When your veins enlarge and start to appear under your skin and your legs start to hurt, your lifestyle changes for the worse.Exercises for varicose veins in the legs improve vascular tone, thus relieving the condition.
What are varicose veins
Varicose veins are a pathological (abnormal) phenomenon of dilation of the veins, as a result of which cobwebs and bluish-red meshes, or even bumpy nodules, appear on the surface of the skin.
If one of your relatives has varicose veins, you've heard them use the expression “pulling your veins.”As you know, blood must rise through the veins of the legs, overcoming the force of gravity.The heart pushes it there with each contraction, and special valves inside the vessel prevent it from moving downward.They close after each heartbeat and prevent blood from flowing downward under the influence of their own weight.
In varicose veins, the vein walls expand and become thinner, the valves can no longer close, and the proper movement of blood through the affected vessel is disrupted.The blood stagnates, the vessels rise to the surface of the skin and become very visible.And the stronger the varicose veins, the heavier and more extensive this condition will be.
At a certain point, there comes a “point of no return” when surgery is no longer possible.But first you can help yourself with gymnastics and medication.
The most important thing is to protect yourself from the development of varicose veins.First you need to find out where it came from.
Causes of the disease
All the causes of varicose veins can be reduced to two: problems with the outflow of blood from the vessels of the legs and weak connective tissue in the walls of the blood vessels.
The first group of reasons can be eliminated quite simply, but the second is due to genetic characteristics and can only be tolerated.
The first group includes the following reasons:
- Cross-legged pose while sitting.
- Prolonged unfavorable body position, such as crouching when working in the garden.
- Work for long periods standing.
- Trauma, systemic vascular diseases.
- Obesity.
As you can see, most of these reasons can be eliminated.In other words, the exercise will be ineffective unless you give up the habit of sitting cross-legged or reduce the weight.If varicose veins are caused by genetic weakness of the blood vessels, do not despair.Your feet will just need more attention.
So, 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 there are.
Fighting varicose veins with exercise
Physical activity aims to improve blood flow in diseased veins.It is useless to do this if the stage of varicose veins already requires surgical intervention.But if the disease has just begun, exercise will be very helpful.
What not to do
You shouldn't lift weights.Forget about strength exercises for now, they will aggravate your condition.Excessive tension can cause weak blood vessels to rupture.
Here are some questions from people who suffer from varicose veins and their answers:
- Is it possible to squat with varicose veins?You can squat with your own weight.But, if the exercises are difficult for you, it is better not to do them, even without a barbell.You can't squat with a barbell if you have varicose veins.
- Can you bench press?It is possible, but with caution, it is better to use 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 should limit yourself.You cannot lift weights while standing.A light weight leg press will be useful because you perform it in an inverted position.
- Veins are swollen after training, are they varicose veins?After going to the gym, veins become more pronounced and visible on the surface.But it is necessary to distinguish varicose veins from labor venosity.In the latter case, the veins are pushed to the surface by the muscles, they are smooth, without knots or meshes.They are usually large and single, bluish.These veins appear on the athlete's body in the flexor region of the legs, arms, chest and neck.That's fine.If the vein is red or purple, thin, knotty and bordered by a mesh, it is varicose veins.
- Aerobics – light exercise.Can it be done for varicose veins?Unfortunately, during aerobics the person makes sudden movements and jumps.And it's better not to do that.Although in the early stages of varicose veins this is not important.The main thing is to remove the heavy load.But in the later stages, especially with thrombophlebitis, sudden movement is dangerous due to the detachment of a blood clot and catastrophic consequences.
You should be careful with anything that requires a lot of physical effort on your part: strength exercises, fast running, interval training.
What can and should be done
Exercises for legs with varicose veins differ in dosed load.In fact, this is 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 increasing blood circulation in the legs.
The simplest leg exercise for varicose veins is working with your feet.
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 a hand.Draw an even circle with it.The drawing is done by moving the leg at the ankle joint.
- Pull your toe towards you, keep pulling when you reach the limit.You will feel a pleasant slight heat in your calf muscle and its stretching.
- After that, stretch your toes and pull your heels down using your calf muscle.
- Turn your feet outward and then toward each other.
- Try this exercise several times.
In other words, we actively rotate our feet, 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 couch or lying in bed.
A set of exercises for the whole body
The following activity combines warming up muscles and joints throughout the body and stretching.This is a simple and safe complex that improves blood circulation throughout the body.
Head and neck
Circle your head 10 times clockwise and the same number of times in the opposite direction.
With each lap, try to stretch.No need to do it quickly, stretch out the pleasure.Feel the work of your neck muscles, enjoy.
Then stretch your chin to your chest 3-4 times and your neck to your back the same number of times.
Let's move on to the upper shoulder girdle.
Arms, shoulders
Move your shoulders in circles back and forth.We draw a circle efficiently and slowly, stretching our muscles!
Next, we begin to describe circles in the same plane with our arms outstretched.There's no need to accelerate 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 brushes.In other words, the arm rotates at the elbow.
And the last step is to clench your fists and rotate them at the wrist.Next, we warm up the lower back.
Lumbar
Take the pose with hands to the sides.Start by using your lower back to turn maximally to the right and left 10 times.You can turn in a row or immediately do 10 times in one direction and then 10 in the other.
After that, lean back and forth.Then rotate your body clockwise and counterclockwise, keeping your legs in the same place.
Place your hands on your hips and make a few circles with just your hips.
Don't forget that you need to work slowly and at a constant speed.
Legs
Here you can squat 10 times slowly and without additional weight.This is one of two possible options for putting pressure on your legs, because you cannot squat with a barbell or do lunges.
The second option is the leg press on a machine with light weights.It will be more useful for you, as the work is upside down, 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.In the press
To train your abs, you will need exercises performed while lying on the floor on a fitball.It is not recommended to do hanging leg raises on a horizontal bar, as at this time blood can stagnate in diseased veins.
Lying on your back, do leg raises (two or separately) on the press, exercise bike.
Sit-ups 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, the nervous system, the heart and the immune system.Really a great activity!
Main recommendations
If we summarize all of the above in the form of brief recommendations, they will look like this:
- Exercise for varicose veins, take long walks in comfortable shoes .
- Don't stay in the same position for too long, get rid of the habit of sitting cross-legged.
- Control your weight.
- Lead an active lifestyle to improve blood circulation
- If you are predisposed to varicose veins, all intense physical activity should be carried out with special, tight anti-varicose veins socks!
- After physical activity, let the blood flow freely through your legs.This is especially true for girls.Lie on a bed or sofa with your heels resting against the wall.You need to lie down so that your feet are higher than your head.If you decide to take a nap for an hour or two, place pillows under your heels and knees.Make sure your legs are positioned so they are higher than your body.This will help blood flow to the lower extremities.
- Use cardiovascular exercises in your workouts.This will improve your well-being and strengthen your cardiovascular system.