When your veins dilate and start 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 improve vascular tone, thereby alleviating the condition.
What are varicose veins
Varicose veins are a pathological (abnormal) phenomenon of dilation of veins, as a result of which blue-red cobwebs and meshes, or even bumpy nodes, appear on the surface of the skin.
If one of your relatives has varicose veins, you have heard them use the expression “pulling the veins.”As you know, blood must rise upward 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 flowing down.They close after each heartbeat and prevent blood from flowing downwards under the influence of its own weight.
With varicose veins, the walls of the veins 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 noticeable.And the stronger the varicose veins, the heavier and more extensive this picture will be.
At a certain point, there comes a “point of no return” when surgery is no longer possible.But before that, you can help yourself with gymnastics and medication.
The most important thing is to protect yourself from the further development of varicose veins.First you need to figure out where it came from.
Causes of the disease
All the reasons for 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 squatting when working in the garden.
- Working for long periods of time while standing.
- Trauma, systemic vascular diseases.
- Obesity.
As you can see, most of these reasons can be eliminated.In other words, exercise will be ineffective unless you break the habit of sitting cross-legged or reduce the weight.If varicose veins are caused by genetic weakness of 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 exist.
Fighting varicose veins with exercises
Physical activity is designed 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, the exercises will be very useful.
What not to do
You should not lift weights.Forget about strength exercises for now, they will aggravate your condition.Excessive tension can cause weak 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 weight.But, if exercises are difficult for you, it is better not to do this, even without a barbell.You cannot squat with a barbell if you have varicose veins.
- Can you do 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.A leg press with a light weight will be helpful because you perform it in an inverted position.
- Veins are swollen after training, is it varicose veins?After visiting the gym, the veins become more pronounced and are visible on the surface.But it is necessary to distinguish varicose veins from labor venousness.In the latter case, the veins are pushed to the surface by 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 area of the flexors of the legs, arms, chest, and neck.This is 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 a person makes sudden movements and jumps.And it’s better not to do this.Although in the initial 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 wary of anything that requires serious physical effort from you: strength exercises, speed running, interval training.
What can and should be done
Exercises for legs with varicose veins differ in dosed load.This is actually gymnastics for the joints.On the one hand, it forces the muscles to contract, and on the other, 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 the 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.Drawing is carried out by moving the leg at the ankle joint.
- Pull the toe towards you, continue to pull it when you reach the limit.You will feel a slight pleasant warmth in the calf muscle and its stretching.
- After this, stretch your toes, pull your heels down using the calf muscle.
- Turn your feet outward, then towards 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 up.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 activity combines 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 lap, try to stretch.There is no need to do it quickly, stretch out the pleasure.Feel the work of your neck muscles, enjoy it.
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 girdle.
Arms, shoulders
Move your shoulders in circles forward and backward.We draw a circle efficiently and slowly, stretching the muscles!
Next, we begin to describe circles in the same plane with straight arms.There is 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.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.
Small of the back
Take the hands-to-sides pose.Start by using your lower back to turn to the maximum right and left 10 times.You can turn in a row, or you can immediately do 10 times in one direction, then 10 in the other.
After this, bend forward and backward.Then rotate your body clockwise and counterclockwise, keeping your legs in one 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 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 stress on your legs, because you cannot squat with a barbell or do lunges.
The second option is leg press in a machine with light weights.It will be more useful for you, since the work goes 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.On the press
To train your abs, you will need exercises that are performed lying on the floor on a fitball.It is not recommended to do hanging leg raises on a horizontal bar, since at this moment blood can stagnate in diseased veins.
Lying on your back, do leg raises (two or separately) on the press, exercise bicycle.
Crunches in various techniques are also safe in a lying position.
Swimming
Swimming is an excellent form of physical activity for varicose veins.It is useful for the leg muscles, the nervous system, the heart, and the immune system.Truly a great activity!
Key Recommendations
If we summarize all of the above in the form of brief recommendations, they will look like this:
- Do exercises for varicose veins, practice long walking in comfortable shoes .
- Don’t stay in one position for a long time, 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 heavy physical activity should be performed in special tight anti-varicose stockings!
- After physical activity, allow the blood to flow freely from your legs.This is especially true for girls.Lie down on a bed or sofa with your heels 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 bolsters under your heels and knees.Make sure your legs are positioned so that they are higher than your body.This will help the blood flow from the lower extremities.
- Use cardio exercises in your workouts.This will improve your well-being and strengthen your cardiovascular system.