Exercise
The importance of exercise - walking in particular - to your vascular health.
Why is walking good for people with vascular disease?
Walking and Arterial Disease
For patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), using a structure walking program like the one Dr. Tahara prescribes here helps increase the development of collateral pathways to increase blood flow throughout the leg. Even if a major artery in the leg is occluded, building sufficient collateralization by following a walking program may be enough to increase the blood flow enough to avoid a revascularization procedure.
Walking and Venous Disease
For patients with Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI), the benefits of walking are two-fold.
First, walking helps with weight loss. Not every patient with CVI needs to lose weight but for some, weight gain or obesity may be a contributing factor to their CVI. Walking is a low impact exercise and requires no special equipment other than comfortable walking shoes.
What’s a Vascular Surgeon’s Favorite Form of Exercise? Walking! Although it should be said that any exercise is good for improved vascular health.
Second, it will strengthen the calf muscle “pump”. As the calf muscles contract with each step, they squeeze the calf veins, pushing venous blood flow up the leg. Strengthening these calf muscles through walking will make them more efficient at doing their job — keeping venous blood moving in the direction it needs to go.
What about Strength Training / Resistance Training?
The primary treatment for age related muscle loss is exercise, specifically resistance training or strength training using weights or resistance bands. These activities increase muscle strength and endurance. The proper number of reps, intensity of reps, and frequency of resistance exercise is important for getting the most benefit with the least risk of injury. You should work with an experienced physical therapist or trainer to develop an exercise plan suited to your age and needs.
As an added bonus, adding muscle actually burns more calories than fat so adding muscle is a great way to keep fit and to increase your weight loss potential!
