Varicose veins are twisted and enlarged veins that appear on the skin bulging and oftentimes painful. While there are a number of reasons as to why varicose veins occur, essentially they’re caused by weak veins and blood vessels which cause blood to pool within your veins. Still for the most part, varicose veins are usually harmless and related to a genetic predisposition. They can be managed and even prevented through different activities and regular exercise that encourages leg circulation. A less common, but very effective technique is leg elevation that decreases the pressure inside your leg veins, as the vein doctor near me has explained. Simply, leg elevation helps improve blood circulation and prevent varicose veins by decreasing the effects of gravity and weight on your legs. In reverse, the blood flow is aided back towards the heart and decreases the pooling of blood in your legs that can cause long term wear and tear on the veins.
What Sort Of Leg Elevation Works?
In general, the legs should be elevated for 15 minutes several times a day to promote the circulation of blood out of the legs. Any period of leg elevation will offset the amounts of pressure placed on your leg veins, but doing so several times a day adds up in a positive way. By doing elevation exercises, there is less pressure on the leg veins that ultimately causes wear and tear on the vein walls preventing spider and varicose veins from developing.
Some Helpful Ways to Employ The Routine
1) Proper Technique
When doing these exercises, it’s important to find a place where you can lie down comfortably and not have your routine interrupted easily. This can be done both at home and during work. Ideally, take all the opportunities to raise the level of your legs towards your heart. For example, if you are at home working at a desk, raise your legs behind the desk on a pillow or ottoman. The same can be done while watching TV or eating. While it's best to have your legs at or above the level of your chest, this is not always feasible. Any elevation still is beneficial to decrease the stress on your leg veins.
2) WHO
Both patients with and without spider or varicose veins can benefit from leg elevation. There is a constant stress with standing and even sitting that weakens the small veins near the surface of the skin. The most common veins to develop these difficulties are the saphenous veins.
Employing leg elevation early on is very effective and can prevent the future development of symptomatic veins. Individuals most at risk include those with a family history of vein disease, work that requires prolonged standing or sitting, pregnant individuals, and obese patients.
3) How Often
Because the day is long and we spend most of the time on our feet, we need to frequently consider leg elevation throughout the day. It should become routine to lift your legs up and decrease the stressful impact of weight and gravity on our leg veins.
Ideally, three or four times daily for 5 to 10 minutes can have very beneficial effects. If you cannot perform the routine for that amount, consider doing it more frequently, even 10-12 times daily for two or three minutes in duration.
What Happens If That Still Doesn't Work
Of course, vein disease can still affect even the most conscious person performing daily leg elevation. If you are at higher risk for vein disease consider leg compression stockings that are properly fitted and at least 20-30mmHg in strength. Compression stockings can be worn to different levels including knee-high, thigh-high and waist and the recommendation will depend on your individual condition. Vein treatment Upper East NYC is also an option for patients seeking definitive solutions for symptomatic veins that persist despite conservative measures.
However you want to prevent or minimize varicose veins, at the Vein Center North Shore LI, we’re here to make sure you do it safely. With our team of highly-skilled experts, we’re able to give you the best treatment options and medical treatments to prevent and treat your varicose veins and any other venous disease.