According to The Cleveland Clinic, leg swelling, also known as Chronic Venous Insufficiency (or CVI) affects 40% of Americans. CVI is the result of damage in the valves of your veins to pool, putting pressure on your muscles, nerves, and skin. While painful on its own, swelling legs can lead to further complications, including ulcers and skin damage.

Blood clots, age, low levels of physical activity, and other medical conditions can lead to CVI. Swelling legs are also a sign of high blood pressure (caused by blood leaking backward into a damaged valve. If you're living with this problem and want to learn how to reduce leg swelling, read our advice below.

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Causes of Swelling Legs

While CVI is commonplace and a primary culprit of leg swelling, it's far from the only cause. While we at Bass Vein Center can treat CVI, other root problems may require the help of specialists. Other causes of swollen legs include:

• Obesity
• Blot clots
• Liver damage
• Heart failure
• Kidney failure
• Prescription and over-the-counter medication side effects
• Extra weight from pregnancy
• Chemotherapy
• Smoking
  

While the following treatments may help relieve the pain caused by swelling legs, they don't treat the underlying causes. Once you have received a professional diagnosis, you can begin to explore more long-term ways to reduce leg swelling.

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Treatment Options

Learning to relieve the pain swelling brings is key to maintaining your normal lifestyle while you await professional medical treatment. These methods aim to reduce the pain you feel rather than eliminate the swelling (which usually requires professional medical intervention). Making these simple practices part of your everyday life can bring relief from leg swelling.

1. Reduce the Salt in Your Diet

          The average American diet uses processed foods as a staple. Unfortunately, processed foods contain high salt levels, and salt causes your body to retain more           fluids than it would normally need. Often, this fluid finds itself drawn to your legs due to gravity and natural blood flow. Take a look at what you eat and drink on an           average day and assess the nutritional content. A healthy diet requires no more than three grams of salt a day.

2. Move More Often

          The damage caused by CVI can eventually weaken the muscles in your legs. However, simply rebuilding those muscles can offset some of the pain of swelling legs.           Low impact exercises like walking can gradually reverse the damage. In addition, you should switch between standing and sitting more often throughout the day to           promote circulation and limit further blood pooling.

3. Leg Elevation

          When you aren't mobile, keeping your legs elevated above your heart can reduce some leg swelling. Whether sitting or lying down, propping your legs up on pillows           helps blood exit your legs en route back to the heart.

4. Wear Compression Socks

          By applying pressure to your calves, compression socks force blood to keep flowing into and out of your lower legs with minimal pooling. You can find compression           socks for sale in stores, or they may be provided to you by your physician.

Eventually, you'll want to look beyond these temporary treatments to professional procedures. At Bass Vein Center, we use minimally invasive procedures on an outpatient basis to treat leg swelling and CVI.

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Trust BASS Vein Center

Swelling legs is a severe medical issue that can worsen over time if left unchecked. Let our team of caring professionals help you reduce the pain and treat the source of the problem. Visit our office or call us at 925-281-5912 and set up an appointment with us today.