Travel Is Better With Compression Socks
Picture this: you’re on a plane, a long anticipated flight to your dream destination. The excitement starts to wear off a few hours into the journey as you notice . . . your legs and feet are starting to swell! The discomfort becomes more and more noticeable and you think to yourself, “oh no . . . I should have worn the compression socks!”
Has this ever happened to you? Or have you found yourself wanting to prevent it? Don’t know where to get stylish compression socks? Check out our Sock of the Week: Compression Socks by Top & Derby, currently 50% off, and read on to find out why you might need them!
If you’re like me, you spend a large part of your flight trying to get comfortable. That comfort can get interrupted due to lack of activity. If you’re not getting up and moving around often, which you shouldn’t be on a plane or the flight attendants might have a few stern words to say, and you also lack the good fortune of having the whole row to yourself and somewhere to prop your legs up, then you are most likely stuck sitting in your seat with your feet planted on the ground (hopefully you at least have the window or the aisle!). This lack of movement can cause blood to pool in the veins in your leg, and the bent position of your legs when seated for long periods of time can also increase pressure on those veins. The result? Oftentimes, swollen lower legs and feet!
The uncomfortable swelling can last a few hours post-flight as well. The longer your flight, the higher the chance of this swelling to occur. While mostly harmless (yet annoying), there are some serious adverse effects that can result from blood pooling: in extreme cases, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) can occur, which is when a potentially fatal blood clot forms. Most of these deep vein clots occur in the legs.
So, is there another way to prevent swelling and blood pooling while up in the air besides having to annoy your seat-mates constantly throughout your flight as you embarrassingly clamber over them to walk up and down the aisle, swerving to avoid the various elbows and knees sticking out from the rows of seats on either side of you? Yes, and lucky for you, it’s quite a stylish solution.
Enter compression socks. By compressing the feet and calves, these socks force blood flow up the leg, increasing circulation. They work to improve the naturally occurring muscle pump in your legs – which enhances the circulation of blood from the lower extremities back to the heart – even while you’re inactive. In this way, the chances of blood clots is greatly reduced, and less pooling also means less swelling!
Top & Derby Compression Socks are our favourite choice of compression garment to wear while you travel. They come in a variety of colours and four sizes according to calf circumference and shoe size: small, medium, large, and extra-large, to ensure you’re as comfortable as you can be while wearing them!
Top & Derby Compression Socks - Kickstarter - YouTube
You might notice the Top & Derby socks also say they are 15-20 mmHg. Standing for “millimetres of mercury,” mmHg indicates the level of compression in a garment. 15-20 mmHg is a great level of compression for travel and daily wear: it offers enough support for day-to-day relief from leg ache and swelling, which means you can comfortably wear them outside of a plane, too! We recommend them for nurses, postal workers, and anyone else on their feet all day. They’re also great for pregnancy which often also results in leg swelling. They’re much more practical than just breaking them out to wear on a trip a few times a year . . . and if you’re flying much more than that, well, first of all I’m very jealous, and more importantly you’ll be happy to know that Top & Derby is 50% off as this week’s Sock of the Week. They’re on sale from now until May 12th at midnight - get them in every colour-way while you can!
