04/15/2019    

PODIATRISTS IN THE NEWS - PART 2

NY Podiatrist Explains How Compression Socks Can Help In-Flight

 

So you’re packing for your next far-flung adventure and you’re thinking: Sunglasses? Check. Passport? Check. Eight pairs of black leggings? Check. Compressions socks? …Wait, why am I bringing those again? We heard you’re confused, so we asked a podiatrist about the need for special socks when you’re 35,000 feet in the air. What do compression socks do anyway?

 

Dr. Ernest Isaacson

 

“Compression socks are, as they sound, providing compression,” says New York City-based podiatrist Ernest L. Isaacson, DPM. “Blood is pumped away from the heart via the arteries, and then it comes back via the veins. That should be a pretty even process, but if the veins (or the lymphatic system), which drain the fluid out of the legs don’t work quite as well, you’re going to develop some kind of pooling in the legs.” In the high pressure environment of an airplane, the blood stops moving and your feet might swell up like twin balloons.

 

Source: Kells McPhillips, Good Travel [4/11/19]