Walking is having a wellness makeover on social media. The latest trend, “lymphatic walking”, involves swinging your arms more, maintaining an upright posture and taking deeper breaths while you walk. These actions are said to help move lymph around the body. Its followers claim it can reduce bloating and improve circulation, support immune function, and even help “flush toxins” from the body.
There is some science behind the idea. Our muscles already help move lymph every time they contract and relax. But what does the lymphatic system actually do, and can a particular style of walking really change how it works?
The lymphatic system is a network of vessels, tissues and organs that works alongside the cardiovascular system. Fluid is constantly moving out of tiny blood vessels into the tissues around our cells, and the lymphatic system’s main job is collecting this excess fluid and protein and returning it to the circulation.
It also supports digestion by absorbing dietary fats and fat-soluble vitamins from the small intestine, while intestinal lymphatic vessels interact with the gut microbiome and immune system, helping to maintain intestinal health and regulate inflammation.
Beyond the gut, the lymphatic system plays an important role in immunity, transporting immune cells through lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes, where immune responses can be coordinated.
Unlike the cardiovascular system, though, the lymphatic system does not have one large central pump like the heart. Instead, lymph – a clear to straw-coloured, watery liquid – moves in several ways. Lymphatic vessels can contract on their own, but lymph flow is also driven by pressure changes from breathing and by the contraction and relaxation of surrounding skeletal muscles.
Our muscles act as pumps. As they contract, they compress blood and lymphatic vessels running through and around them. Combined with one-way valves inside these vessels, this helps move fluid forwards and, particularly in the lower limbs, upwards against gravity.
Second heart
The calf muscles are probably the best-known example. Each time we take a step, muscles in the lower leg contract and relax, helping to push blood in the veins back towards the heart. This is why the calves are sometimes described as a “second heart”.
But this effect is not limited to the calves, or to walking. Exercise can support lymphatic flow through skeletal-muscle contraction. Deliberately using muscles throughout the arms, legs and trunk while moving therefore has a sound physiological basis.
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Breathing plays a role too. The diaphragm is our main breathing muscle, and every breath changes pressure within the chest and abdomen. Deeper diaphragmatic breathing creates larger pressure changes, which can help move blood and lymph from the lower body towards the chest and circulation. These pressure changes around the digestive organs can also help move food through the gut, supporting the circulation and lymphatic flow that transport absorbed nutrients and metabolic waste products.
So walking with more arm movement, taking deeper breaths and actively using more muscles is physiologically meaningful. The problem comes when this is presented as something unique or necessary to “activate” the lymphatic system.
At the moment, there is no clear evidence that lymphatic walking is better than ordinary walking for healthy people. The specific combination of arm swinging, posture and breathing being promoted online has not been shown to provide special detoxifying, fat-burning or immune-boosting effects.
However, the broader idea – moving purposefully, engaging more muscle and breathing more deeply while doing so – does make physiological sense.
Exercise is already an important part of managing lymphoedema, a condition where the lymphatic system cannot drain fluid effectively and swelling develops. Muscle-pumping exercises, including walking, can help support this drainage.
For most people, though, the useful message is probably not that they need to start lymphatic walking. It is to make every movement count.
Walking, climbing stairs, dancing, strength training, swimming, gardening or running all involve repeated muscle contraction. Even simply getting up after sitting for a long period activates muscles that have been relatively inactive.
Actively engaging with movement may also have benefits that extend well beyond lymphatic flow.
Regularly and deliberately using our muscles helps maintain strength and physical function, while also supporting cardiovascular, metabolic and mental health. Over time, this can help build greater physical resilience and reduce vulnerability to injury, illness and loss of function.
The best thing most people can do for their lymphatic system is therefore much less complicated than this wellness trend makes it sound: move regularly, purposefully and often. Every step, stretch and muscle contraction counts.
Hannah Campbell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.