Lipoedema Ladies
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23rd
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Swimsuits you madam!
“Who says it has to be itsy bitsy?”
I love to swim..simple! Well, perhaps not so simple as I have Lipoedema legs and arms and the thought of the inevitable wobble to the pool makes my blood run cold. Sharie Fetzer has been doing lots of research into the benefit of swimming for Lipoedema and the results so far are promising.You can read more on Swimming and Sharie on our exercise page. Swimming is obviously good for general health, but it is also like a Manual Lymphatic Drainage massage on your whole body at the same time.
So back to my cold blood...I decided I needed coverage first, support second and fashion last, saying that I didn't want to look ridiculous! I searched the web and googled my way through hundreds of stores worldwide. The best results came up when googling 'MODEST SWIMWEAR' and 'LEGSUITS' and 'KNEESUITS'.
The more expensive legged swimsuits are actually what competition swimmers and professionals use, so who says they are not trendy!? These suits also offer great compression, hold your major and core muscles in a cradle and improve recovery time.
There are suits just for coverage though and I found a few on Amazon, the one I bought was from the online Simply Swim store, the Beco Electric Legsuit. I found this had little support but did give me good coverage and the eye tricking piping helped give me a more streamlines look. My swim movements were not restricted in anyway and it dried very quickly.
There is a fantastic store on Amazon called Bohn Swimwear. They offer separates and full suits. So if like me you rather like a swimming costume you already have, you have just add the leg coverage. They sell below and above knee swim shorts and even swimming leggings. For those of you that would like arm coverage they cater for you also with sleeved swim tops. They are not the only company out there doing this sort of swimwear but they are UK based and the owner Sarah Bohn has offered Lipoedema Ladies a discount code, just add the discount code:RWI7EIDI to your basket on Amazon and you will get 10% off.
While at a recent Lipoedema meeting I was informed by Sandy Ellis from St Georges Hospital that we can indeed swim in our compression garments, even tights!!!
So I also tried swimming with my usual swimsuit and my prescription compression below knee shorts. I found my movements were a little restricted, but boy did it get my lymph fluid moving.
I enjoyed the swim and many a trip to the toilet, which was not the easiest of things to do as you have to peel off wet compression garments quickly and we all know this is hard to do when the garments are dry.
Regardless I am very happy to say I benefited from my swimming and not one person looked at me as if I was swimming in my clothes, which was a concern. I felt much happier and more confident in a suit that offered coverage compared to my one piece without legs.