The circulatory system allows blood to deliver nutrients and remove waste products from your body. Given the importance of blood vessels, it's essential to know when you have vascular disease. Veins and arteries have differing functions and structures, so insufficiency manifests differently for each type. Understanding the differences between venous and arterial insufficiency can help you to get the correct treatment more quickly. Causes and Mechanisms Insufficiency is a result of poor ... [Read More]
Venous Insufficiency
Why Are My Legs Always Swollen: Living with Venous Insufficiency
It is a common complaint of people with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI): The legs feel painful, cramped, and swollen. It’s very difficult to go about your day if you have these symptoms. Chronic venous insufficiency is due to poor blood flow in the veins. The veins are supposed to carry the “used” blood from the cells back to the heart and lungs for reoxygenation, but in this condition there is a malfunction of some of the valves in the veins. These tiny valves push the blood back toward ... [Read More]
What Is Venous Insufficiency?
Venous insufficiency is a condition whereby the walls and valves in the veins do not work properly, so the blood does not flow normally through the circulatory system to the heart. When this happens, blood tends to pool in various areas in the veins – most obviously in the legs – and this can cause swelling and varicose veins. Whereas arteries carry oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the tissues and organs throughout the body, veins carry the oxygen-depleted blood back to the heart for ... [Read More]
Venous Insufficiency: What It Is, How It’s Treated
Veins have an important job to do. They are responsible for moving blood, of course, but they move it in a specific direction. Veins carry oxygen-poor blood from the body’s extremities and other tissue back to the heart. From there, the blood heads to the lungs where it becomes oxygenated once again, before rejoining the circulatory system and being carried throughout the body via the arteries. Venous insufficiency occurs when blood isn’t being properly pushed back to the heart and, due to ... [Read More]
