The holiday season is just around the corner, and like many Americans, you’re planning to hit the road or hop on a plane to visit distant loved ones. If you have varicose veins, you’ll want to work a few extra precautions into your travel plans.
This November, just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, Dr. Laura Fernandes of Woodlands Heart and Vascular Institute discusses how long-distance travel can adversely affect your circulation, and explains what you can do to safeguard your vascular health along the way.
When you sit still in a confined space for hours on end — as you do during a lengthy trip — it’s not just your legs that can become stiff, swollen, and achy: The veins that carry blood from your lower extremities to your heart can also become sluggish, swollen, and achy.
Prolonged inactivity, cramped positioning, and dehydration are enemies of lower extremity circulation. Unfortunately, they’re defining attributes of long-haul travel, or any air, road, or rail trip that keeps you sitting still in a tight space longer than four hours.
If you have varicose veins, long-haul travel may trigger a symptom flare that leaves them feeling tender, painful, and inflamed — and makes your legs feel heavy and sluggish. Here’s what’s happening on the inside as you sit still for hours:
The most common circulatory effect of long-distance travel is mild leg swelling that resolves within 24 hours of arrival. For people with moderate to severe varicose veins, however, hours of sitting can make varicosities irreversibly worse.
Long-haul travel and varicose veins are also risk factors for deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or a blood clot that forms in a subsurface vein. DVTs can break free, travel to the lungs, and cause a life-threatening pulmonary embolism (PE).
Now that you understand the risks of long-haul travel with varicose veins — further amplified if you’re older than 50, overweight, pregnant, or a smoker — you can take steps to support your circulation and protect your leg health.
We recommend the following travel hacks to support strong circulation:
For every 30-90 minutes of travel, get up and move your body for 5-10 minutes. Walk up and down the airplane aisle when you’re allowed to move about the cabin freely, or pull over at highway rest stops frequently.
When you can’t stand up, either because of turbulence or a lack of places to safely pull over, keep your lower extremity circulation moving by performing ankle rotations, heel raises, foot pumps, and knee lifts in your seat.
Dehydrated blood is thicker and more susceptible to clotting. Drinking plenty of water throughout your trip supports optimal hydration and smooth circulation — and prompts frequent bathroom breaks, too, giving you more opportunities to stand and move.
Skip or limit alcohol and caffeine, which can contribute to dehydration.
High-sodium foods can cause lower extremity fluid retention and swelling, which can worsen vascular discomfort on a long trip. Bring your own healthy, low-sodium snacks to avoid salty offerings on the airplane or at rest stops.
Fitted clothing that’s tight on your waist or legs can restrict blood flow to and from your lower extremities, slowing your circulation and constricting your veins. Opt for comfortably loose travel clothes instead.
Designed to stimulate and assist lower extremity circulation, compression socks provide a helpful counterbalance to the circulation-slowing effects that occur over hours of sitting in a confined space.
Besides preventing lower extremity swelling, compression socks can keep varicose veins from worsening and help protect against blood clot formation.
Ahead of your holiday travel, contact us for personalized vascular care advice. If you have swollen, achy, or painful varicose veins, you may even consider treating them before your trip.
Minimally invasive vein removal comes with minimal downtime and can improve your circulation before you take to the skies or hit the road. Besides making your holidays more comfortable, this minor procedure may also help lower your DVT risk.
Ready to learn about the varicose vein treatment options at Woodlands Heart and Vascular Institute? Schedule your visit at our vein clinic in The Woodlands, Texas, today.
