Marion,
The reason for promoting ankle pump exercises and ambulation for people with
venous disease is to assist venous return, thus preventing the chain of events
resulting in a venous ulcer.
Ankle pumps result in the calf muscles contracting. The resultant increase in
girth of the muscle during contraction presses against the veins, pushing the
blood upwards. This is called the calf muscle pump.
Additionally, with each step in walking, the force of the body weight presses
on the venous plexus on the ball of the foot, further pushing blood upwards.
Unfortunately, I am very short on time right now (working full time,
teaching--finals period, and going to grad school) (Christmas? who has time to
think about it?), so I can't promise that I'll post some references. But, if I
do have time, I'll look through my stuff and see and if I can come up with some.
Hope this helps,
Renee Cordrey, MSPT
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|