Disclaimer alert! Hey, everybody is Doctor Jo, and cool, Mr.
Bear. And today I'm going to show you ways to reduce varicose
veins.
So let's get started. So we're going to start off with some
stretches. And with the stretches, we're going to use a
stretch strap. You can use a dog leash or a belt, something
solid, though, not something like a resistive band. So if you
don't have that with you go ahead and pause real quick and
go grab that. So the first stretch we're going to start off
with is a calf stretch. You can do these on a couch bed or the
floor wherever you're most comfortable. But go ahead and
take the stretch strap, a lot of times they have loops on it, so
that's nice. And then place it kind of on the ball of your
foot. Not up on your toes because then it might slip off
and come and hit you, and not down low on your arch because
then you're not going to get a good stretch. So right about the
ball of your foot. And all you're going to do is just
gently use the strap to pull your foot towards you. So you're
not actively moving your foot, you're relaxing that foot, and
you're just going to pull until you feel a nice stretch on that
calf area. So with varicose veins that are through your
legs, a lot of times stretching out the muscles to get
everything nice and loose will kind of help calm those down or
reduce those because you're getting that circulation and
blood flow in there that you need. So holding that stretch
for 30 seconds relaxing, and then you're going to switch
sides. You want to make sure you do both sides. Even if you maybe
have varicose veins more on one side versus the other, I would
go ahead and stretch both sides. So again, holding that for 30
seconds getting that nice pull feeling that stretching your
calf, nothing painful, but nice, good tension, slightly
uncomfortable 30 seconds. And then do that three times on each
side. If you want to follow along with me where I'm doing
the full stretches, you can click on that link up there and
find all my real time stretches. So the next one is going to be a
hamstring stretch. So you can leave that that strap there if
you want to, but you can put it a little bit lower, if that's
more comfortable or still around the ball of your foot. And then
you're just gonna lie down. Get in a nice comfortable position.
I like to prop up my other leg. A lot of times, it'll just take
some pressure off of your back. You don't have to, some people
like to keep it straight out, but I like to bend it up. And
then again, you're using the strap to do all the work. So
you're not actively lifting your leg, you're bringing it up with
the strap. You can lift a little bit, but you really want to the
strap to do the the main work there. Try to keep your knee as
straight as you comfortably can. And then just pull up until you
feel a nice stretch back here in your hamstrings. Those
hamstrings, cross the knee joint, and they come up all the
way to the hip joint. So it's a nice stretch just to loosen
everything up in the legs if they're tight to help increase
that blood flow. And just to make sure everything's moving
how it supposed to. This is another one, hold it for 30
seconds, come back down, relax, do that three times. I like to
alternate sides. But when you're lying down like this, and it is
hard to kind of switch, you can do all three of them on one
side, and then switch and do it on the other side. So after you
get everything nice and stretched out, then we're just
gonna go into some straight leg raises. And so with the straight
leg raises, now we're activating those muscles, making those
muscles be a natural pump to get that blood flowing again to work
it out of the system, so you're not getting so much pressure on
those veins. So again, I like to keep my leg propped up with
this, not only to just take pressure off my back, but to use
it as a target. But again, you don't have to, if you don't want
to. If you pull your toes up towards you, that helps lock out
your leg. Again, you want to keep it straight because it's
called a straight leg raise. So that's kind of how it is. And
then just come up to where you're about even with the other
side. So it's not coming all the way up here. That's kind of
changing the exercise and you're not really doing what you're
supposed to be doing. But just come up to about right here, and
actually makes it a little bit harder. And then slow and
control come back down. So it's not just up and down and up and
down, you know that's using momentum, and that's not using
your muscles, which is the point of using your muscles. So nice
and slow come up, and then nice and slow going down. So you can
do this for a certain number of reps or you can do time. So 30
seconds you do as many as you comfortably can in 30 seconds.
And then as you get stronger, then you can usually do more so
you can go faster. But you always want to be controlled.
And then again, make sure you're switching sides and doing both
sides. Now we're going to sit up on the edge. So these exercises
seated are nice because if you're maybe at work or you're
doing something and you can't lie down to do the other ones,
you can do these pretty easily seated in a chair if you want
to. So this one is just going to be a seated heel toe raise. And
so it's kind of like it sounds. You can spread your feet out to
about hip width apart, just so your knees aren't so close
together. And then all you're going to do is bring your heels
up, slowly come down and then bring your toes up. So just kind
of alternating back and forth. Really try and get as much
motion as you can with these so you know really kind of pushing
up high and then pulling those up high as well. And
even though you're seated, usually you can really feel
these, especially if you've got, you know, some tight muscles in
there. And it's doing a good work with exercises even though
you're sitting down. So this is really nice to do. And again,
you can go a little bit faster as long as you're controlled.
But when you're doing these for the first time, I would say, you
know, kind of go slow and control to make sure you're
doing it correctly. So again, you can do this for reps, or you
can do it for time. Or, you know, if you're working on the
computer, you can just kind of alternate, you know do these
throughout the day, alternating back and forth, going up and
back. And then the next one is going to be what we call a long
arc quad while you're seated or a leg extension. So same thing
you know, if you have some room, when you're sitting at a desk or
something, you can do that. So all you're doing is you're
kicking out and as you come up. I like to come up and then pull
my toes towards me because then that really kind of locks out
the leg. And squeezes those quad muscles at the end to really get
that movement in there that you want to increase that flow
again, for those varicose veins. You want to keep everything nice
and flowing in there. And then again, if you want to do them
all on one side, you can't, or you can kind of alternate back
and forth, your your choice. Sometimes I like the alternating
back and forth, just because then you're kind of giving one
side a little bit of a break, or you're just getting that nice
alternating side. And again, you can you can go a little bit
faster. But make sure you're controlled while you're doing
it. So faster is fine as long as it's controlled and you're not
just using momentum while you're doing it. So there you have it.
Those are ways to reduce varicose veins. If you'd like to
help support my channel, make sure and click on the link up
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there. And remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel
better soon