Manage and Ease Varicose Vein Pain Comfortably in Melbourne

With a few simple lifestyle changes, you can reduce the severity of varicose veins. There is also a range of minimally invasive, non-surgical treatments available to ease varicose vein pain, visibility and other symptoms. The Vein Care vein and wellness centre in Melbourne specialises in addressing varicose veins through fast, painless procedures. Below, we take an in-depth look at home remedies for varicose veins pain management and explore the professional treatments available.

 

Self-Care for Veins at Home

Oxygen-depleted blood throughout your body returns to your heart through your veins. Unlike arteries, the pressure in your veins is quite low. To help blood flow, your veins utilise tiny valves and rely on the contraction of surrounding muscles to help move blood back toward your heart.

Varicose veins are dysfunctional veins that struggle to circulate blood. The result is that blood pools up in these veins instead of flowing on to the heart, creating the appearance of enlarged, swollen, twisted veins below the surface of the skin. This can happen for a variety of reasons, from natural ageing and genetics to poor nutrition and a sedentary lifestyle.

For some people, varicose veins are a purely cosmetic issue, while others can experience aching, soreness, cramping and heaviness. Home remedies focus on improving blood flow in order to provide varicose vein pain relief and reduce their appearance.

 

Elevating Your Legs

Elevating your legs improves blood flow in your lower extremities using the power of gravity. When you sit or stand for long periods of time, oxygen-depleted blood in your legs must work against gravity to return to your heart through your veins. Elevating your legs makes places them above the level of your heart, allowing gravity to work in your favour instead.

1. Get into a comfortable reclining or lying down position.
2. Position your legs so they sit above the level of your heart. You can use a pillow, stool, table or anything else to achieve this. If this is difficult, even getting your legs up a little higher, level with your hips, can help.
3. Keep legs elevated for around 15 minutes
4. Repeat this 3 to 4 times every day.

Depending on the severity of your varicose veins, this habit can reduce their appearance as well as relieve symptoms like swelling and soreness. In addition to improving blood flow, elevating your legs can help reduce the pressure in your legs, helping pooled blood to drain away.

 

Exercising

Spending prolonged periods of time each day sitting or standing in one position, can cause more blood to pool in veins, increasing pressure and boosting the likelihood of developing or worsening varicose veins. Certain exercises can reduce swelling and soreness, helping to improve how your varicose veins feel and look. Light, low-impact exercises can do wonders for improving circulation, including:

• Walking: Aim for a minimum of 30 minutes of walking per day. This can be split up into segments throughout your day if that suits your lifestyle better.
• Swimming: Swimming is easy on the joints and is a great way to boost circulation and improve your overall fitness.
• Cycling: Another excellent cardiovascular exercise that can help improve your blood flow while doubling as a great way to get around.
• Climbing Stairs: Choose the stairs instead of getting the elevator or escalator when you can. Climbing stairs raises your calf and contracts the muscles, helping blood flow back up your legs.
• Calf Raises: If you sit or stand still for most of the day, this is an exercise you can do any time to keep your blood flowing. Simply use your calf muscles to raise your heels off the floor 10 to 15 times.
• Toe Flexes: This can help relieve built-up pressure and get your blood moving, especially at the end of the day. Lay on the floor and stretch your legs out. Flex your toes forward and backward 20 times for each leg.
• Stretching: Some simple stretching every day helps increase flexibility, strength and circulation, helping your muscles contract and move blood through your veins.
• Yoga: Build even more strength and flexibility in the body, helping to alleviate pain, swelling and the visible appearance of varicose veins.

If you have to sit or stand for long periods of time as part of your job, aim to change positions every half hour, take a quick walk around the room whenever you can and regularly stretch your calf muscles.

 

Compression Stockings

Begin your day by putting on specialised compression socks or stockings that prevent swelling and heaviness in the legs. It’s important to wear them when you wake up because they aren’t as effective once the symptoms have already begun. Your veins function better while sleeping in a horizontal position. Once you stand up and gravity starts working against blood flow, your symptoms start to kick in or worsen. Putting compression stockings on first thing in the morning can prevent this from happening.

Medical-grade compression stockings for varicose veins pain management are designed to apply appropriate pressure across each part of your legs. More pressure is exerted onto the ankles and lower calf and gradually reduces further up your legs. This helps improve blood circulation, alleviating symptoms like swelling, fatigue, heaviness, aching and cramping.

Compression stockings can vary in pressure from mild to extra firm. During a consultation, your vein doctor will assess your vein condition and prescribe stockings with the right pressure. This often depends on the severity of symptoms as well as whether you do anything that may aggravate the condition, such as sitting or standing for prolonged periods at work.

 

Comfortable Clothing

Wearing loose-fitting, comfortable clothing can also alleviate symptoms. Avoid tight clothing, particularly around the waist. This includes lycra, skinny jeans and socks that fit too tightly. These constrict veins and other blood vessels, impacting the efficiency and functionality of your circulatory system and worsening the symptoms of varicose veins. Opt for looser jeans and trousers while ensuring your belt is no tighter than it needs to be to keep your pants up.

You should also choose shoes that are comfortable and roomy enough to wiggle your toes. It’s best to avoid high heels as they place additional pressure on your feet while limiting the mobility of calf muscles. This prevents you using your leg muscles and impedes the natural pumping mechanism that veins rely on to move blood back towards the heart.

Save heels for special occasions, bringing a pair of flat or low heeled shoes to change into. Other types of footwear to avoid or limit include stiff dress shoes for men and wedge-style shoes. Reduce the severity of symptoms by wearing flatter sole shoes with arch support, such as sneakers and other athletic footwear. This ensures that pressure is distributed evenly throughout your feet and none of your veins are constricted, while allowing for maximum muscle mobility to improve blood flow.

 

Managing the Appearance of Varicose Veins

When your symptoms are purely cosmetic, varicose veins can still have negative effects on your confidence and daily life. The above methods are effective for reducing the appearance of varicose veins because improved circulation lessens the severity of your symptoms. If you continue to notice highly visible, bulging veins under your skin that impact your self-esteem or even cause pain, consider professional treatment.

Most varicose veins that stop functioning aren’t necessary for healthy blood circulation. This means you can have them safely removed in simple outpatient procedures, providing permanent varicose vein pain relief. As leading providers of vein care procedures, we offer non-surgical, minimally invasive treatments tailored for you, depending on the location, symptoms and severity of your varicose veins.

 

Professional Treatment Options

Vein Care offers a range of effective treatment options to help you address varicose veins, including:

• Sclerotherapy and Microsclerotherapy: Injecting a special solution with a micro-needle directly into the varicose vein, causing it to collapse and be naturally dissolved and absorbed by your immune system.
• Ultrasound-Guided Sclerotherapy (UGS): Using ultrasound guidance, UGS increases the accuracy of the sclerotherapy procedure to treat veins that are harder to distinguish by sight alone.
• Endovenous Laser Therapy: A type of non-invasive laser vein removal that gently heats the affected vein instead of an injection to shrink, seal and destroy them.
• Cyanoacrylate Vein Glue: This involves injecting a special medical-grade adhesive into varicose veins with ultrasound guidance to quickly seal the vein before getting absorbed by the body.
• Ambulatory Phlebectomy: Used to target larger veins, this involves pulling out varicose veins with a special hook through tiny incisions that don’t require any stitches.

Side effects and downtime for these treatments are minimal, with the process being as simple as a 30 minute to 1.5 hour procedure in our office. Your vein doctor will determine which procedure best suits your specific condition, taking your preferences into account as well.

 

Contact Our Vein and Wellness Centre in Melbourne

To learn more about the full range of treatments available to address varicose veins, book an appointment at Vein Care in Melbourne. Whether sclerotherapy, vein glue or endovenous laser therapy is best for your needs, our specialist vein doctor will provide a treatment that alleviates uncomfortable or painful symptoms. Make an appointment today by calling us on 1300 730 100 or contact us online.