Work?
I have not surveyed every product, but anti-swelling creams seem to emphasise two principles. One is raising the metabolic rate; the other is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant action. Raise the metabolic rate and the inflammatory, immune response runs its course quickly and finishes quickly. Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant action suppresses the inflammation itself, and so tamps down the swelling.
Which particular product is good is hard to say without trying it, since there is no knowing in advance how its ingredients will act in your body. But grasping the underlying principle of edema is a great help in working out how to reduce it.
In Summary
Edema, too, is a living process — one with the useful function of flushing out waste. So rather than simply trying to block it, the right approach is to manage it in a way that helps the body excrete well. Swelling is, after all, also a sign that the body is clearing something away.
Related reading: To Reduce Swelling, Should You Drink More Water or Less? · The Liver and Edema: When Stagnant Qi Holds Water
This article reflects the teaching and research of Professor Seungho Baek, Professor of Korean Medicine at Dongguk University College of Korean Medicine, specializing in Pathology and Oncology.
