Category: Prevention
The usual advice for avoiding economy class syndrome is to flex the legs frequently and drink plenty of water. However, water by itself doesn’t hold up in tests. See Hydration.
Here are the precautionary steps we recommend. The more risk factors you have for blood clots, the more of these you need to follow:
– Leg flexing: effortless exercises you can do without leaving your seat.
– Compression Hose: proven effective and recommended, but avoid elastic support hose.
– Hydration: recommended, but don’t drink the water!
– Prophylaxis: to consider if you have risk factors (such as a history of DVT) or if you must sleep during a flight.
– Leaflet: essential for recognizing symptoms and avoiding misdiagnosis that usually aggravates the injury and increases the risk of disability or death.
– Avoid: sleeping, clothing tight enough to impede circulation (such as an elastic knee brace), crossing the legs for more than a few minutes, dehydrating beverages such as alcohol, and caffeine.
-
Prophylaxis
•
If you have serious risk factors or must sleep during the flight, pharmaceutical prophylaxis may be advisable. A 9/03 Angiology study is very positive for pinokinase. Pinokinase contains ingredients that reduce edema, a suspected cause of clots, and dissolve fibrin, a component of clots. You could ask your doctor for…
-
Hydration
•
Stay hydrated: Experts recommend drinking water (or other non-alcoholic non-caffeine beverages) to avoid increased blood viscosity during air travel. In a study by Hamada, twenty test subjects drank plenty of water, one cup per hour, during a nine hour flight. They developed significant increases in blood thickness and urine output.…
-
Compression Stockings
•
Compression stockings have proven effective in controlled studies. For example, in Gianni Belcaro’s LONFLIT series, ultrasound scans before and after air travel found 5% of air travelers without stockings developed clots. Matched groups wearing compression stockings did not develop clots. Caveats: A new study by Hughes in The Lancet December…
-
Leg Flexing
•
Frequent leg flexing is the best preventive for ECS. The blood needs to be pushed through the one-way valve system in the veins by contractions of the large muscles. Do it five times or more, firmly and deliberately but not strenuously. If you are bothering your seat mates, you are doing…
-
Leaflet
•
ECS Exercise and Symptoms When you’re flying you won’t be able to remember all the details about avoiding DVT, recognizing symptoms, and avoiding misdiagnosis. A few days after the flight, when strange symptoms appear, it might be hard to remember what you are supposed to watch for or how to…