What To Do If Your Legs Are Swollen?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 17:49

What to do if your legs are swollen?

Content:

• What to do?
• Ointments for edema of the feet
• Diuretic drugs
• Swelling due to weak muscles
• Baths and massage
• ethnoscience
• Healing juices
• General recommendations
• How to avoid leg swelling?

Often in the evening, adults find an unpleasant symptom. These are swollen legs. When swelling occurs, there is an immediate feeling of heaviness in the legs. Even small feet turn into a kind of bedside tables. It happens that this disease does not give painful symptoms - at least at the initial stage. But in most cases, people understand that they need to take immediate action. It must be admitted that swelling occurs even without wearing uncomfortable shoes - at least for certain diseases.

This does not mean that the shoes are not related to the formation of edema. Sometimes it is enough to stop wearing uncomfortable shoes and your legs will look normal. In most cases, you want to have at hand the means to immediately get rid of an unpleasant education. But usually, to get rid of the swelling, you need a course of treatment, which takes some time. If you are in doubt and sincerely care about your health, it is better to consult a doctor who will accurately determine the cause of the disease and, accordingly, give a good prescription. Let's try to consider in more detail both those and other means.

Legs swell - what to do?

Often the root of the problem is malfunctioning of the cardiovascular and metabolic nature, or kidney disease. In this case, the treatment is usually cured of all manifestations of the underlying ailment. At the same time, we recommend remembering a few tips, the purpose of which is to significantly reduce the severity of clinical signs of the disease.

That is, in this case it is necessary:

• Stop wearing uncomfortable footwear with absolutely flat or excessively high heels.
• Reduce salt, liquid foods in your diet.
• Minimize standing or sitting.
• Adhere to an active lifestyle with the greatest mobility.
• Do not abuse medications, the task of which is to provoke swelling of the legs, replacing them with harmless analogues.
• Be as careful as possible to avoid injury.

All of these are simple measures with tangible results. In addition, we recommend doing some simple exercises every day:

• Having taken the starting position, sitting or standing, try to press the heel to the floor, and lift the toe up several times, then lean it back against the floor surface and raise the heel several times in a row.
• Try to lift a small ball or pencil on the floor with your bare foot.
• Observing the order, spread and press your toes more tightly to each other.
• Walk, if possible, at the very tips of your feet.
• Make rotational movements with your feet, moving them smoothly.
• Bend your toes, unbending them as quickly as possible.
• Get up on your toes by doing a few easy jumps.

Patients often ask for a modern external remedy. Sometimes it is simply necessary. Then decongestant medications are prescribed. According to the rules, drug therapy for leg edema is based on special ointments and drugs called diuretics.

Now the list of these funds is very long. You can use gels, the task of which is to eliminate inflammation and alleviate a symptomatic nature, agents aimed at treating venous stasis, as well as compounds that improve blood circulation. You cannot choose such funds at random. But, nevertheless, it is necessary to mention the group of the most demanded drugs, which differ in a minimum of contraindications. That is, they are boldly recommended to almost all users.

Ointments for edema of the feet

Ointments for edema of the feet - a large section that includes very famous names. Among them:

• Troxevasin is an ointment that has a strengthening effect on the walls of veins and capillaries, which is used to obtain a cooling, decongestant, anti-inflammatory, angioprotective and analgesic effect. The composition is based on troxerutin.
• Heparin ointment is a drug whose task is to improve blood circulation, have an anti-inflammatory effect and dissolve microthrombi. The composition includes heparin, anesthesin and benzyl ester of nicotinic acid.
• Essaven Gel strengthens veins and capillaries, at the same time eliminating microscopic blood clots and activating blood circulation. It is created based on escin, heparin and sodium salt.

• Venitan is a herbal venotonic preparation based on horse chestnut extract, which has the ability to strengthen venous and capillary structures. The ointment is used because of its pronounced angioprotective, decongestant and anti-inflammatory effect.
• Lioton 1000 is a gel for anti-inflammatory, anti-exudative, anti-edema and antithrombotic effect. The basis of the drug is sodium heparin.

Diuretics for leg edema

It is often recommended to take a course of diuretics for leg edema.

There are a number of diuretins that are considered to be the most effective. Among them:

• Decoctions and infusions of a diuretic character based on some medicinal leaves, herbs and fruits (for their preparation, field horsetail, bearberry, lingonberry, birch leaves, black currant, flax seeds, juniper fruits, strawberries, rose hips are used).
• Amiloride.
• Composition on rowan and viburnum juices (in a portion - a glass), lemon juice, honey (both 100 g each), as well as 50 g of phytolysin (the solution should be taken 20 g after edible).
• Veroshpiron.
• Kanephron.
• This is a list of drugs that have individual contraindications. They can have a variety of side effects. We will repeat that only the doctor who examined the patient during the in-person appointment can trust the prescription of drugs with the determination of their dosage and advise on the procedure for using them.

In addition to sedentary work and the wrong shoes, you often have to deal with other causes of edema - being overweight, strenuous physical activity, or sedentary work. Much more dangerous are the other diseases mentioned - renal failure or varicose veins. Patients understand that the best way to save health is to eliminate the root cause.

At the site of the tumor, a conclusion can be made about the cause. So, heart problems lead to swelling of the ankles of the feet. Most often, this symptom occurs in older people. If the disease happened in a young man, then most often it happens due to vascular disorders.

If swelling occurs frequently, with regularity, you need to see a doctor. It is better to come for a consultation with a therapist, and then adhere to his recommendations, passing tests on time and coming to an appointment with a cardiologist, urologist or phlebologist. In particular, the latter is specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of venous diseases.

Swelling due to weak muscles

Treatment of a phenomenon such as edema due to weak muscles is associated with a deterioration in the performance of their basic function. So, the outflow of lymph is disrupted, which leads to certain consequences.

You can help your muscles by strengthening them. To do this, you need to master several exercises:

• "Scissors": lying on the floor, swing your legs sideways with crossing.
• Birch, or half-cut. This is a challenging shoulderstand. In case of difficulty, beginners lean against the wall, and if there is an assistant, he can hold his legs.
• A small complex for the press.
• Several exercises with dumbbells for the muscles of the chest.

This is a small complex that will help train the major muscle systems. They take part in the lymph drainage, and after a while the legs become much healthier.

Baths and massage for foot fatigue

Often the legs begin to suffer from swelling after a hard day at work. In particular, if you have to be in one position all day. To relieve fatigue of the lower limbs, you can resort to using special baths with sea salt. This is necessary to relax the swollen places, and massage with light tweaks will help in this. These are special finger movements that resemble the action of the corresponding device with a similar name.

• So, contrasting foot baths have proven themselves well. Holding your feet in hot (5-7 minutes) and cold (but no longer than 10-15 seconds!) Types of water. But this measure is unacceptable if the veins are dilated.
• We have already mentioned the pharmaceutical ointments and gels for the treatment of this symptom. In addition to them, all ointments, which include rutin and heparin, or horse chestnut, fight edema. These substances help to strengthen the capillary system. If the drug was recommended by a doctor, the course should be started immediately.
• A good tonic is foot baths. Their duration should not exceed 15-20 minutes. They are well complemented by baking soda, table salt or sea salt. Good results are obtained by such a procedure: a handful of salt is thrown into 3 liters of water and 1 tbsp. l. soda.

• Edema often occurs as a result of fatigue. Then they need to be tempered. They resort to the help of the so-called contrasting baths. The legs should be lowered and raised, alternately dipping them in sufficiently hot water. Its temperature should be + 40-50 ° C. Then they are immediately immersed in cold water. You need to do 8-10 repetitions. You need to warm them up well enough - they should stay in a warm liquid at least 3 times longer. The procedure is completed only with cold water. In hot, parts of the infusion of chamomile, linden blossom, raw materials from nettle are diluted.

  These measures are unacceptable if varicose veins or thrombosis are diagnosed. After carrying out a water procedure, regardless of its type, for those who suffer from varicose veins and thrombosis, massage the cream into the feet and lower legs.

• Be sure to do a foot massage. As a result, the skin becomes smooth and elastic. They start it from the foot, gradually rising up to the knee joint. The same path must be passed 3-4 times. Next, you need to massage each finger, following the direction from the tip to the base. After kneading the entire foot, massage is completed by stroking, repeating the circle 3-4 times.
• How much movement does it take to defeat such a disease? Even walking around the workspace can help sore legs. Many people ask - will yoga help with this disease? It is often used as an adjunct to help relax all muscles. Shows periodic rest in a position when the legs are slightly raised. This helps reduce swelling. And sitting with your legs crossed is contraindicated: because of this, lymph stagnation is formed.
• We advise you to take the right amount of time to sleep. Lack of sleep is a weapon against the thyroid gland and its health. This is just as important as choosing loose, comfortable shoes. In case of varicose veins, it is better to forget about stockings. If illiterately selected shoes are used, the leg feels squeezed, and this complicates the process of outflow of fluids, which is already difficult.
• Often doctors advise to reduce the amount of salt consumed. This is good advice. Thanks to this, the danger of such tumors decreases markedly. This applies not only to the legs, but also to the whole organism. A person should limit themselves to 1 g of sodium per day, which is 1/4 tsp. salt. This portion is given to us by food in which this seasoning is absolutely not added. If you want to improve the taste of food, it is better to choose the right spices. Replace the salt in salads with vinegar or lemon juice. And substitutes for salt in fish and potatoes are green onions with parsley. Poultry is flavored with tarragon, meat with rosemary. And before going to bed - around 19-00 - it is better to stop drinking liquids.

Traditional medicine for leg edema

Their choice, again, depends on the causes of the disease. Traditional medicine offers a large number of recipes to help those suffering from this disease:

• A decoction that includes raw materials such as birch leaves and buds, linden flowers and horsetail.
• Astragalus helps with swelling of the legs. A decoction is made on its basis. It fights puffiness while improving the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
• You can resort to some other simple methods. For example, you can create a simple solution. It is based on 10 liters of heated water, in which a glass of salt, a spoonful of soda and the same amount of iodine tincture are dissolved. For half an hour, the workpiece should be infused, and then the legs are lowered into it. The course lasts one and a half weeks, and procedures are performed every day.
• Parsley roots help well. They are washed and finely chopped, and then poured with boiling water. The calculation is one tablespoon of ingredients per half liter of water. For insisting, use a thermos. The tincture time is eight hours. Drink a tablespoon.
• Hawthorn flowers are prepared in several ways. First, you need to mix an equal volume of flowers and hawthorn fruits. Then two tablespoons of the composition are poured with half a liter of boiling water. Leave to insist for half an hour, and then take in strained form, distributing the glass into three doses per day.
• Use grated potatoes. This is a recipe for "urgent" help. The gruel is spread over the ankle, for this you need to chop a few potatoes. You need to put cling film on top. For warmth, wrap your legs with a cotton bandage. The compress is kept for two hours, and then a new one is made.
• Keep fresh birch leaves in your home. They are poured into linen bags or pillowcases. The legs should fit in them so that the volume of the leaves reaches the knees. On the shins, accordingly, this level should reach two centimeters. This procedure will take about 3 hours. When the procedure is over, the leaves can be replaced by refreshing them.
• Use bearberry and lingonberry. They must be taken in equal parts. Then take the mixture in the amount of a couple of tablespoons, brew with a glass of boiling water and place for half an hour in a water bath. Remember to cover it with a lid. Then the product must be cooled, filtered. Using cold water, the infusion is brought to its original volume. You need to drink the infusion per day, dividing it into three doses.
• Parsley, or rather, its root is an excellent remedy that is included in several recipes. Grind it together with the root, pour half a liter of boiling water. The infusion time is 9 hours. The infusion is diluted with the juice of one lemon. reception - a third of a glass, three times a day.
• We have already mentioned the salt and soda baths. There is another version of the procedure. Dissolve half a glass of salt (sea or table salt) in 2 liters. cold water. You need to dip a thick cloth there, a towel will do. This is a future compress, it is placed on the lumbar region. This versatile decongestant treatment option is repeated one and a half weeks before bed.
• Field clover helps a lot. It is washed in the amount of a handful, cut into smaller pieces. It is poured with a liter of water, put in a container on fire and boiled for three minutes. Then it is tightly covered with a lid. The infusion time is an hour. The broth is filtered and taken three times a day, dividing one glass of liquid by this amount.
• A good example is raw materials such as linden flowers, birch leaves and buds, horsetail extract. We will remind once again that decoctions and infusions are made from them. To the recipes that we have given above, we will add one more. It is based on 2-3 tablespoons of horsetail, spore and birch buds. They are mixed. The resulting mixture in the amount of 1 teaspoon is poured with a glass of boiling water and insisted for about 30 minutes. Then they need to be expressed. Course - 3 days, taking into account 1 day for a break. Drink a tablespoon after meals 3 times a day. The full course should last three weeks.
• In addition to the above-mentioned baths, rubbing with ice cubes is used. The bath should be cold enough. The procedure takes 5-10 minutes. Perform a pinching massage - we described his technique above. Add a few tablespoons of coniferous extract to the water, and the feet are kept in this water for 15-20 minutes. This helps a lot to relieve leg fatigue, as well as to overcome swelling.
• Garlic is often used. The head of garlic is crushed and then poured with a glass of boiling water. When the gruel cools down, they rub the place of edema with it, leaving it for half an hour. Then it is washed off. Treat this recipe with caution if you have varicose veins. In this case, a hot bath and shower are generally contraindicated. Because of them, the blood becomes stagnant, and the vessels expand.

Healing juices

Of course, this does not mean purchased juices from the supermarket, but self-made from fruits and vegetables available to us in our latitudes.

The most popular urinary plant is watermelon. Its juice has a unique property not only to remove fluid from the body, but also to saturate it with useful sugars. This juice does not need a special preparation method. Just eat as much watermelon as you like.

Grape juice will help to strengthen blood vessels and remove excess fluid from the body. Take it 1 hour before a meal, starting with a 0.5 cup serving and increasing the single dose to 2 glasses. The course of treatment lasts up to 1.5 months.

Work to get rid of swelling in the legs can be started at any time. Take care of your feet today, and tomorrow you can conquer the whole world with a light gait.

How to solve health problems?

We provide simple guidelines to help everyone. Add new ones to those already written above:

• It is better to change shoes at least once during the day. This is a special recommendation for those who like to wear high heels. Let there be removable shoes at work, and it is better to give preference to soft models without heels.
• You should not wear the same pair for more than two days in a row.
• If you have a tendency to edema, it makes sense to purchase special medical stockings, the task of which is to prevent the development of edema.
• Give up salt. Table salt is harmful to health by retaining fluid in the body.
• It is better to drink less liquid than before, especially after 7 pm.
• In sedentary work, find ways to reposition your lower limbs more often. Try to stand up as often as possible.
• As you sleep, place your feet on the pillow. This measure allows you to improve the outflow of blood and lymph, and relieve tired legs.
• If the swelling is not due to an orthopedic cause, it is important to choose the right shoes. It shouldn't press or dangle. The fingers should be in a natural position. We already wrote about heels above.
• You should not be limited to folk recipes. On sale, in special departments, you can find a special orthopedic variety of compression golf and tights. They are made specifically to keep blood vessels in good shape, preventing blood stasis. These are medicinal products. Their task is to transfer the strongest compression to the lower extremities. The weakest effect is on the upper part. This load distribution allows blood flow to function normally. We recommend specifically knee-highs or tights, because often stockings are not the best choice for a diagnosis such as varicose veins. Because of them, the vessels of the thighs are pulled over, an additional load on the circulatory system is created.

How to avoid leg swelling?

How to eliminate leg swelling? This is a very important question for many patients. But it could be avoided if people knew about the necessary precautions.

Simple exercises will help you avoid stagnation in the liquid.

• Place the right foot on the left foot, lift the left toe to the highest height. Repeat the same for the right leg. Stand on tiptoes, stand like this for a few seconds. Tiptoe 10 short, light jumps.
• Sit on a chair and lift your legs in a circular motion with your feet. At the same time, bend your toes down, immediately straightening them sharply.
• Place your foot with your feet on the floor and move the load from one point to another.

As we can see, preventive measures are similar to what is advised for the treatment of leg edema. This is an effective, uncomplicated technique of a universal nature. You can add sports loads, but in this case, instructor control is required. So, in addition to yoga, water aerobics gives good results.

The author of the article: Sokolova Nina Vladimirovna | Phytotherapist

Education: Diploma in "General Medicine" and "Therapy" received at the Pirogov University (2005 and 2006). Advanced training at the Department of Phytotherapy at the Peoples' Friendship University of Moscow (2008).