Venous Insufficiency - use recumbent exercise bike to raise legs?

@chasmayhear, good question. Allow me to bring in fellow members to this discussion like @palmsprings59 @stulerner @mzhp1988 @baxtersmom @upartist @prairiesmoke @zenk.

People with chronic venous insufficiency are often encouraged to add exercise to their routine to improve blood flow in the legs. Venous insufficiency, which is caused by damage or dysfunction in one or more of your deeper leg veins, results in blood pooling in place rather than returning to the heart. In most cases, regular exercise, specifically bicycling can benefit venous insufficiency. See this article: https://nyulangone.org/conditions/chronic-venous-insufficiency-in-adults/treatments/lifestyle-changes-for-chronic-venous-insufficiency

I didn't find any information that specifically recommends recumbent cycling over sitting bicycles. I imagine that main point is to encourage blood flow. I get your line of thinking however. Having the legs higher to encourage blood flow back to the heart, right?

Would you be using a stationary exercise bike or a recumbent bike on the road?

I want the legs higher on a recumbent exercise bike to increase the flow of blood back to my heart. I don't understand blood flow while pedaling. Is there any problem with a recumbent bike?

I have an indoor exercise bike, an old Schwinn model.

I have severe asthma and live in the Bay Area of California. I intend to now walk everyday that the air quality is good. But here there are many days of the year where the air quality is not good and we also have wildfire smoke, sometimes for weeks. Indoors, HEPAs are doing a wonderful job on the particulate air quality and also would very effectively filter to reduce any Covid exposures.

Now, the most disturbing thing about venous insufficiency is that, when sitting on the couch, I am noticing a feeling in my legs. If I place my legs on a hassock or higher chair, I immediately feel relief in my legs. I am very concerned that this might be a permanent condition in the future.

I want to do what I can with exercise, elevation and elastic, the "3 E's" as a UC Davis vascular website says. There have been some improvements since I have been walking more, raising my legs and just started using an elastic stocking between the ankle and knee of my right leg.

The instruction for the elastic tube (Tubigrip) said to pull it on and then turn it back to double it. That gave me several small purple bruises, so I stopped. When I put the elastic tube back on in a single layer, it did not produce any small purple bruises. ?

It seems as if I should start with sonagram imaging to see how my veins are working. ?

@colleenyoung I’m also new to venous insufficiency. The link to the nylangone.org article was informative.
My feet, ankles and calves swell up throughout the day. Elevation definitely helps as well as compression stockings.
My internist referred me to a vascular surgeon for consultation.
Unless I have pain or other discomfort I don’t have to consider any surgical intervention.
I was advised on skin care of the lower legs since the skin gets very thin with this condition and can result in skin cracking.
Also, any form of regular exercise was helpful. I haven’t been very good at following that advice…

I started taking venous insufficiency much more seriously about 6 months ago. The worst thing for me now is that I feel the blood is not circulating well enough when I simply sit with my feet on the floor. A certain discomfort or feeling of pressure? Heaviness feel in the legs when I get up. Feels better immediately when I raise my feet.

I went from walking a few times a week to walking every day that air is good by the AQI definiton of 'good'. This has had some very positive effects on how I feel when walking. I recomend that you view PurpleAir Map on your smartphone. View the map and save on your phone. If the air is polluted with particles you should consider if you want to walk using the recommended AQI levels , good, moderate, etc. Learn the recommendations and possible health effects. HEPA filters do a great job keeping your house air clean.

My legs seem to have taken 2-3 months of more serious walking to get into better shape. Now I feel good walking, can walk for about 40 minutes with no resting and the walks have very considerable hills. My advice would be give exercise a high priority. The mild arthritis that I have is not noticeable. At times my joints had hurt briefly when I had more stressful walks.

If your joints and health allow, try to slowly increase your walking. Get a blood oxygen meter with a brighter screen (about $30) that can be read outdoors. It monitors your blood oxygen and heart rate. If you feel the walk is getting tiring, look at you blood oxygen % and see if you are overdoing it. Slow down walking up hills to reduce heart rate.

Blood pressure seems an important factor both for blood flow in the legs and also as a cause of damaging the veins in the legs. If my blood pressure went down wouldn't that decrease the venous insufficiency blood flow now in my legs. ?? I will see my Dr in early March for venous insufficiency. I want to get any questions ready now..........

I'll be very interested in hearing more about what you learn from your doctor in March. Please share any insights.

I'm back. Sorry for taking so long but I did not feel I had good information and was dealing with a lot of little issues and uncertainty.

* got an ultra sound for the venous insufficiency blood flow in my legs. Will locate written report and discuss. I am very glad that I had imaging done as the observations affected the prescription for compression stockings.
* use prescribed compression stockings, 20-30 mm, cover up to thighs, details and issues were and still are very interesting. Standard size $124 per pair. Learned several things that work better in using the stockings.
* I started tennis in May 22 after 2 years off due to Covid.
* Just stopped tennis after 5 months because of moderate foot pain at both right and left 5th Metatarsals after tennis. I have a bony protrusion at the end of the 5th M.. To see Podiatrist in two weeks.

I am very interested in hearing experiences with compression stockings and, particularly, whether they could possibly be related to the pain near the 5th Metatarsal & Cuboid? It seems as if it could be very complicated as many foot problems are.

I really want to get back to tennis and have to first deal with the foot pain.

Any issues with compression stockings and toe pain? My initial full toe c. stockings hurt my toe (next to big toe) when I sat, so I changed to toeless stockings.

Any issues of compression stockings and Cuboid & 5th Metatarsal pain?

Any issues of compression stockings and shoe inserts?

Hi,
I have venous insufficiency and I take a Ca blocker which is known to cause lower leg edema.
I've had to try various brands of support stockings. Some have more toe room and some accommodate wider feet better than others.
There are online companies. One has discount stockings in its name. You may get better pricing that way.
Additionally, as I've aged my feet have lengthened and widened, and I've had to get shoes a size or so longer and have gone to extra width shoes. I too get irritation at the base of my fifth metatarsal, it's better with the extra width shoes. But with extra width you might loose some of the stability you need for lateral movements in tennis.
Try going to a shoe store. I've had good success with a local running store, even though I'm not a runner. They thoroughly measured my foot, I got walk around the store and could even go on their treadmill, to better assess the fit. I tend to use New Balance shoes. They offer extra wide shoes.
Other than that I elevate my legs/feet above chest level while I'm flat on my back while watching TV, and pump my ankles to control lower leg swelling.
Perhaps talk to your Dr about issues like sodium intake/retention, kidney and heart function, etc.
Good luck!