Compression tissue is widely used in the lower extremities of a person in a straight, physiologically correct manner to maintain pressure. Such socks are used in the complex treatment of varicose veins, as well as for the prevention of this disease. In medicine, special underwear for veins is called a medical shirt. It is also called compression or varicose underwear, medical shirt.
Tights, socks, as well as compression knee varicose veins are recommended for wearing by phlebologists. Such underwear should also be worn in case of thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, lymphedema and other problems with blood vessels in the extremities.
What kind of compression underwear is better - compression tights or socks, your doctor will tell you and recommend at the time of appointment.
The therapeutic effect of using such underwear is manifested due to the fact that socks, leggings or tights support blood vessels, stretching the varicose vein. This, in turn, will evenly redistribute blood flow from the enlarged vessels to the healthy vessels.
Such underwear helps to activate blood circulation, improve tissue nutrition.
Choosing the right compression garments can help you reduce your risk of blood clots.
Another important argument in favor of the use of such underwear is that there are almost no contraindications to the use of medical knitted clothing. It does not cause side effects, but at the same time it is a good method to prevent the progression of varicose veins and helps to keep the veins in a physiological state.
How do compression garments work for varicose veins?
Previously, when medical knitwear was not produced, an elastic bandage was used for varicose veins. However, their use has several significant drawbacks.
- First of all, elastic bandages should be worn for a long time and to achieve the desired effect it should be done correctly.
- An important disadvantage is the inability to wear an elastic bandage constantly. The non-aesthetic appearance does not allow her to wear it everyday, while, for example, compression underwear and knitted clothes from other modern manufacturers look very nice and aesthetically pleasing.
- Although bandages have a low price, wearing them will not save you money. After all, such a bandage very quickly becomes unusable. Therefore, it is best to learn how to choose high quality knitted garments and buy compression underwear for varicose veins.
What is compression underwear for and what effect does it have? By compressing the dilated veins, this woven tissue accelerates blood flow to the deep veins. As a result, venous stasis is eliminated, which is a prerequisite for the development of varicose veins. Those who are wondering which compression underwear is better for varicose veins should keep in mind that it is worth buying high quality products. After all, branded high-quality knitted garments provide gradation, i. e. a gradual reduction in pressure from the wrist to the shoulder or from the lower leg to the thigh.
For example, a good online store for compression underwear for varicose veins offers socks that provide maximum (100%) pressure on the lower leg and partially (40%) on the thigh. It is this distribution that is the most physiologically correct, hence gives the greatest therapeutic effect. With this mode of pressure distribution, blood flow is normalized due to the following effect:
- The operation of the valve apparatus improves and returns to normal.
- The dilated lumen of the peripheral veins of the thigh and lower extremities, especially the subcutaneous veins, is reduced.
- The effect of the muscle pump was increased. When the muscles contract during exercise, the blood rises.
Effective compression underwear for pregnant women. But during pregnancy, you should choose such a t-shirt, guided by the doctor's individual recommendations.
How to choose a compression fabric?
Before choosing a compression garment for varicose veins, you should clearly understand that such underwear can not eliminate the serious causes of venous insufficiency. It is therefore used before radical treatment. The medical t-shirt simulates the situation as if the veins are dilated, removed or sealed.
In addition, it is important to understand that non-surgical treatment of foot diseases should always be comprehensive. Only in this case the effect will be maximum. It is very important not only to wear compression underwear, but also to use ointments and creams prescribed by a doctor, to use folk remedies for the prevention and treatment of varicose veins, as well as to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
In order for the effect to be most noticeable, it is important to choose the right medical underwear. In this case, we must take into account not only the reviews that can be read online, and the prices of linen, but also its quality, compression classes.
Compression fabric is usually divided into three types:
- Hospital - that is, one that is used exclusively in the hospital;
- medical;
- Prophylactic.
But, whether you need a t-shirt for treatment or prevention, you should buy it exclusively in specialty stores or stores that are official dealers of such underwear manufacturers recognized by doctors. It is important that consumers in such stores should be assisted in choosing the right t-shirt size as the effectiveness of the treatment depends on it. To find the ideal underwear, the seller first measures the foot in four places. A special size chart is then used to select socks or tights.
You can buy underwear with four degrees of compression:
- First class compression(18-21 mm Hg) - Prophylactic T-shirt, which is indicated for wearing in the following cases:
- During pregnancy;
- With a tendency to varicose veins;
- In the presence of initial symptoms of varicose veins: If the veins are noticeable under the skin, after standing or sitting for a long time, the legs hurt, you can distinguish the pronounced spider veins on the legs, while the swelling appears in the evening;
- If a person leads a lifestyle in which many are forced to sit or stand - in the office, driving a car, behind the counter, and so on. Sh.
- Second class of compression(23-32 mm Hg) - The most popular underwear. Compression class 2 compression garments are used to treat varicose veins, thrombophlebitis. The hospital also uses the compression of 2 hospitals of compression class.
- Third class of compression(34-46 mm Hg) - Compression stockings of this class are used for patients with trophic disorders and severe venous insufficiency.
- Fourth class of compression(From 49 mm Hg) - This class is used very rarely - for men and women with lymphedema.
Before you buy socks or tights for varicose veins, you need to decide exactly what kind of underwear to buy. Anyone who buys varicose tights for the first time should not immediately choose 2nd grade compression stockings. After all, it can be a very strong contraction for the vascular system.
First of all, it is better to buy cheap underwear - the price of 1st class compression tights of some companies will be quite acceptable. After getting used to it and gradually getting used to such underwear, you can later buy more expensive orthopedic tights for varicose veins.
Only Class 1 underwear is used for prevention. If a person is already developing varicose veins, then a phlebologist can help you choose tights. You should also ask your doctor how to choose compression stockings for pregnant women so that the expectant mother will feel comfortable wearing such underwear. In this case it is important to choose the size of the anti-varicose tights or socks so that they do not cause noticeable discomfort.
But no matter how excited the reviews about this or that underwear, you should understand that it does not cure varicose veins, because wearing underwear does not eliminate the causes of the disease. Compression garments help stop the development of the disease and prevent the appearance of new varicose veins.
In hot summer weather it is impossible to wear such underwear, so during the summer it is necessary to use treatments for varicose veins and use other methods to combat this disease.
In order not to damage the product and get the maximum effect, you need to know how to wear compression tights correctly - this is indicated in the instructions.
No matter what the price of such linen, it can maintain compression for about 5-7 months.
What you need to know when buying compression socks?
Before buying such underwear, you should clearly know how to choose the right compression stockings for varicose veins. Specific quality standards are defined for compression garments. The most important and strict among them is the European RAL-GZ-387.
Any manufacturer who tries to produce a knit garment matching must first pass a very strict certification in Switzerland or Germany. Therefore, if elastic orthopedic socks for varicose veins have such a certificate, it indicates its high quality. Knitted garments with such a certificate provide pressure that is distributed over the limb (40-70-100%) and is healing. The standard confirms the product packaging, as well as the existence of a special label.
To choose a good product, you need to focus not only on how much such socks or socks cost, but also, first of all, the manufacturer and the proven point of sale of the goods. Indeed, in the domestic market it is very easy to make a mistake and buy fake medical socks or tights. In addition, in specialty stores, the buyer will definitely be asked how to determine the size for both men and women. In trusted stores, you should buy compression garments for pregnant women.
Since medical underwear is worn daily, it is very important to choose a hypoallergenic model. Therefore, you should focus not on user reviews, but primarily on personal feelings. The linen must bear the Oeko-Tex Standard 10 mark of European environmental standard - this guarantees that the product is made of allergy-free material.
How to wear compression socks properly?
When buying healing shirts you need to know how to wear them and how to wear such underwear properly.
Most often, people who try to prevent the progression of varicose veins wear 2nd grade compression stockings. After all, both the effectiveness and price of compression 2 grade compression stockings are often the most acceptable to the patient. Nevertheless, it often happens that compression grade 2 products are very uncomfortable for humans. Moreover, most often the 2nd class of men and women compression turns out to be uncomfortable precisely because the person does not wear such a product properly. Can he not dress like a pantyhose, gathered in an accordion and carried to the front thigh? Pantyhose and knee or socks should be worn slowly, gradually straightening them to the feet.
Obese people will find it difficult to wear such underwear. To facilitate this process, you can buy special tools in the store. How much such devices cost depends on the manufacturer. Compression knitwear should be worn with gloves so as not to damage the linen nails. Also, if a person is wearing medical or other gloves, then the linen slides better.
If wearing second-class compression underwear is uncomfortable, in some cases you may be limited to first-class. Moreover, the price of compression class 1 compression socks is lower for women and men. However, the price of socks for varicose veins on the legs depends on other factors.
A person wearing a medical t-shirt should have smooth legs - without rudeness, without calluses. Grasp your toenails briefly and massage them to prevent swelling in your laundry.
It is better to wear such underwear in the morning, rested and, consequently, not swollen limbs. In this case, both the leg and the shirt should be completely dry.
For those who are wondering whether it is possible to sleep in such socks, you should understand that there is no need for it, because the load on the limbs during sleep is minimal.
If a phlebologist prescribes a patient to wear grade 3 products, it will be more difficult to wear them and therefore they will have to spend more time on it. For this it is better to use special devices.
If the size chart provided on a particular site is unclear, it is best to ask a specialist how to choose a compression sock size for surgery or for everyday wear. After all, if the size is chosen incorrectly, wearing and wearing such underwear is extremely inconvenient.
It is important to take proper care of these items and to wash and dry them.
Compression clothing care
When buying orthopedic underwear for men and women, you should keep in mind that it is most convenient to have at least two pairs of such t-shirts. After all, you need to wash it daily to avoid dust, debris and dead skin particles, which can very quickly damage the laundry fibers.
Washing is done only by hand, using baby soap. Such linen is not machine washable. You should wash at a temperature not exceeding 40 ° C. Ironing and bleaching are prohibited. Also, do not use air conditioners and washers. After all, they also destroy the structure of the restraining tissue.
Dry the compression garment by spreading it on a horizontal surface. You can not roll it and grind it, you can easily wet it with a towel. T-shirt drying in the sun, battery in vertical position is not allowed.
You have to be very careful with the silicone strips that are important to attach the washer. It is better not to get wet while washing and clean with a disinfectant towel.
What to wear with such products depends on a woman's taste. But as a rule, knitted clothes from modern manufacturers are very beautiful and elegant.
Contraindications to wearing compression underwear
Before choosing a compression knee brace for varicose veins, you need to know clearly whether the patient has any contraindications to wearing them. Medical t-shirts have several such contraindications.
There are categorical contraindications, as well as comparative ones, in which it is allowed to wear such a T-shirt after consulting a doctor - cardiologist, dermatologist, endocrinologist.
Wearing a medical t-shirt is absolutely contraindicated in such diseases:
- Atherosclerosis;
- Endoarthritis;
- Orthoarthritis;
- Obliteran thromboangiitis.
Under such conditions, the lumen of the blood vessels decreases and the systolic pressure drops to 80 mm Hg. RT. Art, therefore, is strictly forbidden to reduce the pressure in the lower extremities.
Wearing compression garments should be very careful for those who have skin problems and high skin sensitivity.
Socks or tights should not be worn in case of allergic manifestations and inflammatory processes on the skin, as well as in case of dermatitis, bedsores, eczema, thrombophlebitis, open wounds.
If varicose veins are manifested as a result of diabetes, such underwear should also not be used. Compression products are not used in septic phlebitis, severe heart-lung failure, if circulatory problems are detected at rest.
You may also find the opinion that jersey can cause atrophy of the muscular layer of the venous walls. When a person stops wearing medical underwear, the opposite effect is likely, causing the venous wall to stretch and the varicose veins to progress even further.
Of course, it is not possible to check the condition of each vein in a person with such underwear. However, most phlebologists have misunderstood this theory and cited the following evidence in favor of it:
- A person cannot wear a medical t-shirt for an entire hour;
- If the veins are constricted, then the blood flow in them is reduced, but it does not stop;
- Typically, atrophy of the muscular wall develops if a person has a genetic predisposition, as well as if a local specific inflammatory process develops with venous stasis, and these events are reduced by the use of woven clothing;
- Sometimes, after stopping using linen, a person initially feels a little worse, as the venous wall tone decreases over a period of time, but we are not talking about atrophy.
Also, after the period of wearing such underwear is over, people with varicose veins may feel that it is difficult for them to walk. Therefore, many people choose not to give up wearing it.
Thus, compression garments, used for many decades, are a convenient and effective method for the prevention and treatment of varicose veins. However, before you start using it, you need to consult a phlebologist. The doctor will determine the patient's condition and help choose a suitable product.