Leg Swelling And You
I’ve been working on a series to give people ideas for managing chronic conditions when they can’t get medical care (search the Bandages tag here on the BBBY site if that interests you). This is just a slight change of direction, since the problem is a side effect of several other conditions rather than a stand-alone problem.
Leg swelling is one of those issues. A lot of people have it; and managing it can make you both safer and more comfortable. Keep in mind these are ideas for your consideration; not being an actual physician I don’t make recommendations.
Pitting edema is one type of leg swelling
The kind of leg swelling I’m talking about is called pitting edema, because when you press in a finger then take the finger away the pit takes a few seconds to fill in, as you see here:
Oh no, he’s got two right feet! O wait, it’s just a demo of what pitting edema looks like during and after the finger press. Thanks James Heilman* for the photo.
This kind of leg swelling usually occurs when the circulation is poor — it’s essentially a sign of a traffic jam in blood trying to get back to the heart. Heart disease and lung problems are two very common causes. Hypertension (high blood pressure) can encourage it. Pregnant women often get it when the baby and womb expand enough to squeeze the blood vessels trying to come up from the legs.
The best way to get rid of it is to get rid of the problem causing it. Pregnant women win by that method every time, given a few more months! … but it’s harder to lose heart or lung disease.
Even if you can’t get rid of the root cause, there’s good reasons to manage the swelling. For one, it will feel better. Good enough reason! Also though, relieving the traffic jam improves circulation through the feet. You don’t want to leave blood sitting still, it tends to clot, and clots can travel to the lungs and do Bad Things.
Put your feet up!
It’s a rough job, but somebody’s got to do it. Whenever possible, put your feet up as close to the level of your heart as is practicable. The reason so much fluid collects in the legs in the first place is that gravity pulls it that way. More elevation relative to the pump (heart) means less accumulation. (Hats off to my Mom for this one; she swore this approach saved her from varicose veins despite many pregnancies — and she was very likely right.)
I know it’s hard on a person to sit back and put her feet up … but be strong. It’s for your health!
Compression stockings
Do you know why fighter pilots wear ‘G suits’? Because “full body support hose” doesn’t sound cool enough. It’s the same concept: Wear elastic fabric to keep tension on the limbs and discourage fluid collection. You can buy compression stockings designed for this purpose at any pharmacy sort of place. Athletic compression gear serves the same purpose and is highly functional for outside gear too. Some varieties are very warm; others wick away sweat and are cooling; all are very light and packable. In fact, cold-weather compression gear (don’t buy it Too tight) is what I pack in my go-bag for its favorable warmth to weight ratio and good heat retention when wet.
I’d probably wear actual stockings too if I had foot swelling issues, but item 6 shown here has proven Remarkably sturdy for me despite years of hard use.
Massage
Now That doesn’t sound like a hard row to hoe, does it? The trick is convincing the masseuse.
He’s starting at the end of the foot and pushing his grip toward the heart, just right for reducing foot swelling. Thanks Lubyanka ** for the image.
This is basically a low-tech, much friendlier version of the air pump booties hospitals give bed-bound patients to keep their blood from pooling. Any massage will help move fluids through, but some approaches are better than others. Specifically, squeezing with moderate pressure starting at the foot and stripping the hands up toward the knees while maintaining the pressure encourages the fluid to move from where it’s collected back into the lymph vessels that will return it to the general circulation.
Keep moving
Does it seem like I encourage exercise in every article? I can’t help it, it’s just so darned useful. In fact, I myself was sedentary for more than a decade, but I eventually couldn’t stand the hypocrisy of *knowing* how good exercise was for a body and still not doing it. In this setting, you’re using something called the ‘skeletal muscle pump’. Since most blood vessels run between your muscles or muscles and bones, contracting those muscles squishes the blood vessels flat, squeezing the blood back toward the heart. It’s why people who walk a lot on the job have less problems with varicose veins than people who stand still all day.
The skeletal muscle pump in action. Thanks for the image to OpenStax ***
Here’s to Happy Feet!
*By James Heilman, MD [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
**Lubyanka [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
*** By OpenStax College [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons