Travel Tips - Compression Stockings

Anyone who travels long distances in a sitting position is at risk for leg complications. Wearing compression socks or stockings can help prevent these problems and will greatly increase your comfort along the way.

Whether you travel by plane, train, or car, one drawback of travelling is that it requires you to sit for long periods of time with restricted leg mobility.

This restricted leg mobility can lead to leg symptoms like heavy and tired legs and/or swollen feet, ankles, and legs. In the worst case, it can also lead to something called “traveller’s thrombosis,” a serious condition during which a blood clot forms in a deep leg vein.

When sitting for long periods of time, the risk of thrombosis increases. This refers to a blood clot formation in the deep leg veins caused by prolonged sitting with bent legs and restricted leg mobility while travelling by plane, bus, train, or car.

Under normal conditions, the leg muscles serve as a pump system that supports the venous return from the feet to the heart. If leg movement is limited, the activity of the leg muscle pumps is restricted and the blood starts to stagnate in the leg veins.

This increases the risk for the development of a thrombotic event. The risk is further increased due to prolonged sitting which leads to a compression of the leg veins.

A DVT can happen to anyone during travel, but certain risk factors like advanced age, heart insufficiency, obesity, pregnancy, intake of hormonal products for contraception or menopause, recent surgeries, and large varicose veins further increase the risk of DVT.

The nasty thing about "traveller’s thrombosis": Symptoms often only occur a few days or even weeks after your trip.

Traveller’s thrombosis is a serious condition that needs immediate medical attention. In the worst cases, blood clots will detach and migrate to the lungs, resulting in a pulmonary embolism (PE), a potentially fatal event.

Compression wear can help prevent leg symptoms, like tired, heavy, and swollen legs, and traveller’s thrombosis.

A simple and comfortable way to help relieve the symptoms of heavy, painful, and swollen legs during and after travel is to wear graduated compression stockings.

Additionally, compression wear is recommended to reduce the risk of developing more serious conditions such as phlebitis, DVT, or pulmonary embolism during long-distance travel by increasing blood circulation and improving venous return.

Compression stockings have been proven to prevent travel related leg symptoms reliably.

Call us on 058 - 42180 for more information, or simply pop into us for a chat!