Does Massaging Your Legs Help With Varicose Veins
Varicose veins can impact how you look and feel. Besides making your legs look less attractive, these diseased veins can make them feel heavy and tired. They can also put you at risk for life-threatening complications such as deep vein thrombosis or DVT.
There is home care that will help improve the blood flow in your legs and provide some relief. What about massage, though? Does massaging your legs help with varicose veins?
The Benefits of Massage Therapy
There are plenty of good things to say about massage therapy. It can help relieve stress, for example. It can also be beneficial to those with chronic pain.
There is an argument to be made about the benefits of massaging your legs to help reduce the discomfort of varicose veins, too. It can improve circulation, for example. That, in turn, will make your legs feel better.
It is not a question of whether it can help. Done right, massaging the legs is beneficial. The problem is the relief is temporary. Massaging your legs can ease some aches but not eliminate the varicose veins.
Not just any massage will do, too. You need vascular massage therapy to see real benefits. It should be done by a registered massage therapist who is qualified, as well.
What Are the Benefits of Vascular Massage Therapy?
Vascular massage therapy is specially designed to improve leg circulation and relieve varicose vein leg symptoms. It is typically done with manual lymphatic drainage. This moves lymphatic fluid into lymph vessels.
The combination of these two treatments can provide temporary relief. It can’t eliminate varicose veins either, though.
How To Eliminate Varicose Veins?
You need medical treatment to get rid of varicose veins. Varicose veins occur when the valves in the veins fail to keep blood from flowing backward. When blood moves back with the pull of gravity, it pools around the next functioning valve, causing engorgement of the vein.
To eliminate the diseased vein, it must collapse and close or be surgically removed. This forces your body to reroute the blood to healthier veins. There are several procedures that are effective.
Laser Ablation
The doctor inserts a fiber into the diseased vein and activates a laser. The light from the laser irritates the vein’s walls, causing them to collapse. Laser ablation is done under local anesthesia and takes less than an hour.
Ultrasound Guided Chemical Ablation
This ablation procedure is for deeper veins that cannot be treated with a laser. The doctor uses an ultrasound to guide a needle to the appropriate vein. An injection of a chemical causes the walls of the vein to stick together, closing it off. Over time, the vein will collapse and disappear.
Foam Sclerotherapy
With foam sclerotherapy, the doctor injects a foam solution into a large surface varicose vein. The foam displaces the blood and causes the vein to close. The body absorbs the closed vein over time.
Ambulatory Microphlebectomy
Ambulatory microphlebectomy is done under local anesthesia and removes large visible varicose veins. The doctor makes micro-cuts around the veins and then removes them. You should experience minimal pain and be able to return to your day without downtime.
Get Vein Treatment at The Kimmel Institute
Dr. Kimmel and the expert staff at The Kimmel Institute are trained in cutting-edge treatments that will eliminate varicose veins permanently. Find out more about these treatments by calling us today to make an appointment.