Can Varicose Veins disappear with Exercise

Varicose veins come with a lot of uncomfortable and unsightly side effects, many of which can be alleviated or even prevented by making healthy lifestyle choices such as eating a well-balanced, low-sodium diet and maintaining a regular exercise regimen.

Can Exercise Make Varicose Veins Disappear

While diet and exercise cannot actually cure varicose veins or make them disappear, they can certainly help reduce the severity of your symptoms sometimes even preventing them altogether and decrease your risk for developing more varicose veins in the future.

Varicose veins are very common, occurring most often in the legs and/or feet. Some people are more at risk for developing varicose veins than others. For example, women are more likely to get them, especially if they are pregnant or going through hormonal changes in the body. People who are elderly, overweight, or lead a very sedentary lifestyle are also more at risk. The less you move your body, the more pressure is put on the veins, which can cause damage to the valves. Proper blood flow and circulation is key to preventing damage to the veins, and that is why physical activity is so important for vein health.

Common Cause of Varicose Veins

One of the most common causes of varicose veins is sitting or standing for extended periods of time because this affects the way blood circulates through the body. Movement is crucial for good circulation. That’s why many experts suggest alternating between sitting and standing at least every 30 minutes. If your job requires you to sit at a desk for 8 hours each day, make a point to get up at least once every half hour and walk around, stretch and/or do simple exercises right next to your desk — things like calf raises, toe flexes, or ankle rotations — to get the blood flowing.

Adopting a regular fitness routine into your schedule is ideal. These are some of the best exercises you can do for varicose veins:

Walking

Swimming

Cycling

Bicycle Crunches

Yoga

Climbing Stairs

Leg Lifts

Trampoline Jumps

Low-impact exercises are best, like walking and swimming. Don’t feel the need to limit yourself to just swimming laps back and forth in the pool though. Try jogging in place in the water, or hold onto the side of the pool or the stairs and kick your legs as if you are riding a bicycle.

Walking and climbing stairs are especially helpful in working the calf muscles and improving blood flow in that area of the legs. Movements like jumping on the trampoline help decrease the risk for blood pooling in the legs.

Avoid exercises that put too much strain on the muscles, which can also put too much pressure on the veins, which is likely to be how you got varicose veins in the first place. If you like to strength train, try to stay away from very heavy lifting as much as possible. Instead of doing exercises that are lower repetition with higher weights, use lower weights at higher repetitions.

Exercises that put strain on the abdominal area could be harmful as well. The most important thing is to listen to your body. Physical activity is crucial, but never to the point of pain. If something feels uncomfortable, stop the exercise, and let your healthcare provider know about it.

Exercise helps to increase blood flow and strengthens muscles in the body, which can alleviate any pain or discomfort you are experiencing because of your varicose veins. But can exercise disappear varicose veins altogether? The answer to that is no; to completely treat and remove varicose veins, minimally invasive treatments such as sclerotherapy or endovenous laser ablation may be needed.

Top of the line treatments for Varicose Veins

Fox Vein & Laser Experts offers top-of-the-line treatments for varicose vein treatment and removal. However, regular exercise is also recommended as the best supplement to these procedures to decrease the chances of varicose veins coming back. Our vein experts always suggest incorporating a walking routine into your recovery, and wearing compression stockings or socks to help with blood circulation in the legs and feet.

Contact us at Fox Vein & Laser Experts

The team at Fox Vein & Laser Experts is here to help you treat and manage your venous conditions so that you are able to enjoy your day-to-day life without any discomfort. To schedule a consultation, call our office at 954-627-1045 or click here to book online.