Can exercise help with varicose veins?

People with varicose veins may have impaired calf muscle pump function, poor lower-extremity venous valve function, and reduced endothelial function. Exercise improves calf muscle pump function, and aerobic exercise training (i.e., treadmill walking) can improve endothelial function in postsurgical varicose vein patients.^[1] Conversely, there is limited evidence to support the benefits of exercise for the healing of venous leg ulcers — a more severe chronic venous disorder than varicose veins — when compared to usual care.^[2]

A systematic review on the use of therapeutic exercise (i.e., flexibility, strength, resistance, and breathing exercises) for chronic venous disease concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support or refute the efficacy of any exercise in improving patients’ quality of life, pain, or physical functional performance. However, only four randomized controlled trials were included in this review, and while only one study found a benefit of exercise, the other three were rated as having a very low methodological quality.^[3] Balneotherapy may result in an improvement in disease symptoms and severity, pain, and quality of life in patients with chronic venous disease.^[4]