Vein Health Digest™ is brought to you by Support Hose Store™ to help you understand what's happening to your legs.  The Digest includes current articles written by professionals to assist you in understanding leg diseases.   First lets try to understand how the veins in our legs function.

The heart is the pump which moves the blood through the arteries to carry oxygen to the organs of our body.  The veins work with the muscles to return the blood to the heart.  As we get older the valves in the veins of our legs sometimes  become damaged or quit functioning properly and blood is not returned to the heart.  When blood pools in the lower legs, swelling in the ankles and calves develop causing discomfort.  The veins enlarge and the valves can no longer close correctly.  This causes varicose veins and venous insufficiency.