Varicose Veins Archives

Cause of vericose veins...

A few vericose vein questions doctor, if you please:

1) Can heavy lifting contribute to vericose veins?

2) What about prolonged standing or walking, or both?

3) Does repeated flexing and stress on the calf muscle contribute to vericose veins in the calf area? (ie. draw more blood to the area, thus overloading already stretched out veins with even more blood)

4) Is it widely know that vericose veins can be painful or is it just a cosmetic thing?

Follow Ups:

• Re: CAUSES of varicose veins... (Archive.) Walt Stoll 07:45:03 4/06/01 (0)
• Re: Cause of vericose veins... Sally 23:34:10 4/05/01 (0)

In Reply to: Cause of vericose veins... posted by Kelly on April 04, 2001 at 03:41:58:

Kelly, if you scroll down a few days ago, there is a discussion about varicose veins and also bouncing on a trampoline to improve the condition.

In Reply to: Cause of vericose veins... posted by Kelly on April 04, 2001 at 03:41:58:

Hi, Kelly.

Listen to Sally (Thanks, Sally!)

1. Anything that increases the pressure inside the veins can contribute to this problem. However, this can only contribute t--not cause this problem. Gravity is why varicose veins always are much more common in the LOWER extremities.
2. Standing, yes; walking, no. The flexing of the calf muscles is the main pump for the veins of the leg. There is no other pump to return the blood to the heart pump. The valves in the veins allow this "pump" to be effective. It is when the valves fail that varicosities happen.
3. See #2. Consciously flexing these muscles is one of the TREATMENTS for keeping varicose veins from getting worse.
4. Varicose veins are frequently painful. Mostly it is the congestion caused by the failure of the fluid to get out of the leg that is painful.

The reason rebounding helps so much is that it helps the SECONDARY SYSTEM (lymph) for doing this to function.

Hope this helps.

Walt