Hydraulic device for lymphatic drainage and massage of the human body

A hydraulic device for lymphatic drainage and massage of a part of the human body, the device comprising:

• an enclosure formed from a limb-facing inside wall and an outside wall and having a defined volume, said enclosure having at least one fluid inlet and outlet, each of which is in communication with said volume, said enclosure capable of covering and conforming to only a specific said part of the body wherein a fluid is continuously flowed throughout its entire defined volume in a flow direction desired for achieving said drainage and massage, said fluid having an initial pressure and flow rate when introduced into said inlet of said device, said flow rate through said enclosure being determined as a function of the cross-sectional volume flowing through the enclosure and of a fluid friction against the walls of said enclosure along which it circulates, wherein said outside wall is semi-rigid in order to modify a cross-section of the inside volume of the enclosure through which the fluid flows at a given point;
• said device further including a plurality of pressure sensors disposed inside and along a length of said enclosure, said sensors connected to a common external central unit that compares a sensed pressure with a set of reference pressure values that have been previously determined as a function of a desired type of massage, and whereby said central unit can control the flow rate and the pressure of the fluid at the inlet to the enclosure in order to obtain said reference values.