It seems like having tight socks around your legs would prevent blood circulation, but the description for compression socks say they help increase circulation. How?
In: 13
Compression stockings are commonly used for things like chronic venous insufficiency. Normally, your veins have little one way valves in them to make sure blood can only flow towards the heart (unlike arteries, veins have lower pressure and the heart isn’t directly pumping blood through them, so things like muscle contraction in your calves helps push the blood along). Chronic venous insufficiency means that these valves aren’t doing their job properly, so now blood is flowing back down to your feet and pooling up. Compression stockings create a pressure gradient to push the blood in the direction of the heart once again. Also, since arterial pressure is normally higher than venous pressure, arterial flow is not affected as much.
Latest Answers