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Obesity Calf Muscle Fatigue-poor circulation-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery SpecialistCopyright 2008 Michael Gillan
 
http://www.aching-legs-relief.com/obesity_fatigued_legs.html 1
Obesity Leg Fatigue and poor lower leg circulation
Obesity is fast becoming a worldwide epidemic and there are many problems arising from beingobese-these can range from heart disease through to diabetes through to lower leg circulationproblems where blood is not able to get from the lower part of the body, the legs and feet back upinto the main part of the body for recycling
Fresh legs-healthy calf circulation
To keep the lower leg circulation working and the calf muscles fresh, the muscles rely on having aconstant supply of fresh blood to the muscle tissues-it is sent to the lower legs under pressurethrough the arteries and ever decreasing in size vessels called arterioles and even smaller capillarieswhile at the same time the pressure taking it there also decreasesBy the time the blood reaches the feet, all the pressure has been used, and there is none left to returnthe blood back up the legs to the body against gravity againThe job of returning used blood back up the legs for re-nourishment and recycling is carried out bya pumping system formed by the muscles in the legs, but the main power for this is supplied by thecalf muscles as they move, putting pressure on and taking it off the vessels called the veinsThe veins have one-way valves in them which open as the blood passes through them, and closes tostop it going back down to the feet again-in this way, as used blood leaves the legs, and fresh bloodreplaces it-to maintain the balance between them, a similar volume of used blood should leave thelegs as enters them
Calf Muscle Fatigue
There are many medical reasons for fatigued calf muscles, and to find out whether any of them arecontributing to them, they should be checked out by a medical professional so that the cause can beaddressed-do not take chances and self diagnose-you could be risking your life if they are ignored
Bloodpumped fromheart througharteries under
 
pressureReaches feetPressure runsout
 
Calf musclesact as pumpmotorsUsed blood ismoved up thelegs throughthe veinsOn return tobody blood isrenourishedand recycled
 
Obesity Calf Muscle Fatigue-poor circulation-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery SpecialistCopyright 2008 Michael Gillan
 
http://www.aching-legs-relief.com/obesity_fatigued_legs.html 2
Calf Muscle Fatigue
Most obese people develop a lifestyle of little movement an inactivity-this not only reduces activityfurther it reduces the benefits that may be gained from exercise when it does happen-it also reducesthe ability of the legs to contribute to their own circulationBy not moving the legs, the pump does not work as well as it should-this disrupts the cycle andallows used blood to remain in the lower legs-as it its not being removed, water (lymph fluid)separates from it and fills the tissue spaces, as it is not being pumped away quickly enough, theankles swellThe calf muscles start to move even less, and the less they move, the less used blood and fluid isremoved from the lower legs, and the flow of fresh blood into them is reduced even moreCalf muscle fatigue, tight muscles, and poor lower leg circulation can chase each other around in acycle that is difficult to break out from-each is a self destructive part that props up the other parts of the cycle and it will take a circuit breaker to disrupt the cycle of fatigueLeading to even less activity as the weight gained makes it more difficult to walk, so more weight isgained and the risks to health increase-when walking is attempted, the changing body shapesupported by the legs adds pressure to the leg joints and muscles, and it becomes difficult to doactivities like climbing stairsAs the legs start to fill up with fluid, they get heavy and wearing shoes that fit properly and providestability becomes harder to do, so many people resort to wearing thongs which provide no stabilityat all for the legs and feet, and makes the wearer develop a shuffling gait when they walk simply tokeep them onThe shuffling reduces the use of the muscles pumping action even further by tightening the calf muscles and prevents fresh blood entering the tissues so the legs are tired all the time
Calf MuscleFatiueTightcalf 
 
muscles
 
PoorbloodreturnFreshbloodreduced
 
Obesity Calf Muscle Fatigue-poor circulation-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery SpecialistCopyright 2008 Michael Gillan
 
http://www.aching-legs-relief.com/obesity_fatigued_legs.html 3Keeping mobile is keeping independence, once you lose that and the legs stop working, everythingelse slowly stops working as well-a little story about this, and the loss of independence and earlydeath, and the pain that can come with dying this wayThere is plenty of information out there about obesity and the dangers of being obese and why theaim should be to lose weight to reduce the possibility of poor health and an early death-this is notmy area of expertise so I am not going to worry about this, my advice is not going to add anythingto the argument or motivate the obese person into trying to lose weightMy skills lie in recovering people who are running and walking long distances, so I deal with lowerleg circulation and calf muscle recovery-my arguments lie in convincing you to keep the circulationin the lower legs going to keep the legs as healthy as possible so that some health problems may beminimizedI work in a small country hospital as an orderly to pay my bills, we got a man in who was veryobese in the emergency department-we did not have a suitable wheelchair that he could sit in so hehad to go on a trolley that could barely hold his frame-to get him onto it we had a lifter but he wasover the safety limit, but we had no choiceThe sling hurt him because although it was a large one, it was too small for him and it caused himpain as we hoisted him up from the edges cutting into him-eventually we had found the strongestbed in the hospital for him on the ward-but not the biggestTransferring him into the bed was a major undertaking as once we got him up to the ward the roomwas only big enough to take the bed, not the lifting machine as well-once we had him in bed, wehad to leave him there because the height of the bed would not adjust once we has him on an airmattress-the electric motor was under strain because of his weightChanging and washing him was a major affair as to simply roll, clean, and change gown, him andthe bed needed 4 of us to do it safely-but gentle as we were, the pain of being moved made himscream-but we had to do it because his weight caused him to have bed sores all overHe stayed with us for 3 weeks slowly becoming more helpless through the inability to move-I willnever forget the look of pain and helplessness in his eyes as he was dying slowly while fighting foreach breath-it was not a pretty or dignified death for anyone to have to go throughNo I am not a doctor or qualified to lecture on the health problems connected with being obese, butI have seen the final result of the pain and discomfort that these problems can bring-seeing someonegoing through it in the final few weeks of their life and knowing it could possibly have beenprevented by losing some weight is not an experience that is easy to forget
Diet by itself is not the answer to losing weight-or improving lower leg circulation
Quote-‘A journey of a 10,000 miles begins with 1 step’ Mao Tse Tung
Exercise is also needed but to start doing this if you are past the moving stage is difficult-you can’t just stand up and start walking after being immobile for a long period and basically losing theability to move-to take the first step, it is better to start the legs moving gently while at the sametime taking some of the fluid pressure from the lower legs so the muscles can get some fresh bloodinto the tissues
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