Love Your Legs

February 14th, 2012 11:48am - Posted By: Kara

We like to keep our information timely – and since it is Valentine’s Day, we figured we should try to focus on something to do with the heart! We all know that the heart is the workhorse of our circulatory system. Throughout an average day, the heart pumps blood to all of the extremities as equally as it can. Gravity, however, often causes blood to pool in the lower legs and feet, causing circulatory problems such as edema, phlebitis and thrombosis. But in most people, especially workers who are on their feet all day such as hospitality, retail or health care workers, all of this blood pooling can cause fatigue and leg cramps. Elevating the legs and feet may alleviate the pain temporarily, but it often returns after a few hours back on your feet.

Many of us think of an older relative who had to wear thick compression socks to increase blood circulation. Remember the term support socks – when I hear that term I think of a thick skin colored sock.

Well – like everything –compression socks have changed! They are now referred to as circulatory or graduated compression socks and you will find more and more people wearing them whether they are doing a long shift at work or just finishing up a long run or workout session.

The advantage to these socks is they help the body maintain a stable core body temperature and heart rate – so the body doesn’t have to work so hard to get blood to the legs. It allows oxygenated blood and nutrients to get to muscles faster so they can repair and rebuild, The result is less swelling and pain for the person wearing the socks.

Goodhew has just introduced a line of circulator socks for both men and women. The graduated compression is a 15 to 20 rating which is considered mid level compression and will allow faster recovery with less fatigue. Ratings below this range are not strong enough to produce results for active people. And higher ratings (30 or more) are for older or inactive folks who have a serious medical need for stronger circulation. The colors are great (no skin tones!) and all contain merino wool. Check them out and show your legs some love!

Posted in: Foot Health

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