6 Simple Steps to Healthy Legs
While family history and our choice of occupation can make us more susceptible to varicose veins, spider veins, and other venous disease, there are some simple practices we can incorporate into our daily lives to improve our leg health.
Here are six easy ways to keep your legs healthy, and keep you doing the things you love:
1) Get Moving
Take the stairs, park further away from the door at the grocery store, take a lunchtime walk, etc. Anything you can do to avoid prolonged sitting or standing in one place. Many of our jobs involve sitting at a desk or standing in the same place for hours on end. Take regular movement breaks to prevent leg pain and swelling.
2) Cool Your Legs
After a long, tiring day, or during warmer weather, refresh your legs with a cool shower. Also, avoid extended exposure to heat such as sunbathing, hot baths, or saunas that may cause your veins to dilate and may induce swelling.
3) Exercise
We all know regular exercise is good for our health, but it also has benefits for our legs and may prevent vein problems. Some sports reinforce a better venous blood return, such as swimming, walking, biking, gymnastics, or yoga. Sports associated with sudden, brutal stops like tennis, squash, hockey, volleyball, softball or basketball are less beneficial to your legs.
4) Control Your Weight
Maintaining a healthy diet can help you to maintain a normal weight. Being overweight puts excess pressure on your legs and their veins which can lead to pain, swelling, and venous disease.
5) Raise Your Legs
Your veins serve to return blood back to your heart. When we sit or stand for prolonged periods, this job becomes more difficult for our veins to do. Elevate your legs at home while sitting on your sofa or while lying in bed. When you’re at the office, try using a leg rest under your desk to raise your legs periodically throughout the day.
6) Give Graduated Compression Socks or Stockings a Try
Compression stockings have been used for decades to provide relief to patients suffering from the symptoms of venous reflux. By adding pressure to the veins in your feet and legs, this form of compression therapy can help improve circulation. They can also lessen pain and swelling in your legs, and lower your chances of getting deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a kind of blood clot.
Speak to Dr. Gonzalez at Elmore Medical about whether you should start wearing compression hose and stockings as part of your individual treatment plan.
Elmore Medical Vein & Laser Treatment Center is the premier vein specialty medical practice in the Central Valley. Dr. Mario H. Gonzalez and his staff offer years of experience and medical expertise that you won’t find anywhere else. Contact us to set up a consultation appointment.