If you experience occasional swelling in your legs and ankles, you are far from alone. In most cases this is a temporary condition caused by an injury or sprain, but if the swelling persists and becomes chronic, Phoenix vein specialists want you to know that it could be a symptom of vein disease.
What Arizona residents need to know about swollen legs & ankles
When your veins are healthy, the flow of blood from your extremities back to your heart and lungs is unimpeded. But if you have developed a vein disease called chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), the valves that normally close after blood passes through the veins become “leaky” and allow blood to flow backwards into the veins and collect there. This causes them to swell and become varicose, but it also has a big impact on your circulation. When you have CVI, one of the first things that happens is that your body loses some of its ability to reabsorb fluids, resulting in edema, swelling of the lower extremities. While this swelling can be viewed initially as merely a minor problem, if left untreated it can become serious.
Even “just” swollen legs and ankles can disrupt your health
Untreated swelling caused by CVI can become painful very quickly, and the discomfort can cause you to become less active, and to get less exercise. This is a problem because health officials have recently pinpointed inactivity as one of the biggest health dangers on the planet, one that kills more people every year than smoking. But even on a psychological level, if you don’t do anything about the swelling and the pain and wind up staying at home instead of going out, this can quickly erode your self-confidence and increase your risk of depression.
So what can you do about swollen legs and ankles?
The most important thing you should do if you suffer from swollen legs & ankles is to schedule a venous health screening to find out what the cause of the swelling is. These checkups take only about an hour, and are completely painless and non-invasive, but they allow your Phoenix vein treatment specialists to determine whether the cause is CVI or a similar vein disease. If so, these professionals can recommend treatments to eliminate the swelling by treating the vein disease. Like the screening, these treatments are minimally-invasive, painless, and fast, and they can have you back on your feet in a matter of days. So pick up your phone and call our Phoenix vein treatment center. We’ll schedule a venous health screening and start helping you not only get rid of your swollen legs and ankles, but regain the energy that vein disease has been robbing you of.