What is best way to reduce swelling
7 Ways to Reduce Leg Swelling & Fatigue
hey everybody it's doctor Jo and today I'm going to show you seven ways to
reduce swelling and fatigue in your legs. so let's get started.
so I'm going to
start off on the floor showing you stuff. if you can't get on the floor that's
okay. you can do this on your bed or on your
couch, but I'm going to show you some sitting exercises later on, so that you
can do maybe at work or something, so stay tuned if you don't want to do the
ones on the floor. so the first one is going to be an ankle pump. you can
actually do ankle pumps sitting as well, but I like to do them where you can kind
of prop your foot up. so if you have a roll you can put it underneath there. if
you're on your bed you can just kind of hang it off the edge the bed or your
couch, but you want your heel to be free moving so you can really get that ankle
pump. and so if you have swelling, if you've got that fatigue in your legs,
doing an ankle pump which is just pushing down as far as you can pulling
up as far as you can comfortably, helps make that calf work like a natural pump
to work that fluid that's swelling out of your legs back into your system. and
if they're swelling in there a lot of times that will make it fatigued out as
well. so you can do these. these are really something that you can do a lot.
you can do a couple sets of ten you can do 20, 25 if you want. they're pretty
mindless, so you can just do as many as you want to, but it really works well to
get that ankle that calf pumping to just help with that swelling and that fatigue.
so then the next one is just going to be a calf stretch. again since the calf area
has a lot to do with the swelling in your legs or that fatigue, stretching
them out really helps a lot. so you can use a stretch strap, you can use a dog
leash, you can just use a belt at home if you have one, but again I kind of like it
either propped up on something or off the edge just so you have that extra
movement. but you don't have to do that. if you've got something with a loop that
works really well, just wrap it around kind of the ball of your foot. you don't
want it to be low down around your arch because then you're not going to get a
good stretch, but you don't want it up on your toes because you don't want this
the strap to come off and hit you. so you're using the strap or the belt to
pull. you're not actively moving your foot, you're just relaxing your foot and
then pulling it towards you until you feel a
nice stretch underneath there. then you're gonna hold that stretch for 30
seconds. so really nice 30 second hold not one two three four five, but a good
30 seconds to get that full stretch in there. relax it, and then do that a total
of three times. so remember if you've got swelling in both legs, make sure you're
doing this on both sides. so then you're going to go into a hamstring stretch.
I like doing the hamstring stretches lying down just because then it supports
your back and you don't have to worry about trying to protect your back a
little bit. so keeping the the strap in the same spot then you're just going to
lie down. I like to bend up the opposite leg just to kind of again support your
back, take the pressure off your back. if you want to straighten it all the way
out, a lot of people say they get a better stretch that way, that's fine, but
if you're doing the stretch correctly you can still leave it propped up and
get a good stretch. you want to keep your knees straight and locked out that's the
biggest thing that's going to get that hamstring stretch.
but you're again not actively moving your leg, you're using that strap or belt
to pull your leg up. now if I get to here and my knee starts bending, don't keep
going up because then you're taking your hamstrings out of it and that's what
you're trying to stretch. so keeping that leg straight even if this only to here,
if you can go up higher you can keep on going to get that nice stretch in there.
and again this is a 30 second hold, so you're holding that stretch for 30
seconds. you're doing that three times. probably want to do it on both sides
because usually the swelling is on both sides. you can alternate sides back and
forth thirty Seconds, thirty seconds or you can do them all on one side and then
switch. I like to alternate sides just to give you side a little bit of a break. so
the rest of the stuff is going to be sitting and standing. so another great
way to reduce swelling and fatigue in your legs is you can use compression socks.
and the folks at jomi compression not only sent me some of their compression
thigh-highs, but they also wanted me to talk about their new cool feature on
their website called jomi compression measure up. and so what
that does is it really helps you get the perfect fit for your compression
stockings without even having to leave your home. it's really cool. if you click
on the the link, you can click on it up here or down in
the description below, it goes through a series of questions to help you find
your perfect fit, and it really does matter because I would say everything I
wear is usually a women size medium. so I would have probably gotten medium
compression stockings, but after going through the measure up, it turns out that
I'm actually a large. so again I would have probably gotten the wrong size. so
this really works pretty awesome. so it goes through some questions
you know just if you're male or female, then it goes through things like what
what height you're looking for. if you're looking for knee highs, thigh highs, all
the way up you know into full stockings, you can do that as well.
it'll also ask you things like what kind of compression you want, and a lot of
people might not know that there's different amounts of compression. so if
you're if you're not sure I would ask your healthcare provider what kind of
compression you need, and if you're really not into doing that you might
want to start with the lightest one but it'll also then take you through how to
specifically measure. so it shows you where to measure at your ankle, it shows
you where to measure at your calf, and then it shows you where to measure at
your thigh, which is really important because again if you're just guessing
like me, it might not work for you, or if maybe your thighs a little bit bigger, a
little bit smaller than let's say your calf, you might need a different size
depending on that as well. so this this measure up tool is a really great way to
make sure you're getting that perfect fit and again not having to go anywhere
if you don't want to. so again if you want to find some nice awesome
compression socks, you can have them with the toe open like these or toes closed
like the ones I'm wearing, and again if you're interested in purchasing any of
their products or checking out the the measure up tool, make sure and click on
the link there or down in the description below. so once you get the
perfect fit, get some compression socks or stockings on you whichever one you
want to call it, then you can continue with your exercises and stretches. and a
lot of times people will ask do my stretches and exercises with them on. I
would if you're having a lot fo swelling and getting a lot of fatigue, I would do them
with them on. so now we're going to go into the sitting exercises and so
working the quad muscle really helps with that swelling in fatigue. again
you're just working these leg muscles to help get that swelling get
that fatigue out of there. so with a long arc quad all you're doing is just
kicking straight out. I like to pull my toes up at the end again to activate
those calf muscles and then come back down. this might look pretty easy and for
some people. it will be, but go slow and controlled. it's not this, it's controlled
movements to really get that circulation increasing get that swelling out of the
legs. so you can start off with just maybe ten couple sets of reps or couple
sets of ten several times throughout the day. then you're going to go into a hip
flexion. so now you're working the hip flexor muscles and again they're all
connected so that's helping with that swelling in fatigue. so now you're just
gonna bring that knee up towards the ceiling just as high as you comfortably
can. you don't have to go super high, you don't have to go as high as me, but make
sure if you don't have a back on your chair that you're not leaning back while
you're doing it. you're using the muscles to activate, and again do both sides. you
can alternate back and forth if you want to, or you can just do ten on one side
then do ten on the other, and then maybe a set back and forth of each. so
the last one is going to be standing up. so the last exercise is just going to be
a heel toe raise. so it's the same kind of concept, but now you're getting some
body weight to help move those ankles and pump all of that swelling or get
that fatigue out of your legs. so you want to stand with your feet about hip
width apart. they don't have to be exact, but that's usually a good spot. make sure
to hold on to something for balance, especially if you haven't done these
before because it's a little bit harder than you think sometimes. so you don't
have to hold on to a lot, you can even just use a couple fingers if you want to,
but I would the first couple times you do it just hold on. so all you're gonna
do is it's just like it sounds. it's a heel toe raise. so you're raising your
heels and then you're slowly coming down and raising your toes. so again you can
see I'm going slow. the whole point is to go controlled. if I'm doing this and
using momentum, I'm not really using those muscles, and I'm not going to get
that good pumping through the legs. so coming up nice and slow, cracking ankles
if you can hear that, slowly coming and then lifting your toes up. but see
I'm not rocking back to get those toes up, I'm actually lifting my toes which
sometimes that might be hard for people and they're gonna want to do this, but
even if they don't come up high that's okay. really try and keep the booty
tucked in and while you're lifting your toes. and again you can just start off
with ten, couple sets of ten, do these a couple times a day. so there you have it.
That's seven ways to reduce swelling and fatigue in your legs. if you're
interested in trying the jomi measure up tool, make sure and click on the link up
there, and don't forget to subscribe by clicking down there. and remember be safe,
have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.
