When you stand or sit for a long period of time, gravity will pull the blood down to your legs. Blood will accumulate to your legs leading to painful swelling or edema. Luckily, compression socks exist to help reduce the swelling in your legs. They function by compressing your legs to force blood away from your lower limbs towards the upper part of your body. This will help reduce the amount of blood and fluid in your legs, thus decrease edema from prolonged standing or sitting. People often wear these stockings as a preventative measure to avoid fluid accumulation and to reduce the painful swelling that can occur. The stockings provide many benefits and can often be found in your local drug stores.
Who should wear these stockings?
People who suffer from Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) which is blood clots in the legs should consider purchasing compression stockings. Other people who are at risk for clots such as prolonged bed rest, sitting for a long period of time, birth control users, pregnancy, or other chronic illness should consider compression stockings. Other groups of people who can benefit from these stockings are people suffering from a varicose vein, leg swelling and leg ulcers. The stockings are known to reduce swelling of the legs from clots or other chronic illnesses.
How do our legs get swollen?
The vein is the blood vessels that bring blood from your body to your heart. Therefore, blood vessels in the legs are responsible for transporting blood from the leg to heart. If a clot or anything blocks the veins, then blood will accumulate in the lower legs. This will result in severe swelling and pain. This often happens to people with venous insufficiency, clots, or sitting for a long period of time. When you sit or stand for a long time, gravity can pool the blood to your legs resulting in swelling and edema.
How do compression stocking help us?
Fortunately, compression stocking plays a vital role in reducing swelling. They compress the veins to force the blood towards the heart. They can also push fluids from the lymph node away from the leg. This can further reduce the swelling issue. Sometimes, healthy individuals also wear these stockings. This is to prevent potential accumulation of fluid in the leg. For example, runners and athlete also wear compression stockings to improve athletic performance and to prevent potential injuries.
Keep in mind that compression stockings only works if they are worn correctly. If it’s too loose or wrinkly, it will not be able to compress the leg veins to force blood back to the heart. If it’s too tight, they can be very problematic. This can reduce blood flow to the legs because blood is being pumped back to the heart. This can cause the leg to be numb and cold. The important thing is to ensure that the stockings are the right size and fit.
At the end of the day, if you are planning to engage in an athletic activity, walking or sitting for a long period of time, or getting out of surgery, the best thing to do will be to invest in these compression stockings. The stockings can be a lifesaver because swollen legs can be very painful and uncomfortable. You don’t need a doctors prescription; you can get the stockings from your local drugstore. It only cost a couple of dollars, and it can help prevent swelling and pain that can potentially happen from certain illnesses or activities.
