Keep Your Legs Healthy –
Learn the Basics About Leg Health  

Sponsored by Therawear.com

Sometimes simply knowing the basics and practicing good self-care can help to prevent common leg problems. Numerous leg conditions are caused by poor blood circulation including varicose/spider veins and leg swelling. These conditions can vary from minor annoyances to major complications, which can make everyday activities like walking difficult. The information below is designed to help provide a general understanding about circulation and leg health. As always - it is important to ask your doctor what’s right for you.

• Blood Circulation & Leg Health

Blood circulation is the movement of blood throughout your body and is crucial to keeping the heart pumping, the brain functioning, and the legs moving. Veins are the body’s transport vehicle for carrying blood back to the heart. Healthy leg veins consist of a series of valves designed to overcome the forces of gravity and prevent blood from flowing backwards.

When these vein valves are not working properly (a condition known as venous insufficiency), blood can pool in the leg veins where the pressure from gravity is greatest. This blood pooling can cause a variety of problems including varicose/spider veins and swelling of the ankles.

• Varicose Veins & Spider Veins

Varicose veins are even less welcome than gray hair, yet 50 percent of people will get them. The ropy purple and sometimes painful lines develop when the vein weakens and blood is allowed to flow backwards and pool in the vein. Men and women of all ages can develop varicose veins, however as the body ages the veins tend to weaken.

• Leg & Ankle Swelling

Swelling (edema) is usually caused by an excessive accumulation of fluid in the small spaces that surround the tissue in the legs and feet. This type of swelling is called peripheral edema. Although swelling can be caused by a number of conditions, weakened veins and venous insufficiency is a common cause of peripheral edema. If you are experiencing leg and ankle swelling for the first time, it is important to talk to your doctor to determine the cause of the edema.

• Travel & Leg Health

Sitting for long periods of time can reduce the blood flow to the legs and feet. This reduced blood flow can cause minor leg problems like leg cramps and ankle swelling. More serious health problems like blood clots and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) can also occur.

Prevention and Treatment

Talk to Your Doctor about Your Condition – It is important to talk to your doctor about your leg health. If you are experiencing varicose veins or ankle and leg swelling, you should first talk to your doctor to determine the cause and best treatment for your condition. Oftentimes your doctor may recommend simple self-care options, which can help prevent and alleviate minor varicose veins and leg swelling. In more severe cases, more invasive medical procedures may be necessary.

Wear Medically-Correct Graduated Support Hosiery For a self-care prevention and treatment option your doctor may recommend medically-correct graduated support hosiery. Designed to improve blood flow in the legs and feet, these stockings deliver a controlled amount of graduated compression. The compression, which is greatest at the ankle and gradually decreases towards the top of the stocking helps to prevent the blood from flowing backwards and pooling in the legs and feet.

Graduated support hosiery is available in a variety of styles and colors in four support levels; light, mild, moderate and firm. The light and mild levels of support are recommended for most people and those new to support hosiery, while the moderate and firm levels are most often doctor prescribed. Moderate and firm support hosiery is designed to provide an increased level of compression and can be tight and sometimes difficult to put on. However, a new patent-pending brand of support socks called Core-Spun by Therafirm® are much easier to put on and are more comfortable to wear.

Visit Therawear.com, or call toll-free 1-866-848-9327 to request your free informational catalog on Lower leg health.