Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Compression Socks -- A Permanent Part of My Wardrobe

For the past five years I've been dealing with an increasing issue with respect to circulation in my lower right leg. I wrote about this over two years ago in a post titled "A Very Honest Blog Post About My Running Life." In that May 2017 writing I shared:

"I'm now seeing some of the results of my extreme ultra-endurance lifestyle. I notice most change in my lower right leg -- which is the leg that has sustained the majority of tendinitis I have experienced at times while logging mega-mileages. I believe there has been some blood vessel damage, blood flow restriction, and now there is some discoloration in spots. You can see an example of the swelling in the picture accompanying this post. I experienced tendinitis many times, and usually it was the right lower leg. As you can see in this picture, the swelling is quite noticeable when you compare my right leg to my left. The veins in my lower right leg (in the photo) are not visible due to the restriction caused by the swelling. I would continue to run on, 30 to 40 miles a day, with such swelling... and often no ice to treat the tendinitis. As I've reached for endless mileposts, I never wore compression socks --  like many ultra-runners do now to reduce swelling and promote blood flow. Those socks were not as popular with endurance athletes back when I was pounding out miles across states and countries. My legs took an extreme beating all throughout my 40's. Many times, like in the Mojave Desert, I wasn't able to properly repair my body at the end of each day. Micro muscle tears accumulated and deep tissue damage happened on each run because I was solo and often didn't have access to ice to combat muscle swelling and damage. My training miles were significant and the journey runs I did pushing an 80-pound stroller were definitely extreme. Pushing off of my feet while pushing over half of my body weight in front of me put incredible strain on my calf muscles, not to mention my shoulders and back."

So, that's what I wrote over two years ago. Today, as I sit writing this blog post in my office, I'm wearing compression sleeves on my calves. I take off the sleeves when I get home after work, but I really need to be wearing compression socks even when I'm outside running around in the yard with my stepdaughters, or doing yard work. With that said, I'm going to be purchasing a couple more pairs of compression sleeves (which I've worn to the office regularly for the past two years) as well as pairs of compression socks. They make many kinds and I'll get some that are designed for runners/cyclists. They typically cost around $30/pair. The sleeves I tend to wear the most often are called "Run Forever" and have a graduated compression strength of 20-25 mmHg. The breathable, stretchy material is strong enough to compress and hold, but thin enough to breathe.

Several years ago I met a man running across the United States and he wore compression socks every step of the way. He was in his 50's and mentioned that he was an avid runner/hiker. He had already experienced some issues with respect to lower-leg circulation and didn't want it to get more severe as he aged. So, he opted to start using compression socks. I do wish that I could turn back the clock and do all of my extreme training and adventure runs wearing compression socks -- or at least sleeves over my calf muscles. However, as we all know... you can't turn back time. Therefore, I need to deal with this now at the age of 54.

Compression socks apply compression in a balanced and accurate way, accelerating blood flow. This gets more oxygen to your muscles. Better blood flow also helps your body to get rid of lactic acid and other metabolic wastes. Plus, improved oxygenation reduces the effects of delayed onset muscle soreness and accelerates muscle repair. It sure would have been nice to have used these socks when I was running 30 to 50 miles per day.

Here's a more technical explanation of the benefits of using compression socks:
The circulatory system is comprised of both arterial and venous blood flow. Arterial blood is pumped from the heart/lungs, is oxygenated and flows at a high pressure (> ~120 mmHg – i.e. your systolic blood pressure). Correct fitting compression socks will not significantly impede this arterial blood flow. Venous blood, however, (deoxygenated, having done it’s metabolic job passing through the capillaries and offloading oxygen and nutrients to the active muscle) flows at a much lower pressure (< ~20mmHg). These veins have special venous ‘one-way’ valves built in which allow blood to go back toward the heart, but not the other way. Muscular contractions squeeze the blood back to the heart which is the main mechanism for venous return. Compression socks utilize this same mechanism.


Currently, it is only my lower right leg that is having issues with circulation. My lower left leg is fine and no other parts of my body are experiencing any issues with respect to circulation. The fact that my right leg was the one that took the greatest pressure on my adventure runs -- particularly since I faced traffic and my right leg took the most strain with respect to the crown of the road's surface -- it is the one that sustained the most damage on each of my endeavors.

As a result of a lifetime of pounding my body into the ground with extreme running, I am now to the point of opting to wear compression socks in an effort to reduce any other vein issues. No, you can't turn back the clock, but you can be wise with the time in front of you. And in the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),

Paul J. Staso
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Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek

Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:
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