Swollen feet are a problem that typically only affects women. It most often happens after a long day at work standing up, on hot days, after a walk or during pregnancy. The feet swell because the blood vessels dilate, causing water to enter the tissues surrounding the veins. Lower limb swelling is also influenced by our lifestyle and our habits, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, too much salt in the diet or too little fluid supplied to the body. What can help us?
- don’t stand still for long – work your legs, move, walk in place, bend your legs at the knees, stand on your toes. This will stimulate your circulation.
- exercise – the best exercise here is the so-called bicycle – lie on your back, bend your knees at right angles and pretend to ride a bicycle. Another exercise is scissors, i.e. crossing alternately straightened, slightly raised legs above the floor.
- in sedentary work, let’s organize a footrest. From time to time, let’s move our fingers, make circles with our feet and tighten our calves. Avoid crossing your legs over your legs – this hinders the flow of blood in the veins.
- give up the elevator in favor of the stairs – walking on uneven terrain improves the work of the heart and pumping blood through it. The elasticity of the veins is especially favored by walking on uneven ground.
- massage – there are many massages – we can walk barefoot on a special mat, use a massager with moving heads. We can also ask for a partner massage or go to a specialist beauty salon.
- if we have swollen legs, let’s sit with our legs up high. We can also use cold foot bath. It is not advisable to bathe in warm water, because heat slows down blood circulation, cold – accelerates it.
* you can add aromatherapy oil to the foot bath, e.g. rosemary with a relaxing effect or mallow oil that removes swelling, the addition of sage and peppermint oil will refresh and improve circulation.
- drink plenty of water – preferably mineral and with a few drops of lemon juice. Avoid carbonated and sweet drinks.
- diet – let’s eat a lot of bananas, potatoes and tomatoes. They are a rich source of magnesium.
- reduce salt in the diet – it retains water in the body and promotes swelling of the legs.
- let’s moisturize – after bathing the legs and drying them thoroughly, it is necessary to apply a moisturizing preparation to the feet. Let’s pay attention to the composition, which should include extracts from arnica, ginkgo and chestnut. It is best if the preparation is rubbed in regularly, twice a day. Let’s start spreading from the bottom, from the foot moving upwards.
- give up socks with a welt – they compress the calves, hindering circulation and contributing to swelling
If the above methods have not helped, then it is worth seeing a doctor. In this case, swelling of the legs may be a symptom of a more serious disease. Your doctor will help you diagnose it, allowing you to treat it.