In the words of medical journalist Morton Walker, D.P.M., in "Jumping for Health": A Guide to Rebounding Aerobics (Avery, 1989), Rebounding is a "cellular exercise" that "uses gravity to cleanse your system and maximize your vitality."
One of rebounding's special benefits is its ability to improve flow in the lymphatic system. "The lymphatic system is the metabolic garbage can of the body," says Dr. Walker. "It rids the body of toxins, fatigue substances, dead cells, cancer cells, nitrogenous wastes, trapped protein, fatty globules, pathogenic bacteria, infectious viruses, foreign substances, heavy metals, and other assorted junk the cells cast off."
Stagnant or inadequate lymph flow is associated with the onset of many symptoms and illnesses, including bursitis in the shoulders, bunions, joint stiffness or soft tissue spasms, dry flaking skin, bad breath, body odors, lethargy, depression, and cancer. Unlike the circulatory system with the heart as its pump, the lymph system lacks a pump to move the fluid. It is vital that the lymph fluids continue to flow in order to eliminate waste from the body. The flow is dependent on muscle contractions and body movements, massage and other forms of compression, and gravity. One of the best ways to stimulate this flow is by exercising.
Rebounding specifically stimulates the flow of lymph fluid. The change in gravitational forces experienced during rebounding allows for greater blood flow, which in turn increases the amount of waste products flushed from cells.
"The lymphatic [flow] becomes very active during exercise but sluggish under resting conditions," states Arthur C. Guyton, M.D., chairman of the department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine and author of Basic Human Physiology. "During exercise, the rate of lymph flow can increase to as high as 14 times normal because of the increased activity." This happens because the lymph ducts expand during rebounding. The increased lymph flow flushes more toxins through the lymphatic system. Or as Dr. Walker says, rebounding stimulates "an optimum drainage of the lymphatic circulation."
