When your veins expand and become visible under the skin and your legs start to hurt, your lifestyle changes for the worse.Exercises against varicose veins of the legs improve vascular tone and thus alleviate the disease.
What are varicose veins?
Varicose veins are a pathological (abnormal) phenomenon of vein dilatation, causing blue-red cobwebs and webs or even bumpy nodules to appear on the surface of the skin.
If one of your relatives has varicose veins, you have heard the expression “pulling on the veins” from them.As you know, blood must rise through the leg veins, overcoming 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 the blood from flowing downward under the influence of its own weight.
In varicose veins, the vein walls expand and become thinner, the valves can no longer close and the blood flow through the affected vessel is disrupted.The blood stagnates, the vessels rise to the surface of the skin and become clearly visible.And the stronger the varicose veins are, the more severe and extensive this picture becomes.
At a certain point there is a “point of no return” where an operation is no longer possible.But beforehand 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 find out where it comes 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 easily, but the second is due to genetic characteristics and can only be tolerated.
The first group includes the following reasons:
- Cross-legged posture while sitting.
- Prolonged unfavorable posture, such asB. Squatting while gardening.
- Working for long periods while standing.
- Trauma, systemic vascular diseases.
- Obesity.
As you can see, most of these reasons can be eliminated.In other words, exercise is ineffective unless you stop sitting cross-legged or reduce weight.If varicose veins are caused by a genetic weakness of blood vessels, do not despair.Your feet simply need more attention.
So let's find out what load can be on the muscles with this disease, whether squats are possible with varicose veins and what other exercises there are.
Combat varicose veins with exercises
Physical activity is said to improve blood flow to diseased veins.This is pointless 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 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 with varicose veins and their answers:
- Is it possible to do squats with varicose veins?You can squat using your own weight.However, if the exercises are difficult for you, it is better not to do them, even without a barbell.If you have varicose veins, you cannot squat with a barbell.
- Can you bench press?This is possible, 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.You have to limit yourself here.You cannot lift weights while standing on your feet.A light weight leg press is helpful because you do it in an inverted position.
- The veins are swollen after training. Are these varicose veins?After going to the gym, the veins become more prominent and visible on the surface.However, it is necessary to distinguish varicose veins from labor venousness.In the latter case, the veins are pressed to the surface by muscles, they are smooth, without knots or networks.They are usually large and solitary, bluish.Such veins appear on the athlete's body in the area of the flexor muscles of the legs, arms, chest and neck.That's okay.If the vein is red or purple, thin, nodular, and surrounded by a network, it is varicose veins.
- Aerobics – light exercise.Can it be done for varicose veins?Unfortunately, when doing aerobics, a person makes sudden movements and jumps.And it's better not to do this.Although this is not important in the initial stages of varicose veins.The main thing is to remove the heavy load.But in later stages, especially in thrombophlebitis, sudden movements due to the detachment of a blood clot are dangerous and have disastrous consequences.
You should be wary of anything that requires serious physical exertion from you: strength exercises, fast running, interval training.
What can and should be done
Exercises for legs with varicose veins differ in the dosed load.This is actually joint gymnastics.On the one hand, it forces the muscles to contract, but 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 easiest leg exercise for varicose veins is working with your feet.
This exercise is performed as follows:
- Sit or lie down so that your feet are higher than your knees.
- You can place a soft but elastic pillow under your knees.
- Imagine the tips of your toes are a hand.Use it to draw an even circle.Drawing is done by moving the leg at the ankle joint.
- Pull your toe towards you and keep pulling it when you reach the limit.You feel a slight, pleasant warmth in your calf muscles and their stretching.
- Then straighten your toes and pull your heels down using your calf muscles.
- Turn your feet outward and then toward each other.
- Try this exercise several times.
In other words, we actively rotate our feet, tighten and relax our calves.We do this with our legs raised.This technique allows you to stretch the muscles 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 entire body and stretching exercises.This is a simple and safe complex that improves blood circulation throughout the body.
head and neck
Make a circle with your head clockwise ten times and in the opposite direction the same number of times.
Try to stretch on each lap.It is not necessary to do it quickly, but to prolong the pleasure.Feel the work of your neck muscles and enjoy it.
Then stretch your chin towards your chest 3-4 times and the back of your head towards your back the same number of times.
Let's move on to the upper shoulder girdle.
Arms, shoulders
Move your shoulders back and forth in a circle.We draw a circle efficiently and slowly while stretching the muscles!
Next, we begin to describe circles in the same plane with straight arms.There is no need to accelerate too hard;a speed of 1.5-2 revolutions per second is sufficient.We breathe in and out evenly without holding our breath.
Then we press our elbows to the body and draw a circle with brushes.This means the arm rotates at the elbow.
And the final step is to clench your hands into fists and twist them at the wrist.Next we warm up the lower back.
Lumbar spine
Assume the hand-to-side position.First, twist your lower back to the right and left a maximum of 10 times.They can turn one after the other or immediately 10 times in one direction and then 10 times in the other.
Then bend forward and backward.Then rotate your body clockwise and counterclockwise while keeping your legs in one place.
Place your hands on your hips and make a few circles with just your hips.
Remember that you need to work slowly and at a constant speed.
Legs
Here you can squat slowly 10 times without any additional weight.This is one of two ways to load the legs, as barbell squats and lunges are not possible.
The second option is leg pressing on a machine with light weights.It will be more useful for you because the work will be turned upside down, which is very good for varicose veins.
The remaining leg exercises are various swings that do not put any strain on the calf area.In the press
To train your abdominal muscles, you need exercises that are performed lying on the floor on a fitball.It is not recommended to perform hanging leg raises on a horizontal bar, as at this moment blood may stagnate in diseased veins.
While lying on your back, do leg raises (double or single) on the press or exercise bike.
Crunches using various techniques are also safe while lying down.
To swim
Swimming is an excellent form of physical activity for varicose veins.It is useful for the leg muscles, nervous system, heart and immune system.Really a great activity!
Important recommendations
If we summarize all of the above points in the form of short recommendations, they look like this:
- Do exercises for varicose veins, practice long walks in comfortable shoes .
- Don't stay in one position for too long, say goodbye to the habit of sitting cross-legged.
- Control your weight.
- Lead an active lifestyle to improve blood circulation
- If you are prone to varicose veins, you should carry out all heavy physical activities in special, tight anti-varicose vein socks!
- After physical activity, allow the blood to flow freely from your legs.This is especially true for girls.Lie 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 want to take a nap for an hour or two, place pads under your heels and knees.Make sure your legs are higher than your body.This promotes blood circulation in the lower extremities.
- Use cardio exercises in your workout.This will improve your well-being and strengthen your cardiovascular system.