Real Estate

How to Get Home Loan Lead Ideas: 3 Quick Ways Online

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Mortgage companies are having trouble getting new customers, the causes are due to two factors. First, the financial institution is very demanding when it comes to approving loans. Another reason is that many people who have existing loans to pay off are unwilling to accept new offers. To stay competitive in the property financing business, you need a way to constantly communicate with new prospects. So this article is going to talk about getting home loan lead ideas.

There are actually several ways to get ideas about home loan leads. With a little imagination and a network of friends, you can generate leads for companies that offer mortgages. Here are some ways you can direct people looking for home loans to contact you.

1) Create a blog about mortgages – Although there are many blogs out there, having yours will give you credibility as someone who knows about mortgages. People who see this and agree with what you say will want to contact you. On the blog, you can put up a form where they can leave contact information in case they want to receive updates from you. This will be the first step in building your database.

2) Write an offer letter – If you know the bank or financial institution you are generating leads for, you can write an offer letter that is specific to what the particular bank offers. However, if you want to generate leads for more than one institution, then a generic letter defining what a mortgage is and what should be included in a mortgage contract should suffice. Write the letter and email it to your friends and family, let them forward it to their friends. Be sure to include your contact details and your blog site in the email so prospects can get in touch with you.

3) Actively participate in online forums – There are many forums online that people will visit when they need information on anything, including mortgages. Register on these forums and regularly provide information to those who are searching. However, do not advertise, as this will not increase your credibility. Once you’ve established your expertise in the field, people will start asking you questions on the forum. At this stage, you want to direct them to your blog site. By doing so, you’re creating more opportunities for prospects to view your signup form. You will increase the chances that they will leave your contacts to receive free updates from you.

Having established yourself as a home loan expert, people will want to contact you. This increase in new customer inquiries can help grow your business through more mortgage plan sales. It will certainly take some of the pressure off your upper management, especially if you are a mortgage executive.

Shopping Product Reviews

Turks and Caicos Islands Shopping: Caribbean Souvenirs, Local Art, Handmade Crafts, Fine Wines and Spirits

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Why should you consider shopping in the Turks and Caicos Islands? Tax free.

During your next vacation to this enchanting archipelago in the Caribbean, you can do some guilt-free shopping and support the local economy without paying sales and luxury taxes! Many places even advertise their duty-free prices to American and Canadian visitors. The Grace Bay side of Providenciales has numerous boutiques at Caicos Café Plaza, La Petite Place, Regent Village, and The Saltmills. The main shopping centers on the island are Ports of Call, Market Place and Central Square.

If your stay in Turks and Caicos is longer than two days and you are a US citizen, you can return home with up to $800 worth of purchases per person duty free. If you stay less than 48 hours, you can return with $200 in tax-free purchases per traveler.

The rules for Canadians differ slightly. After a seven-day vacation, they can return with tax-free purchases of up to $750 per person and $400 per person after a two-day excursion. But be sure to check with customs to confirm because these numbers can change at any time.

Do you want to find unique island art? Local craft? Caribbean fashion? Here are suggestions for your next shopping excursion to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Most of the shops offer island and nature themed crafts. Shoppers can find original art at The Bamboo Art Gallery, located in Caicos Café Plaza and open five days a week. For home decor or fashion items, check out Shell Shack in Grand Turks. Greensleeves in Central Square sells unique local homemade crafts and offers a framing service for Turks and Caicos art and prints.

Daphne’s Native Gift Shop in South Caicos, Bottle Creek in North Caicos, and Middle Caicos Cooperative in—you guessed it—Middle Caicos all showcase handmade crafts like jewelry, bags, hats, and paintings. Royal Jewels offers a wide selection of perfumes, cosmetics, jewelry, watches, leather goods, and crystal.

If you find yourself in Caicos Café Plaza, you must visit Codaacos Boutique for European resort wear. Nearby, Maison Creole sells Haitian handicrafts, paintings, and antique furniture, along with other Caribbean crafts and South African baskets.

All visitors to the Turks and Caicos Islands will need food, drinks, and toiletries. Listed below are some places to find these vital items. Graceway IGA in Providenciales is the premier supermarket for all your food, beverage and necessities.

Other grocery stores include Cox Lewis and Seaview Dry Goods Store on Stubbs Road, Island Pride Supermarket in downtown Providenciales, Quality Supermarket on Leeward Highway, and Sarah’s Shopping Center on Frith Street Back Salina.

For local books, newspapers and travel guides, try the Unicorn Bookstore in the downtown Market Place. This great little shop has a good selection of local history books, guide books and maps, plus newspapers, magazines and children’s books.

What’s a vacation without a little alcohol and tobacco? If you want to buy a good wine or liquor, visit Discount on Liquors and Bodega where you can also find beer, soft drinks and juices. Shalimar specializes in Cuban, Dominican, Jamaican cigars, and Lucayan rum, but you might also be interested in locally handcrafted dolls, T-shirts, and other souvenirs.

In short, there are plenty of shops in Turks and Caicos to keep you busy.

Sports

Flag Football Domination – 10 Ways to Destroy Your Flag Football Opponents

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Spring is here, and with it the long-awaited thaw and the return of football. But before you stumble blindly into another lackluster flag football experience, check out ten ways to dominate the league this year:

1. The tone

If your league declares the ball dead when it hits the ground (and most do), you absolutely essential take advantage of the lateral – you can turn a loss of yardage into a touchdown. On every play, your players should be thinking about the shot.

2. a mighty fever

Don’t make the mistake of using “excess” players as running backs. Instead, use your best athletes to rush you; will be worth. A nasty run can completely neutralize a QB and demoralize the opposing offense.

3. Settings

A flexible team is a winning team. Spend time planning so you’re not trying to make up your strategy in the field. Here are some things to develop:

– A plan for an overwhelming run (releasing blockers, rushing, shooting)

– A plan for a team that doesn’t rush (sneaky QBs, two-move routes)

– A dominant defense (zone or man, blitzes, audibles)

– A plan to handle a quick and crafty QB (additional running backs,

4. A good playbook

Nine times out of ten, a good outline will beat pure athleticism. You need to organize and play. If you’re not willing (or just don’t have the time) to create a full playbook, try a site like Ninja Flag Football.

5. individual rotations

If you have a large team, the game time rotation can turn into total chaos. Find an efficient and organized way to substitute players. Avoid team politics by distributing talent around the rotation instead of having their “starters” first. A backup squad with no playmakers is useless to take the field at almost any point in the game.

6. Defending

Defense wins championships. In general, teams of 5 or fewer should play man-to-man defense unless the field is small. One zone can work with a larger team. Every defense will have its weaknesses, but giving the quarterback too much time is unacceptable. So send out your running backs as often as you can and use the blitz aggressively to keep the quarterback moving. Also, an area will completely fall apart if your defenders don’t hold their places.

7. Moment

This, unfortunately, takes practice. But if your QB can master a handful of routes (or even a couple), throwing right when the receiver cuts, you can build a championship offense. You can’t stop a quarterback who can match accuracy and timing.

8. Rhythm

Everybody wants to huck it deep. While there’s a lot to be said for having some long plays in your arsenal, in general, you’ll do much better with shorter, more consistent plays. A relentless short game will wear down the defense much more effectively than a few long plays, and successive completions will also break down the opponents’ psyche.

9. early experiment

Regardless of how good your scheme is going into the season, it will be best if you adjust after each game. Each team has its own chemistry. Based on the concept of flexibility, try as many plays and schemes as you can early in the season, but by playoff time you should have distilled what works best for your team. After a few weeks of regular season play, you should know what works and what looks better on paper than on the field.

10 pull the flag

Nothing is more important in flag football than being able to throw the flag. Once again, nothing is more important in flag football than being able to throw the flag. This sounds silly, but time and time again, short dunk passes turn into touchdowns due to missed flips.

Try the following:

· Don’t wait flat-footed: If you wait for the ball carrier to zoom by while you wave and hit the flags, you are setting yourself up for disaster. Instead, find the ball carrier as soon as possible and move with the ball carrier as he pulls the flags.

· Hinder: Most flag leagues don’t allow (much) contact. That’s why it can be especially helpful to get in the ball carrier’s way as he tries to pull the flag. They can’t intimidate you; they have to turn. This slows them down and gives you more time to pull the flag.

· look for: If everyone on your team chases the play, you will win more games. You’ll have fewer leaks because if one guy misses the flag, another guy is there.

Follow these tips and you’ll be on your way to your own championships.

Technology

Everything you need to know about the OnePlus 5

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The glimpses of the phone we’ve been getting are impressive and OnePlus fans are waiting to get their hands on the next OnePlus device that will revamp mobile computing.

Here’s everything you need to know about the OnePlus 5 launch, release date, specs, and features.

OnePlus seems to be retracing its steps with the launch of the OnePlus 5. They will bring back the invitation system that they had put aside for the launch of the OnePlus 3 and 3T.

The specs and features of the phone are designed to impress and the speculative features of this super phone are doing just that. Its fast and high-speed processor, Android Nougat operating system, fingerprint sensor embedded in the home button, extensive storage option, and large battery capacity give the phone what it needs to take on computers. and beat them at their own game.

Now let’s dive into its specifications:

The OnePlus 5 will house a Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835 Octa-core processor running at a frequency of 4×2.45 GHz Kryo and 4×1.9 GHz Kryo along with an Adreno 540 GPU for enhanced visuals in high graphics content. Android Nougat is the icing on the cake as it allows its users to seamlessly switch between apps and use multi-tab option in the best way.

The phone will be presented in two variants. One of them would have 6 GB of RAM with 64 GB of internal storage and the last would house a unit of 8 GB of RAM with 128 GB of internal memory.

The presence of a reliable storage slot has not yet been confirmed; however, there are strong reasons to believe that the OnePlus 5 will not feature expandable storage on at least this variant. After paying a high price for the phone, we’re not sure how users would react to the same old 64GB storage that was around since the inception of Oneplus in India.

OnePlus will feature a dual rear camera and it looks like one of the most powerful in the smartphone race so far. On the back it has a 20+16MP main camera with Dual LED flash. Phase detection autofocus, 2x optical zoom, 1/2.8″ sensor size, 1.12µm @ 16MP and 1/2.8″ sensor size, 1.0µm @ 20MP, geotagging , touch focus, face detection, HDR and panorama are some of the features that the camera boasts of.

The selfie camera on this is a powerful 16MP camera with f/2.0 aperture that has Auto HDR, built-in EIS (gyroscope), and effortlessly shoots 1080p video.

The battery of the OnePlus 5 is a 3300 mAh unit that is assisted by Dash Charge. The battery seems underpowered in terms of numbers, but the Nano processor used is designed to draw less power, giving longer battery life with smaller units.

This 5.5-inch phone will feature an Optic AMOLED screen with a pixel density of 401 ppi. This superstructure is protected against external damage by a unit of Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

The downsides of this phone so far are that the phone is not waterproof or dustproof. The battery unit seems small and the memory seems inadequate. With that being said, we would have to wait for the release and see how the hidden magic unfolds.

Home Kitchen

How to decorate kitchens with white cabinets

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I am a cabinet maker in South Florida. By far the most popular color that people choose for kitchens is white. Much of this trend has to do with flipping houses. Before the mammoth housing crisis, Florida ranked second in the nation for the largest increase in home values. No wonder there was so much buying and selling.

One of our clients over a two year period during the real estate boom bought, remodeled and sold thirteen houses. Every kitchen cabinet remodel was the same, white cabinets. The wife would always arrange the houses so potential prospects could see more than just empty rooms.

He had excellent taste and a lot to invest in making kitchens look very attractive. She used things like bright green vases and colorful flower arrangements to make kitchens look lively. Whenever she had a high bar area to decorate, she would always set out yellow plates, black placemats, decorative wine glasses, cloth napkins with colored rings.

I would almost always choose MDF, raised panel cabinet doors, and a nice mid-tone Formica pattern for the countertops. They weren’t fancy houses they were remodeling. They were more for people who fell into the middle income bracket. He had developed a system that worked. All the houses we remodeled for her and her husband had kitchens with white cabinets.

Here are some ideas on how to decorate.

  • Contrast with countertop colors, but not too dark
  • Accent cabinets with attractive handles or knobs
  • Install stained glass backsplashes in the kitchen between the counter and the bottom of the upper cabinet
  • Decorate with brightly colored flowers, teapots, and hand towels.
  • Small appliances like toasters or can openers can be purchased in various pleasing colors.
  • Accent with Formica Wall Backsplash or Wall Mica
  • Accent the base of the fingers and the edges of the countertop with a beautiful color
  • Install real granite countertops
  • Paint the ceilings or walls with bright colors
  • fruit sneakers
  • wine bottles
  • cookbooks

Kitchens with white cabinets are not everyone’s cup of tea. I have had at least two clients out of three to four hundred tell me that white reminds them of being in a hospital or a doctor’s office.

Here’s the thing though, if you plan to sell in the next five years, install white cabinets and then accent colors around them. For many years, clients, realtors, and contractors have shared with me the importance of staying neutral with color selections when planning to sell your home years from now.

High-end homeowners seem to fit into a different group when they think about resale. People with money tend to buy things and remodel them according to their personal tastes. I installed bright red Formica cabinets with bright lime green countertops in a seaside home near the Gulf of Mexico. I guess the house would be worth at least two million dollars.

Contrasting flooring goes well with kitchens that have white cabinets. I personally like to see a nice natural oak color on the floors. You will have endless possibilities when it comes to decorating around white cabinets. If you take a moment to visit our site via the link below, you’ll find plenty of photos that you can get ideas from.

Digital Marketing

No marketing ROI in your small business? Here is how to fix it

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If you are a small business owner, you know how difficult it is to manage all aspects of your business. Marketing is the backbone of any business when it comes to growth. Unlike big companies, small start-ups have to work with smaller budgets. As a result, owners must do everything they can to get the most out of their marketing bucks. In this guide, we’ll give you some insider tips that can help you get the highest ROI.

1) Make sure you have realistic goals

Having solid goals is the first thing you should do. This is important if you want your marketing plan to be effective. You can have different goals and ways to achieve them. For example, you can find a way to encourage your customers to sign up for your weekly or monthly newsletter.

In the same way, for better revenue growth, make sure you have an eye-catching call-to-action in your newsletters. This will increase the click rate.

2) Choose a suitable channel

Not all marketing channels may work for you. Therefore, you should choose a channel based on real data. This channel can be a platform that can help you exchange information with your customers, like social media.

Of course, you may have to spend time familiarizing yourself with these channels. As soon as you’ve learned how to use them, you’ll be good to go.

3) Run Optimized Marketing Campaigns

This is one of the best cross-platform techniques. With this approach, you can make your message more effective, whether you’re using newspaper, television, or Internet ads.

It is good to have an integrated marketing campaign as it can have a positive impact on the visibility and effectiveness of your message. In fact, experts say that 70% of clients are inclined towards the integrated marketing method. So an optimized campaign can give better results.

4) Write content

Marketing can be done in more than one way, and content marketing is at the top of the list. Writing content for your blog or website can help you reap a number of benefits down the road. The fact is, content is king when it comes to getting your site on the first page of Google. Once your site appears at the top of the search results page, your ROI will increase.

5) Use task automation platforms

With the help of digital marketing, you can get a lot of benefits. Digital marketing has a large number of tools and platforms that allow you to automate your marketing tasks. Some of the platforms are MailChimp, Facebook, and WordPress. Task automation can save you a lot of time and investment money. At the same time, you will increase your marketing ROI.

Conclusion

If implemented the right way, these secret techniques can help you significantly increase your marketing ROI. So, be sure to give them a try if you are a serious small business owner. I hope this helps.

Relationship

Survival – Are you and your family prepared?

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92% of Americans who have survived a natural disaster say they are not prepared for the next one. *

85% of our nation is not ready for a devastating event.

52% of Americans do not have copies of crucial personal documents. **

48% of Americans do not have emergency supplies.

44% of Americans do not own a first aid kit.

*Source: FEMA.GOV

**Source: US Department of Health and Human Services 2016

Do you live in an area prone to flooding, an area plagued by harsh winters, areas susceptible to tornadoes, coastal areas facing hurricanes, or in earthquake country? Identify if you are at risk and the key is to identify why you are at risk.

Steps to prepare yourself to survive with minimal effort:

Step 1 – Make a plan, familiarize yourself with how to receive emergency alerts and warnings from local government agencies and law enforcement personnel in your hometown. Talk with your family about plans for different disasters and what to do. Learn how and when to turn off water, gas, and electricity at main lockouts. Talk with your family members about how you will communicate with each other during a disaster. Collect personal information from each family member’s photos, phone number, and email address. Include doctors, hospitals, and schools. Provide a laminated copy to each person involved. Choose an emergency meeting place if practical. Determine and practice the best escape routes from your homes.

Step 2: Gather emergency supplies. Water, 1 gallon per person per day for 72 hours in addition to water for preparing food, bathing, brushing teeth, and washing dishes. Food experts recommend a three-month supply of non-perishable foods (infant formula if needed). Clothes, you will need complete changes of clothes for each member of the family. Include long pants, long-sleeved shirts, comfortable shoes considering the climatic area in which you live. Don’t forget baby diapers and also include sleeping bags or warm blankets for each person. Personal health care supplies should be in the travel bag, prescription drugs, first aid kit (to match your lifestyle). Feminine hygiene items, prescription glasses, and hand sanitizer will also be needed. Gather important documents to include copies of insurance policies, copies of identification cards (driver’s license, passport, or other identification), bank account information, cash (small bills) or traveler’s checks, family photos (if separated), and a first aid book Store everything in waterproof portable containers. And finally, stock safety supplies and equipment such as water filtration devices, flashlights, batteries, fire extinguishers, battery or hand-cranked radios, waterproof matches, paper cups, plates, utensils (the old military-style gear), paper towels, large trash bags with ties, paper and pencils, whistle, dust mask, duct tape, can opener, cell phone charger, lighter, rope, wrench or pliers.

Step 3-Emergency food supplies. Choose foods that have a long shelf life and do not need to be refrigerated. Supplies should be easy to prepare with minimal steps. Fruit bars, nuts, peanut butter, and canned juices. Vitamins, baby food, children, high-calorie foods, comfort and anti-stress foods, dehydrated milk, pet food. Keep salty and spicy foods to a minimum, as they increase the need to drink water. Check and replace at intervals throughout the year as needed. Store a three-month supply of non-perishable food in a cool, dry place that is easy to reach. Choose familiar foods that include all dietary concerns and needs. Keep food in covered containers, keep utensils clean, and keep trash closed or buried! Wash hands frequently with soap and water. Discard the food if it is questionable. Use bottled water if possible and if the water is questionable it should be boiled or treated.

Use perishable foods in your refrigerator or freezer before using your emergency supplies. If cooking food in a can, remove the label, wash the can thoroughly, and then open the can before heating.

Have at least one gallon per day per person stored in sturdy plastic bottles with tight-fitting lids. Stored water should be changed every six months. Allow your people to drink as much water as they want or need. Everyone is different and may require more. Do not ration drinking water unless directed by local or federal authorities. Do not substitute carbonated drinks for drinking water. Capture and store rainwater or snow. Use ice cubes, liquid from canned goods like fruits or vegetables. Water from heating systems, toilets, flush tanks, waterbeds, pools, or spas may be used for personal hygiene and cleaning, but not for drinking!

Step 4: Get over the disaster while sheltering in place. Protect yourself, your family and pets from the elements by staying indoors. Make sure all windows, doors, air vents, and fireplace dampers are locked or closed. Turn off any airflow systems. Have an emergency supply kit ready. Go for interior rooms with minimal windows and seal all windows with plastic sheeting and tape. Watch TV, radio, or check the Internet frequently for official news and instructions.

If you become stranded outdoors, find a structure that will protect you from the elements. Stay warm, dry and hydrated. If you are separated from your family, be sure to contact them to inform them of your whereabouts.

Step 5-Coping with the disaster. Keep your mind off what’s going on around you by entertaining yourself and your family with board games. Stay informed through television or radio. Take care of your body by eating healthy, staying hydrated, and getting enough sleep if possible. Take breaks from everything that’s going on and spend time together. Keep a regular schedule for your days. Provide a safe environment and help others if you can. Identify what you are at risk for and prepare, so that when that time comes you can rest easy knowing that you and your loved ones are cared for.

Plan, prepare, protect, overcome, endure, endure, do it and keep body, soul and family together. You need a plan to prepare and protect yourself and your family. Survival is our strategy!”

Thanks for reading this. I would love to hear what your ideas are and what you have done to better prepare yourself to master outdoor survival and how you practice and why, so please leave your comments below and share your thoughts.

Health Fitness

RV Extended Stay Maintenance Checks

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Typically, when you plan a trip in your RV, you perform some type of pre-trip check to make sure the RV is properly prepared for travel. When it’s time to leave camp, redo these checks for the return trip. But what happens when you find the perfect campground or RV park and stay there for long periods of time? Do you perform routine maintenance checks on the RV to ensure it is in safe and operational condition while parked? Most likely it will, but if not, here are some long-stay maintenance checks you should consider doing.

Inflate the tires to the pressure recommended by the manufacturer. Tires can lose up to 2-3 psi per month. If you stay in one place for three to six months, your tire pressure could be dangerously low. If unit is not moving, check and adjust tire pressure monthly. Ozone in the air and ultraviolet rays from the sun shorten the life of your RV tires. Ozone causes tires to rot and deteriorate, and UV rays make it happen faster. This is especially true on the sidewall of the tires. You should inspect your tires periodically for cracks or cracks in the tire sidewalls. If you notice any damage, have the tires inspected by a professional before using the RV. Tire failure on an RV can be extremely dangerous and can cause expensive damage to the RV. Keep the tires covered with covers that block sunlight when the RV is on site or not in use.

Place some type of RV leveling blocks between the ground and the tires. Make sure whatever you use is larger than the tire tread. No part of the tire should hang over the edge of the tire block. This can cause internal damage to the tire. Actually, there are several reasons for blocking the tires. The first thing is to make sure the RV is as level as possible so there is not more weight on one tire than the others. Storage surface areas can cause your tires to age prematurely. You don’t want to leave your tires in contact with any heat-producing material or petroleum-based material like asphalt for long periods of time. You also don’t want them exposed to constant cold or moisture, such as sitting on frozen ground. The wood or blocks act as a barrier between the tires and the ground surface on which they are stored.

If it is a motorized RV, you should fill the fuel tank before parking it for an extended stay and add a fuel stabilizer. Run the engine and generator long enough for the fuel stabilizer to pass through the fuel system. If you are not using the generator, you must exercise it monthly with a minimum of ½ rated load. Consult your generator set owner’s manual for load ratings.

Check and fill water levels in all batteries and make sure batteries stay fully charged. Electrolyte levels in batteries will deplete with long-term use. Check water levels once or twice a week depending on usage. Many RV converter chargers provide a constant charge of about 13.5 volts, which is too high for fully charged batteries and the electrolyte evaporates, causing premature death of the batteries. You can use a digital voltmeter to measure voltage to get a quick picture of the batteries depth of discharge. A fully charged battery should read around 12.7 volts. Do not check the voltage when the RV is plugged in, you will get a false reading. For a faithful reading of the batteries, they should be tested after 12 hours of rest. Standby means the battery is disconnected from any charger or load for at least 12 hours.

Change the oil and oil filter on the engine and generator before extended stays or long-term storage. Acids build up in used oil and can corrode engine bearings.

Routinely test the operation of the carbon monoxide detector, LP gas leak detector, and smoke alarm. Check the fire extinguisher monthly to make sure it is fully charged. Clean or replace air conditioning filters as needed.

Before moving the RV, after extended stays or storage, check all fluid levels in the transmission, power steering, engine coolant, engine oil, windshield washer, and brakes. Consult your vehicle’s owner’s manual for proper levels. Start the engine and verify that the readings are correct on all gauges. Check the condition of the wiper blades and replace them if necessary. Check the operation of all lights on the chassis. Make sure the vehicle’s inspection/emissions label is up to date.

Complete your normal pre-trip checks before you hit the road again.

I realize there are many other items that could be added to this list, but this is a good starting point. You can adapt this list to your own personal needs.

happy camp,

mark polk
Copyright 2009 by Mark J. Polk founder of RV Education 101

Lifestyle Fashion

Exercise with leg lymphedema

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Fitness article: exercise with lymphedema of the leg…

I am writing this article from two points of view, as an experienced fitness/strength trainer who has studied health issues for many years and as a patient who suffers daily from leg lymphedema. I have been able to maintain my lymphedema quite well, but that is because I have read a lot on the subject, listened to my doctors, and have extensive knowledge about exercise. It’s on my mind every day, almost all the time because it takes a lot of effort to keep it right. I have included the description of lymphedema below.

Lymphedema is a difficult thing to treat and must be sustained all day, every day. There is no cure for lymphedema. I have had lymphedema in my leg since my 1991 cancer surgery. I went from being a gym coach and fitness trainer who worked out every day to being bedridden after my surgery as a result of having lymph nodes removed along with cancer. My life changed drastically, but I got back to work and learned to keep it as soon as possible. Several doctors told me that I would be bedridden for the rest of my life and would never work again. That was in 1991.

So what is lymphedema? Here’s the definition from the National Lymphedema Network…

“Lymphedema is an accumulation of lymphatic fluid in the interstitial tissue that causes swelling, most often in the arms and/or legs, and occasionally in other parts of the body. Lymphedema can develop when lymphatic vessels are missing or damaged (primary) , or when lymphatic vessels are damaged or lymph nodes are removed (secondary).

When the damage becomes so great that the lymphatic fluid exceeds the lymphatic transport capacity, an abnormal amount of protein-rich fluid accumulates in the tissues of the affected area. If left untreated, this stagnant protein-rich fluid not only causes tissue channels to increase in size and number, but also reduces the availability of oxygen in the transport system, interferes with wound healing, and provides a culture medium. for bacteria that can cause lymphangitis (infection).”

So what kind of exercise can a lymphedema patient do? That depends on the patient and if you have medical clearance to exercise. Once cleared for exercise, the best exercise to reduce leg swelling is swimming because the person is in a horizontal position, moving, and performing a movement without impact. The second best exercise for a person with leg lymphedema is riding a recumbent bike. It is also non-impact, it is a constant movement and the legs are raised slightly.

If the patient is otherwise in good physical condition and has controlled lymphedema (as far as possible) they can use the elliptical machine. That is, if they can tolerate it from a physical and medical standpoint. Make sure the lymphedema patient has permission from their doctor to exercise, especially vigorous exercise like the elliptical. Keep the person with lymphedema OFF THE TREADMILL. Walking and running make leg swelling MUCH worse because they are high impact. Imagine someone putting ice cream in an ice cream cone and then wrapping it up. The swelling becomes dense, compressed if it is not properly maintained. The more severe, the more difficult it is to treat.

In my experience, it can take an hour with the leg elevated before the swelling STARTS to go down and several days or weeks for it to drain completely. People with lymphedema should wear compression stockings if prescribed by their doctor and sleep with their legs elevated every night, unless otherwise directed by their doctor. It is important to keep moving and only perform non-impact exercises. For example, squats are often better than walking lunges for someone with lymphedema. The walking lunge is an impact exercise. DO NOT encourage a person with lymphedema in the leg to participate in exercise classes that include impact exercises. If you are in good shape, spinning classes will maintain circulation and help you lose or maintain healthy body weight. It’s all about keeping the body moving without ANY impact exercise.

Note that if the lymphedema is from a new surgery, the patient MUST be cleared to start exercising because if you start exercising before the doctors allow you to exercise, it will cause problems with the lymphatic system. My doctors told me that the swelling from the surgery would never go down if I started exercising too early and would cause permanent damage. I was told to wait a full year after my surgery before I could exercise my legs. I waited 10 months and couldn’t take it anymore. I HAD to get back to working out because it was what I enjoyed and it was my life. Not being able to exercise my legs was extremely difficult for me because I spent my whole life in the gym. Again, make sure the lymphedema patient has FULL medical clearance to exercise.

Here’s something a lot of people don’t know. When a person with lymphedema is not moving and does not have compression stockings on the leg, he must keep his legs elevated to prevent swelling. Something as simple as standing in line at the supermarket could cause enough swelling to keep a person in bed the next day. Swelling begins in less than a minute, literally, while standing or sitting without lifting your leg. It is truly a challenge every minute of the day to keep the leg from swelling and those around lymphedema patients must be patient and considerate.

There is a lot of information about lymphedema. It is primary or secondary. Secondary lymphedema would be caused by something like cancer surgery. Mine is secondary because I had lymph nodes removed from my upper thigh on one leg during my cancer surgery. If lymphedema is not controlled it can end up being elephantiasis. Yes, it is a real medical condition and it is very serious. There are lymphedema support groups throughout the United States. The National Lymphedema Network has a lot of information.

Let me know how I can help you…

Karen Goeller, CSCS