3 Healthy Activities That Can Lead To Inflamed Varicose Veins

Although exercise is a big part of preventing varicose veins, continuing certain intense physical activities could actually make the problem worse. As the vein inflammation worsens, you may experience intense pain and cramping at night around the affected area. Furthermore, the veins turn a deep blue or purple color, bulge out from under the skin and continue to spread to adjacent areas. As a result of these issues, varicose veins and depression often occur together, wreaking havoc on your mind until you seek treatment to resolve the problem. Once this vein issue develops, it's important to reflect on its cause to halt its progression until you can complete treatment. Here are three types of exercise to consider during that search for the causes.  

Biking

As you ride your bike down the road, the saddle puts an enormous amount of pressure on your lower extremities. In fact, men can even develop varicose veins on their testicles from spending a lot of time on their bike seat. As the time on the bike increases, so does your risk of developing constricted veins.

Although you can angle your seat a bit to reduce pressure, it's often not enough to prevent the development of varicose veins. You can also try to stand as much as possible during the ride, but many people find that position makes it difficult to perform quick maneuvers or watch out for obstructions.  There are a number of new bike seat designs available with cutouts up front and in back, but those mostly focus on preventing damage to the genitals, not the lower legs.

Lifting

An increase in blood pressure increases the risk of varicose vein development. Weight lifting activities temporarily raise blood pressure to potentially unsafe levels, especially if your starting numbers are high. As you add weight to the bar, the pressure fluctuations continue to rise. You can mitigate the effect by controlling your breathing and taking it slow.

You will want to breathe out slowly at the top and bottom of the lift to avoid holding in air, which could increase pressure levels. Although fewer reps with heavy weights have a greater effect on strength gains, lifting lighter weights more times can help prevent vein damage.

Climbing

Although climbing itself doesn't have an effect on your veins, the safety gear you need to wear does. The climbing harness attaches around your upper thighs, causing vein constrictions as your full weight rests on those bands. If you frequently lose your footing, your veins could repeatedly come under heavy pressure levels, causing varicose veins to pop up.

Keep the harness from causing damage by selecting climbs within your ability level. If you do not go far above your physical abilities, you can keep slips to a minimum. Also, attach the anchors just above you frequently to keep your catch level low and prevent abrupt high pressure moments.

Fixing The Damage

If a physical activity noticeably makes your varicose veins inflamed, don't just stop, replace it with something less restrictive. After all, trading physical activity for just sitting around can also lead to inflamed varicose veins. Although you cannot reverse the vein damage by ceasing the activity, it may ease inflammation and slow symptom progression. At that point, you can seek medical assistance in eliminating the veins with hope of returning to your favorite activities in the future.

Start the discussion with a varicose vein specialist to determine the best course of action for your condition. Your doctor may suggest high tech treatments involving laser therapy, surgery or injections, all of which are designed to eliminate problem veins for good. Prior to trying these intensive treatments, your doctor may advise you to wear compression stockings to naturally decrease vein size. Your doctor at a place like Vein Clinic Of Las Vegas will consider your current health condition, varicose vein severity and preferences before assigning an appropriate treatment program. 


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