When your veins expand 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 improve the tone of the blood vessels and thereby relieve the condition.
What are varicose veins?
Varicose veins are a pathological (abnormal) phenomenon of vein enlargement, due to which blue-red cobwebs and webs, or even lumpy knots, appear on the surface of the skin.
If any of your relatives have varicose veins, you've heard them use the term "vein pull."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 flowing downward.They close after each heartbeat and prevent blood from flowing downward under the influence of its own weight.
With varicose veins, the walls of the veins widen and thin, the valves can no longer close, and the proper movement of blood through the affected vessel is disturbed.The blood stagnates, the veins rise to the surface of the skin and become very noticeable.And the stronger the varicose veins, the more difficult and extensive this picture will be.
At a certain 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 have to understand where it is coming from.
Causes of disease
All the reasons for varicose veins can be reduced to two: problems with the flow of blood from the veins of the legs and weak connective tissue in the walls of blood vessels.
The first group of reasons can be easily eliminated, but the second is a consequence of 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 while 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 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 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
Do not lift weights.Forget strength exercises for now, they will make your condition worse.Excessive tension can cause weak blood vessels to burst.
Here are some questions 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?You can, but with caution, it is better to wear special compression socks.You must be careful with exercises that directly work the leg muscles, such as deadlifts, squats, leg extensions, and leg curls.You have to limit yourself here.You cannot lift weights while standing on your feet.The leg press with a light weight will be helpful because you are doing it in an inverted position.
- Veins are swollen after training, are they 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 birth veins.In the latter 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 area of the flexors of the legs, arms, chest and neck.This is fine.If the vein is red or purple, thin, knotty and lined with mesh, it is varicose veins.
- Aerobics – light exercise.Can this be done for varicose veins?Unfortunately, during aerobics, a person makes sudden movements and jumps.And it's better not to do that.Although in the initial stages of varicose veins it is not important.The main thing is to remove the heavy load.But in the later stages, especially in thrombophlebitis, sudden movements are dangerous due to the separation of the blood clot and catastrophic consequences.
You should beware of anything that requires you to make a serious physical effort: strength training, fast 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 aim to increase blood circulation in the legs.
The simplest leg exercise for varicose veins is footwork.
This exercise is done like this:
- Sit or lie with your feet higher than your knees.
- You can place a soft but elastic pillow under your knees.
- Imagine that the tips of your toes are a hand.Draw a flat circle with it.Drawing is done by moving the leg in the ankle joint.
- Pull your toe towards you, keep pulling it when you reach the limit.You will feel a slight pleasant warmth in the calf muscle and its stretching.
- After that, extend your toes, 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 the feet, contract and relax the calves.We do this with our feet up.This technique allows you to stretch the muscles located below the knees while sitting on the sofa or lying in bed.
A set of exercises for the whole body
The next activity combines warming up 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
Circle your head 10 times in a clockwise direction and the same number of times in the opposite direction.
In each round, try to stretch.There is no need to do it quickly, give pleasure.Feel the work of your neck muscles, enjoy.
Then stretch the chin to the chest 3-4 times, and the back of the head the same number of times to the back.
Let's move on to the upper shoulder girdle.
Arms, shoulders
Move your shoulders in forward and backward circles.We draw a circle efficiently and slowly, stretching the muscles!
Then 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 squeeze your hands into fists and rotate them at the wrist.Then we warm up the lower back.
Lumbar
Take a hands-to-the-side pose.Start by using your lower back to twist to the right and left as many as 10 times.You can spin in a row, or you can immediately do 10 times in one direction, then 10 in the other.
After that, bend forward and back.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.
Remember that you must 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 stress on your legs, because you can't squat with a barbell or do lunges.
Another option is the leg press in a machine with small weights.It will be more beneficial for you, because the work goes backwards, which is very good in the case of varicose veins.
Other exercises for the legs are various swings that do not stress the calf area.In print
To train abs, you will need exercises that are performed lying on the floor on a fitball.It is not recommended to raise the hanging legs on the horizontal bar, because at this moment the blood can stagnate in the diseased veins.
Lying on your back, do leg lifts (double or separate) 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, nervous system, heart and immune system.A really great activity!
Key recommendations
If we summarize all of the above in the form of short recommendations, they will look like this:
- Do exercises for varicose veins, practice long walks in comfortable shoes .
- Do not stay in one position for a long time, get rid of the habit of sitting with your legs crossed.
- Control your weight.
- Lead an active lifestyle to improve blood circulation
- If you are predisposed to varicose veins, all heavy physical activities should be performed in special tight anti-varicose socks!
- After physical activity, allow the blood to flow freely from your legs.This is especially true for girls.Lie on the 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, put pillows under your heels and knees.Make sure your legs are positioned so that they are higher than your body.This will help blood flow from the lower extremities.
- Use cardio exercises in your workouts.This will improve your well-being and strengthen your cardiovascular system.