Herbal Remedies For Blood Flow

Compression Stockings and Blood Flow

The Blood Flow System of the Legs

A healthy blood flow within the legs is dependent on a number of factors all working together. It requires the surface veins, the deep veins, the bicuspid valves and the calf muscles all to be operating well and in cooperation with each other. In some cases, however, due to injury, illness, or simple aging that doesn’t always happen.

Normally, the surface veins carry a smaller amount of blood at lower pressure than the deep veins. The blood from these surface veins normally drains through the vascular system into the larger, deep veins in the leg. It is these deeps veins, situated within the major leg muscles, that carry the majority of the blood back up the leg. They carry a large volume of blood at high pressure as they help it on its journey back to the heart.

It is the movement of the calf muscle as we walk that provides the energy necessary to drive the blood back up our legs. That muscle contracts and relaxes as we move, forcing the blood upward out of the vein. As a portion of the vein empties, the back-flow of that blood is prevented by the bicuspid valves, thus allowing the vein to fill with additional blood from the leg. The cycle of pumping the blood back up the leg is then repeated.

Valve Problems and Health Concerns

It is usually problems with the valves within the legs that lead to health problems. When these valves are not operating properly, they allow the blood to both flow upward as the leg muscles contract, but also to flow back down as the muscle relaxes. The result can be an increase in pressure within the veins, and specific problems as the pressure is increased within the surface veins.

These surface veins, which normally carry smaller quantities of blood at lower pressures, can be stretched by the increased pressure. Varicose veins are the most visible affect of this increase pressure, but over time, if not treated, the increased pressure can lead to edema, varicose eczema and leg ulcers.

The Role of Compression Stockings

The source of blood flow problems within the leg, the failure of the valves within the blood system of the leg, cannot be corrected by compression stockings. Dealing with that requires medical treatment by a physician. But compression stockings are a means of reducing the hydrostatic pressure in the surface veins and of addressing the problems of pressure imbalances that may be occurring between the deep and surface veins.

A compression stocking, as it exerts a continuous pressure upon the skins surface and the veins close to that surface, performs as number of functions. It assists in increasing the volume of blood that is pumped from the leg as the calf muscles exercise. It also increases the velocity of the blood flow within the deep veins due to the pressure it is adding to the surface veins.

This pressure of the compression stocking on the surface veins also works to reduce both the capacity and the pressure of the blood within the surface veins. That helps to counter the stretching that has been affecting those veins, an effect that is often seen in a reduction of superficial varicose veins.
Getting Help

Author: Barney Drummond

While the use of compression hosiery can benefit a wide range of people, for those with serious health issues it is important to check with your physician, both for advice on the right type and strength of compression stockings, and for treatment on the underlying problems.

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