When your veins widen and begin to appear under the skin, and your legs begin to hurt, your lifestyle changes for the worse.Exercises for varicose veins of the legs will increase vascular tone, thereby reducing the condition.
What are varicose veins?
Varicose veins are a pathological (abnormal) phenomenon of vein fusion, as a result of which red nets and blue nets, or wavy nodes, appear on the surface of the skin.
If one of your relatives has varicose veins, you've heard them use the expression "pulling veins."As you know, the blood must rise up through the leg veins, overcoming the force of gravity.The heart pushes it there with each contraction, and a special valve in the vessel prevents it from flowing down.They close after each heartbeat and prevent the blood from flowing down under the influence of its own body weight.
With varicose veins, the walls of the veins grow and become thinner, the valves can no longer close, and the proper movement of blood through the affected vessels is disrupted.Blood survives, the vessels rise to the surface of the skin and become very noticeable.And the stronger the varicose veins, the heavier and wider this picture will be.
At some point, there is a "point of no return" when surgery is no longer possible.But before that, you can help yourself with gymnastics and medicine.
The most important thing is to protect yourself from the further development of varicose veins.First you need to know where it comes from.
Cause of disease
All the reasons for varicose veins can be reduced to two: problems with the outflow of blood from the leg vessels and weak connective tissue in the walls of blood vessels.
The first group of reasons can be easily eliminated, but the second is due to genetic characteristics and can only be accepted.
The first group includes the following reasons:
- Cross pose while sitting.
- Prolonged body positions, such as squatting while working in the garden.
- Work for long periods of time while standing.
- Trauma, systemic vascular disease.
- Obesity.
As you can see, most of these reasons can be eliminated.In other words, exercise won't work unless you break the habit of sitting cross-legged or lose weight.If varicose veins are caused by genetic weakness of blood vessels, do not despair.Your feet just need more attention.
Therefore, let's find out what kind of load can be given to the muscles with this disease, whether it is possible to do squats with varicose veins and what other exercises.
Fight varicose veins with exercise
Physical activity is designed to increase blood flow in diseased veins.It is useless to do this if the extent of varicose veins already requires surgical intervention.But if the disease is just beginning, training will be very useful.
What Not to Do
You can't lift weights.Forget strength training for now, they will make you worse.Excessive tension can cause weakened blood vessels to burst.
Here are some questions from people suffering from varicose veins and their answers:
- Is it possible to squat with varicose veins?You can squat with your own body weight.But, if the exercise is difficult for you, it is better not to do this, even without a barbell.You should not squat with a barbell if you have varicose veins.
- Can you do a bench press?You can, but with caution, it is better to wear special compression stockings.You need to be careful with exercises that directly work the 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.Leg presses with light weights will help because you're performing them in an inverted position.
- Swollen veins after exercise, are there varicose veins?After visiting the gym, veins become more noticeable and can be seen on the surface.But it is necessary to distinguish varicose veins from labor resentment.In the second case, the veins are pushed to the surface by the muscles, they are smooth, without knots or mesh.They are usually large and single, bluish.Such veins appear on the athlete's body in the flexors of the legs, arms, chest, and neck.This is fine.If the veins are red or purple, thin, united and bordered by mesh, they are varicose veins.
- Aerobics - Light exercise.Can it be done for varicose veins?Unfortunately, during aerobics a person makes sudden movements and jumps.And it is better not to do this.Even in the early stages of varicose veins this is not important.The main thing is to remove heavy loads.But at a later stage, especially with thrombophlebitis, sudden movements are dangerous due to the detachment of blood clots and catastrophic consequences.
You should be careful with anything that requires serious physical effort from you: strength training, speed walking, interval training.
What can and should be done
Exercises for legs with varicose veins differ in dosage load.This is actually gymnastics for the joints.On the one hand, it forces the muscles to contract, and on the other hand, it does not cause much tension.All exercises for varicose veins are aimed at improving blood circulation in the legs.
The easiest leg exercises for varicose veins work with the legs.
This exercise is done like this:
- Sit or lie down so that your feet are higher than your knees.
- You can place a soft but elastic cushion under your knees.
- Imagine that the tips of your toes are hands.Draw a circle with it.Drawing is done by moving the foot at the ankle joint.
- Pull the leg towards you, continuing to pull it when you reach the limit.You will feel a slight pleasant warmth in the calf muscles and stretch them.
- After this, stretch your toes, pull your heels using the calf muscles.
- Turn your legs outward, then toward each other.
- Try this exercise several times.
In other words, we actively rotate our legs, contract and relax our calves.We do this with our legs raised.This technique allows you to stretch the muscles located below the knee while sitting on the sofa or lying in bed.
A set of exercises for the whole body
The following activities combine a warm-up for the muscles and joints of the whole body and stretching.This is a simple and safe complex that improves blood circulation throughout the body.
Head and neck
Make a circle with your head 10 times clockwise and the same number of times in the opposite direction.
On each round, try to stretch.No need to do it quickly, stretching the fun.Feel your neck muscles work, enjoy.
Then stretch your chin to your chest 3-4 times, and the back of your head to your back the same number of times.
Let's move on to the upper shoulder strap.
Arms, shoulders
Move your shoulders forward and backward.We draw circles efficiently and slowly, stretching the muscles!
Next, we begin to describe a circle in the same plane with a straight arm.No need to speed up too much;A speed of 1.5-2 revolutions per second is sufficient.We inhale and exhale evenly, without holding our breath.
Then we press our elbows to the body and draw a circle with a brush.That is, the arm rotates at the elbow.
And the last step is to clench your hands into fists and rotate them at the wrist.Next, we warm up the lower back.
Lumbar
Take the pose-to-sides.Start by using your bottom to shift to the right and left a maximum of 10 times.You can alternate in a row, or you can do 10 times in one direction, then 10 in the other side.
After this, bend forward and backward.Then rotate your body clockwise and counterclockwise, keeping your feet in one place.
Place your hands on your hips and make a few circles with just your hips.
Do not forget that you need to work slowly at a constant speed.
Feet
Here you can squat 10 times slowly and without extra weight.This is one of two possible options for putting pressure on your legs, because you can't squat with a barbell or do lunges.
The second option is to press the leg in a machine with a light weight.It will be more useful for you, because it works in reverse, which is very good in the case of varicose veins.
The rest of the leg exercises are various swings that do not load the calf area.On the newspaper
To train your abs, you need exercises performed on the floor in Fitball.It is not recommended to do hanging leg raises on a horizontal bar, because at this moment the blood can stagnate with diseased veins.
Lie on your back, do leg raises (two or separate) on the press, exercise on a bicycle.
Crunches in various techniques are also safe in the lying position.
Swimming
Swimming is an excellent form of physical activity for varicose veins.It is useful for leg muscles, nervous system, heart, and immune system.Really great activity!
Key recommendations
If we summarize all of the above in the form of a simple proposal, they will look like this:
- Exercise for varicose veins, practice long walks in comfortable shoes .
- Do not stay in one position for a long time, eliminate the habit of sitting cross-legged.
- Control your weight.
- Lead an active lifestyle to improve blood circulation
- If you are prone to varicose veins, all heavy physical activity should be done in special tight anti-varicose stockings!
- After physical activity, let the blood flow freely from your legs.This is especially true for girls.Lie on the bed or couch with your heels against the wall.You need to lie down so that your legs are higher than your head.If you decide to sleep for an hour or two, put the children under your heels and knees.Make sure your feet are positioned so they are higher than your body.This will help blood flow from the bottom of the leg.
- Use cardio exercises in your training.This will improve your well-being and strengthen your cardiovascular system.