Healthy leg use keeps you away from varicose veins

  Varicose veins are an evolutionary disease caused by venous reflux due to venous valve insufficiency in the lower extremities, resulting in venous dilatation and tortuosity and dystrophy of the skin of the lower extremities, which is triggered by human evolution from crawling to upright walking. Studies have concluded that varicose veins are closely related to occupational and lifestyle habits, and are more prevalent in people who need to stand or sit for long periods of time, such as teachers, salesmen and office workers. According to the survey, the incidence of varicose veins in China is increasing year by year, and there is a trend of younger people developing varicose veins.  Our normal work and life cannot be done without two healthy legs, and varicose veins are harmful to this. Due to the general lack of awareness of health care, varicose veins are already in the middle and late stages when they are seen in hospitals. Patients commonly have soreness and swelling in both legs after standing for a long time, which affects their work; or both calves are covered with varicose vein clusters; or ulcers appear on the inside of the foot. Since varicose veins develop into ulcers on the foot and ankle in the middle and late stages – commonly known as “old rotten feet” – the treatment is not effective and the quality of life does not improve much, which can seriously affect the work and life of oneself and one’s family, so the fundamental problem of treating varicose veins is prevention and early treatment. When it comes to prevention, one should first understand the causes of varicose veins. Veins carry blood from the peripheral organs back to the heart to complete the blood circulation. Since people are upright walking animals, they need certain power to transport blood from lower limbs to heart, and the muscles of lower legs play the role of pumping blood, in order to prevent the pumping of blood reflux, there are valves in the veins of lower limbs, if the venous valves are diseased, it will cause the reflux of venous blood, which will accumulate in the lower legs and feet, and over time there will be swollen feet, soreness and discomfort, and the stagnant venous blood red blood cells Decomposition of pigmentation, bruising back to cause local nutritional disorders and even complications of ulcer formation.  The key to prevent varicose veins should start from normal use of legs, people who need to stand for a long time, can’t keep a standing position for a long time, but should move their legs or change a standing position every 15-20 minutes. Because the activity of the lower limbs, can prompt the calf muscle contraction, accelerate the venous blood return, reduce the time of the venous valve to bear the load. People who often sit should also move their legs often. Since the femoral veins of the thighs are under some pressure when sitting, it increases the load on the distal venous valves. If varicose veins are triggered by occupation or bad habits, the early manifestation is swelling of the calves, which is lighter in the morning when waking up and aggravated in the evening, and sometimes it is more difficult to take off the shoes put on in the morning and at night. Some patients have numbness and mild pain on the inner side of the ankle, and some have a feeling of “cramp” in the calf when they sleep in bed at night. The reason for these symptoms is that from lying down to standing upright, the venous valve load of the lower extremity increases, the swelling is the heaviest after a day’s work, and the inner side of the ankle, which is the most severely bruised, will have local nerve and skin atrophy due to nutritional disorders, and numbness and pain will appear. Nocturnal “cramping” is a compensatory contraction of the calf muscles to pump blood to reduce lower extremity stasis. Early varicose veins can also be treated by improving leg habits, such as moving the legs frequently, and when available, placing the legs in a sitting position above the height of the heart, which reduces the load on the venous valves and promotes blood flow back according to the principle of gravity. This can reduce the load on the venous valves and promote the return of blood according to the principle of gravity, thus also play a role in protecting the venous valves of the legs when standing, meeting the need of busy people to work and cure both. If the young population feels that the varicose veins that have developed in the lower extremities are an eyesore, they can now be removed through a simple punctiform aspiration procedure without affecting the aesthetics.  With the increasing pace of work and people running around all day, a pair of healthy legs is essential. Seeing that the outpatient clinics are getting younger and younger because of varicose veins, vascular surgeons give advice to people who love health: please develop good habits with your legs and don’t let varicose veins bring inconvenience to your work life.