3 Things You Need to Know About Your Vein Health

  By guest blogger Samantha Fiero, Territory Business Manager MN/ND, mediUSA. Liberty Oxygen and Medical Equipment is proud to sell medi compression products in all eight of its Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota metro locations. Medi’s premium mediven brand compression stockings (also called compression hose) provide medically accurate, comfortable, and fashionable compression for all sizes and styles to support healthy veins and legs.  It’s easy to know when your skin, teeth, or overall diet is in good or bad health – these are important parts of your body that you see every day! But what about the less visible parts of your health? Though you may not see it in action, your venous system covers every part of your body and is essential for helping keep your blood flowing. When it comes to understanding your venous health and stopping the development of vein disease, there are three important things you need to know.

1. Knowledge matters. Understanding your veins and what causes vein disease is the first step to preventing it.
2. Compression matters. Compression therapy is the gold standard for healthy legs and for treating vein disease – but it’s important to make sure that you are using graduated, medical compression garments to provide safe and effective therapy.
3. Fit matters. Compression garments are medical devices and need to be fitted just for you by a trained professional in order to provide effective therapy. Luckily, wearing comfortable, stylish compression garments has never been easier!

Knowledge matters. With every step you take gravity is pulling you towards the ground. This force from gravity makes it more challenging for the veins in your legs to push blood back up your legs towards your heart, as they are forced to push against gravity. This is why standing for long periods of time can cause swelling of the feet and ankles – the tissues fill up with fluids while you are standing and struggle to empty that fluid into the veins until you are lying down and the force of gravity is lessened. Extended pressure on the veins in your legs can weaken the vein walls and valves, leading to the development of vein disease. Vein disease can be caused by environmental factors such as sitting or standing for long periods of time, but can also be hereditary, and many women experience the beginnings of vein disease while pregnant. While vein disease may begin as seemingly harmless swollen ankles or sore legs, if left untreated the complications of vein disease can be far worse. It can progress to varicose veins, chronic venous insufficiency, venous ulcers, or blood clots. Compression matters. To keep your veins healthy, they need a little support. Literally – they need support! And that’s where quality medical compression garments like medi’s come in. Graduated medical compression garments are the gold standard for maintaining healthy veins and for the treatment of vein disease. A “graduated compression garment” exerts graduated pressure on the legs, with the greatest pressure at the ankle and decreasing pressure up the calf and thigh. Graduated compression mimics the natural pumping action of your veins and supports weakened veins walls by pushing the blood from the ankles up the calf and thigh. If the level of compression exerted was the same throughout the whole garment, then it would not successfully push the blood from the ankle up the leg back to the heart; the blood could remain trapped in one area, and the garment could cause a tourniquet effect, pushing blood back down the leg to the ankle. This would expedite and worsen the development of vein disease instantly. Fit matters. Would you ever take a medication without knowing what it was or what dose you were taking? Of course not! Similar to medications, medical compression garments are medical devices, and it is important that you are fitted with the correct size and type of garment by a trained professional. High quality stockings come in many sizes and are designed for specific ankle, calf, and thigh sizes to provide medically accurate compression. If you’re wearing a compression garment that is too big, it will not provide the compression necessary to support your veins and provide effective treatment; if you’re wearing a garment that is too small, it will constrict your legs and could cause pain. Based on your exact leg measurements, a trained fitter will select the correct size for you. All eight Liberty Oxygen and Medical Equipment locations are conveniently located throughout the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area and have trained fitters who can help you find the correct size and style of premium mediven compression garments for your specific vein health needs. There are many types of compression garments available – but how do you choose the best one, that will provide high quality, accurate medical compression and fit seamlessly into your Minnesota lifestyle and wardrobe? At Liberty Oxygen and Medical Equipment, trained fitters can show you different types of compression garments, from stylish mediven sheer & soft stockings, to trendy mediven for men socks in classic and modern patterns, to the new mediven for women vitality socks, perfect for work or casual outfits. Long gone are the days of grandma’s uncomfortable, sagging compression stockings! Vein health matters. Compression quality matters. Product selection matters. Fitter services matter. That’s why medi partners with businesses like Liberty Oxygen and Medical Equipment, who care about creating the best compression therapy plan for their customers to support healthy legs, healthy veins, and healthy living!