When your veins dilate and start to appear under your skin, and your legs start to ache, your lifestyle can take a turn for the worse.Exercises for varicose veins in the legs can improve blood vessel tone, thereby relieving the condition.
What are varicose veins
Varicose veins are a pathological (abnormal) phenomenon of venous dilation, which results in the appearance of blue-red spider webs and web-like, or even uneven nodules on the surface of the skin.
If you have a relative who suffers from varicose veins, you've no doubt heard them use the term "pulling a vein."As you know, blood has to rise up through the veins in the legs, defying gravity.Each contraction of the heart pushes it there, and special valves within the blood vessels prevent it from flowing downward.They close after each heartbeat, preventing blood from flowing downward under its own weight.
With varicose veins, the vein walls dilate and become thinner, the valves can no longer close, and the normal movement of blood through the affected vessels is disrupted.Blood stagnates and blood vessels rise to the surface of the skin and become very visible.And the more severe the varicose veins, the more severe and widespread the pattern will be.
At some point, there is a "point of no return" where surgery is no longer possible.But until then, you can help yourself with gymnastics and medications.
The most important thing is to protect yourself from the further development of varicose veins.First you need to figure out where it comes from.
disease cause
All causes of varicose veins can be boiled down to two things: problems with blood flow from the blood vessels in the legs and weak connective tissue in the walls of the blood vessels.
The first set of causes can be easily eliminated, but the second set of causes are due to genetic traits and can only be tolerated.
The first group includes the following reasons:
- Cross-legged position while sitting.
- Being in an unfavorable body position for a long period of time, such as squatting while working in the garden.
- Stand and work for long periods of time.
- Trauma, systemic vascular disease.
- obesity.
As you can see, most of these causes can be eliminated.In other words, exercise will have no effect unless you break the habit of sitting cross-legged or lose weight.If your varicose veins are caused by a genetic weakness in your blood vessels, don't despair.Your feet need more attention.
So, let's see what kind of load the muscles with this disease can bear, whether squats can be done with varicose veins and what other exercises are possible.
Fight varicose veins with exercise
Physical activity is designed to improve blood flow to diseased veins.This is of no use if the stage of varicose veins already requires surgical intervention.But if the illness is just beginning, exercises can be very helpful.
What not to do
You shouldn't lift weights.Forget about strength exercises for now, they can aggravate your condition.Excessive tension can cause fragile blood vessels to rupture.
Here are some questions and answers asked by people with varicose veins:
- Can I squat if I have varicose veins?You can squat using your own body weight.However, if exercising is difficult for you, it's best not to do it, even without a barbell.You cannot squat with a barbell if you have varicose veins.
- Can you bench press?Yes, but be careful and wear special compression stockings.You need to be careful with exercises that directly work your leg muscles, such as deadlifts, squats, leg extensions, and leg curls.This is where you have to limit yourself.You cannot lift weights while standing on your feet.Lightly weighted leg presses are helpful because you're doing them in an inverted position.
- My veins are swollen after training. Is it varicose veins?After going to the gym, the veins become more pronounced and superficially visible.But it is necessary to distinguish between varicose veins and labor-related varicose veins.In the latter case, the veins are pushed to the surface by the muscles, and they are smooth, without knots or meshes.They are usually large, single, and bluish in color.This type of vein occurs in the flexor areas of the legs, arms, chest, and neck of the athlete's body.This is good.If the veins are red or purple, thin, knotty, and have web-like borders, they have varicose veins.
- Aerobic exercise - light exercise.Can varicose veins be treated?Unfortunately, during aerobic exercise, people make sudden movements and jumps.It's best not to do this.Although this is not important in the initial stages of varicose veins.The main thing is to remove heavy objects.But in later stages, especially with thrombophlebitis, sudden movements can be dangerous and have catastrophic consequences as the clot breaks off.
You should be wary of anything that requires a lot of physical exertion on your part: strength exercises, speed runs, interval training.
What can and should be done
Doses of exercises for legs with varicose veins vary.This is actually gymnastics for the joints.On the one hand, it forces the muscles to contract, on the other hand, it does not create much tension.All exercises for varicose veins are designed to increase blood circulation in the legs.
The simplest leg exercises to treat varicose veins are exercises with your feet.
This exercise is done like this:
- Sit or lie down with your feet higher than your knees.
- You can place a soft but flexible pad under your knees.
- Imagine the tips of your toes are a hand.Use it to draw an even circle.Drawing is performed by moving the leg at the ankle joint.
- Pull your toes toward you and continue pulling once you reach your limit.You will feel a slight pleasant warmth and stretch in your calf muscles.
- After that, extend your toes and use your calf muscles to pull your heels down.
- Turn your feet outward and toward each other.
- Try this exercise multiple times.
In other words, we actively rotate our feet and contract and relax our calves.We do this with our legs raised.This technique allows you to stretch the muscles below your knees while sitting on the couch or lying in bed.
A set of full body exercises
The following activities combine warm-ups and stretches for muscles and joints throughout the body.This is a simple and safe complex that improves blood circulation throughout the body.
head and neck
Turn your head 10 times clockwise and 10 times in the opposite direction.
After each lap, try to stretch.No need to rush it, just stretch and be happy.Feel your neck muscles working and enjoy it.
Then stretch the chin toward the chest 3-4 times and the back of the head toward the back 3-4 times.
Let’s move on to the upper straps.
arms, shoulders
Move your shoulders forward and backward.We move the circles efficiently and slowly to stretch the muscles!
Next, we start using straight arms to describe circles in the same plane.You don't need to accelerate too much; 1.5-2 revolutions per second is enough.We inhale and exhale evenly without holding our breath.
Then we press the elbows against the body and draw a circle with the paintbrush.That is, the arm rotates at the elbow.
The final step is to clench your hands into fists and rotate them at the wrists.Next, we warm up the lower back.
lumbar spine
Get into a position with your hands at your sides.Start by rotating to the left and right 10 times with your lower back.You can turn continuously, or you can immediately turn 10 times in one direction and then 10 times in the other direction.
After that, bend forward and backward.Then rotate your body clockwise and counterclockwise, keeping your legs in one position.
Place your hands on your hips and make a few circles with your hips only.
Don't forget that you need to work slowly and at a constant speed.
leg
Here you can slowly squat for 10 reps without the need for extra weight.This is one of two possible options for putting stress on your legs, since you can't squat or lunge with a barbell.
The second option is to perform leg presses on a light weight machine.It will be more useful for you because the work is reversed, which is great in case of varicose veins.
The rest of the leg exercises are a variety of swings that don't load the calf area.in the press
To train your abs, you'll need to perform the exercises while lying on an exercise ball on the floor.Hanging leg raises on a horizontal bar are not recommended because blood can stagnate in diseased veins.
Lie on your back and perform leg raises (twice or individually) on a press machine or exercise bike.
Various techniques for sit-ups are also safe.
swim
Swimming is an excellent physical activity for treating varicose veins.It is useful for leg muscles, nervous system, heart and immune system.What a great event!
Main recommendations
If we summarized all the above in the form of short recommendations, they would look like this:
- Do varicose vein exercises and practice walking for long periods of time wearing comfortable shoes .
- Don't stay in one position for a long time and get rid of the habit of sitting cross-legged.
- Control your weight.
- Maintain an active lifestyle to improve blood circulation
- If you are prone to varicose veins, all strenuous physical activity should be performed wearing special tight-fitting anti-varicose vein stockings!
- After physical activity, allow blood to flow freely from the legs.This is especially true for girls.Lie on your bed or couch with your heels against the wall.You need to lie down with your feet higher than your head.If you decide to take a nap for an hour or two, place a pad under your heels and knees.Make sure your legs are positioned higher than your body.This will help blood flow in the lower limbs.
- Include cardio in your workout.This will improve your health and strengthen your cardiovascular system.