Varicose veins are an increasingly common disease. That's why people have so many questions about it. One of the actively discussed topics is whether the bath will harm varicose veins. Consider which bathhouse you can visit with varicose veins, what rules apply and what the tradition of visiting a steam room can lead to.
Is it possible to take a bath with varicose veins?
Varicose veins in the legs are a disease that imposes many restrictions on a person. As for visiting baths, visiting them is allowed in the initial stage of the disease. In addition, the procedure of bathing in a steam room can be useful.
If the disease has progressed to the stage of thrombophlebitis, you will have to abandon the bath, this stage is characterized by the formation of spider veins and the expansion of veins.
Being in a room with extremely high temperature conditions aggravates the patient's condition. Therefore, it is better to give up the bath in order to visit the contrast shower or pool.
Benefits of baths for varicose veins
Under certain conditions, visiting the bath becomes one of the measures used to treat varicose veins.
The beneficial effect of high temperature in vascular diseases is associated with such positive effects:
- elimination of blood stagnation by normalizing blood circulation;
- prevent inflammation;
- stimulation of the venous tissue regeneration process;
- elimination of uncomfortable feelings - heaviness and fatigue in the legs.
Baths are useful for thinning veins. The temperature effect strengthens blood vessels and improves their tone. Water procedures, when used correctly, cleanse and heal the body. If the disease is in the 1st stage, they become one of the preventive measures to reduce the risk of complications of varicose conditions.
Using heating pads, steaming your feet with hot water, and taking hot baths can cause thrombophlebitis.
Rules for visiting the bathhouse with varicose veins
Baths, if you follow the rules of visiting them, will not harm the varicose veins of the lower extremities.
They are as follows:
- perform water procedures on an empty stomach;
- if the disease has worsened, you should refuse to visit the bathhouse;
- care should be taken not to squeeze the vessels - you can stand or lie down in the bath, but in no case should you sit cross-legged;
- there is a beneficial effect on the condition of the veins, there is a massage of the lower extremities with a pre-steamed broom, it is better if it is collected from juniper or oak leaves;
- to finish the trip to the bathhouse, you need to take a shower with cool water and rest in a lying position.
Legs with varicose veins should be washed by steaming. It consists of rubbing them with a wet towel. After that, you need to go to a dry room and wait until the water evaporates. This procedure helps to eliminate the feeling of swelling and heaviness in the legs. Thanks to this, the risk of recurrence of exacerbation of varicose veins is reduced.
If moderate or severe varicose veins are diagnosed, it is forbidden to visit the bathhouse. Contraindications to such water procedures are thrombophlebitis, the rehabilitation period after surgery, and varicose veins complicated by chronic or inflammatory diseases.
Rules for visiting the steam room
You should not refuse to visit the steam room with varicose veins of the lower extremities. It is enough to follow the rules, thanks to which it is possible to prevent damage caused by high temperatures to ships.
The following recommendations will help to return the habit of steaming for benefit, not harm:
- for the first time, you should not be in the steam room for more than 2-3 minutes, this approach allows the vessels to adapt to the high temperature;
- where there is no obvious manifestation of varicose veins, it is possible to use sweeping, peeling and other procedures aimed at healing;
- one trip to the bath means no more than 5 trips to the steam room, in case of more pronounced symptoms of varicose veins, they should be reduced to 3;
- when visiting the steam room, you need to watch how the legs are located - they should be at the same level as the body.
High temperature can cause discomfort in the legs, where the symptoms of varicose veins are most pronounced. To get rid of such a manifestation, it is worth covering the affected areas with a wet cloth.
Benefits and harms of sauna for varicose veins
When visiting a sauna during varicose veins, you should weigh the possible risks. This procedure can have both negative and positive effects. Beneficial effects of a sauna visit include an increase in vascular tone, stimulation of blood flow to tissues, and elimination of leg fatigue and heaviness. By improving blood circulation, more oxygen and nutrients are delivered to the tissues.
Among the negative effects of water procedures in the sauna are excessive stress on blood vessels, blood stagnation and the possible development of disease. The mechanism of the occurrence of complications begins with excessive blood flow to the tissues.
With a hereditary tendency to varicose veins, but in the absence of symptoms, a visit to the bath will be an excellent prevention.
Due to the disease, the ships do not withstand a large load. Blood stagnates and blood clots form in them. Therefore, you should consult your doctor before deciding to go to the sauna.
The benefits and harms of a contrast shower
Contrast shower is used to prevent varicose veins. It is also included in the complex therapy of the initial stage of the disease. Its positive effect is aimed at improving blood circulation and increasing vascular tone.
A contrast shower will not hurt if you follow these rules:
- the procedure must be carried out regularly;
- you need to control the selection of the water temperature mode - it should be average, which does not cause hypothermia or overheating;
- you should get used to a contrast shower, starting with warm water and lowering its temperature by 1 degree every day;
- the first attempts to take the procedure start with a 2-minute shower, gradually increasing it to 5 minutes;
- you need to change the temperature of the water every 10 seconds;
- you can not hold the stream of water in one place for more than 2 seconds, you need to move it from the lower back to the legs.
In the initial stages of the disease, the contrast shower should be approached with caution. A sudden change in temperature can cause pain.
Prolonged exposure to heat will cause varicose veins.
The blood in them can flow very quickly and unevenly. As a result, edema occurs. Thus, varicose veins are a contraindication to the use of a contrast shower with hot water. If the disease has a moderate or severe stage, the procedure should be abandoned.
The benefits and harms of heat loads for varicose veins
If varicose veins are detected, resorting to thermal stress is strictly prohibited. This also applies to foot steaming and hot baths. The negative effect of thermal procedures is associated with dry air in saunas.
This leads to the deterioration of the structure of blood vessels, their fragility. Due to high temperature, the area affected by varicose veins increases. Due to the increase in the volume of blood circulation, the vessels cannot cope with the provision of normal blood flow.
After the consultation, if the doctor prescribed a visit to the baths and a contrast shower in addition to the main methods of treating varicose veins at the initial stage, you should follow the procedural rules. Only then will they benefit.