Lighter legs with the right exercise

Every year, the same story. As soon as the temperature rises, the pleasure of the newfound summer has to deal with the discomfort of venous insufficiency. Let’s fix it.

Disorder experienced, albeit with very variable intensity, by practically every woman, sometimes since adolescence and more and more often with advancing age, the “heavy legs” are the result of an inefficient circulation in the veins.

Given that a remedy that can definitively solve the problem is still missing, there are some strategies that can help improve peripheral venous circulation. Thus attenuating a feeling of heaviness and swelling in the legs, reducing the appearance of tingling and cramping and helping to prevent the development of superficial capillaries and varicose veins.

What? First of all, the movement that, by stimulating the action of muscle pump of the foot and calf, helps the veins of the legs to push the blood towards the heart without straining too much walls and valves.

First point: walk

Just walk more, taking care to keep your back straight, shoulders back and abdominals stretched out to ensure the spine a physiological curvature.

And structure the step so as to rest the heel on the ground first, then the forefoot and last the fingers.

And, then, practice every day a few simple and fun exercises.

Seated exercises

In the office or in the evening at home in front of the TV, the circulation of the legs can also be favored while sitting, without giving too much in the eye.

Straddle the legs, alternately, and slowly rotate the foot and ankle, drawing wide and complete circles. The ideal is to perform 10-15 rotations on each side and repeat the exercise several times a day.

Always for the ankles, stretch the legs forward and rotate the ankles outwards, so that the heels touch; The feet must be stretched out as much as possible. Hold for 2-3 seconds, then rotate inwards, bringing your fingers into contact with each other. The entire exercise must be performed five times, in each direction.

And, again, sitting with the legs raised and stretched forward, you must first “raise” your feet, so as to bring your fingers closer to your legs, then stretch them as far forward as possible, 10-15 times for each foot.

A little less discreet, but very effective is the “bicycle”. You must sit near the front edge of the chair and support yourself by grabbing the sides. At this point, you have to lift both knees and simulate pedaling. 10-15 full forward and as many backward pedals must be made.

Standing

Other simple exercises suitable for everyone, practicable indoors or outdoors whenever you want, should be performed standing up and aim to improve especially the tone of the calves. Let’s see them described in the following table:

In the water

All the exercises proposed so far “dry” can be adapted for execution in the sea or in the pool, drawing even greater benefits thanks to the passive massage of the water during movement. In this case, for procedures that require a support, instead of the chair or wall, you can use the edge or the access ladder to the pool.

Equally useful are then, of course, all other forms of movement or gymnastics in water and, needless to say, swimming, absolutely the best sport for those suffering from venous insufficiency.