Leg recovery during a long flight-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist

Minimizing swollen legs and ankles in flight

Many baby boomers are taking long flights to various destinations around the world for their
own reasons-but in these days of super aircraft with hundreds of seats available for filling, and
less need for stops in between main destinations it means more time in the air
Preventing the ankles swelling like this can be a problem

These are my ankles after a long trip from Australia to Europe

Extra air time means that the body has to adjust to sitting down for longer periods during the
flight with problems of soreness and swollen ankles to deal with-
There are various strategies for the baby boomer to approach swollen ankles and prevention of
‘economy class syndrome’ as they call deep vein thrombosis and they should be implemented
and used in conjunction (with medical advice) but no matter what you do or wear on the flight
to keep it at bay-it is no substitute for moving
Movement is the key to preventing both the ankles swelling and minimizing the
chances of developing deep vein thrombosis- Why is moving more effective?
Sometime during the pre-flight briefing that you were not listening to, the airline probably
made an announcement, mentioned a card/showed a video about moving the legs to help
prevent which can also help keep the ankles from swelling
The calf muscle pump

The way blood and fluid get shifted from the lower legs back to the body for renourishment
and recycling is through the venous system-the veins have one-way valves in them which
prevents leakage back down towards the feet again
To enable this upwards movement, the pumping system is powered by the calf muscles acting
as the motor-they apply pressure to the veins which opens the valves then releases it which lets
the valve flaps close.
To apply and release this pressure, the calf muscles have to move otherwise all the blood in the
lower legs just becomes static-nothing is moving, fresh blood can’t enter the muscle tissues and
depleted blood and other fluid can’t leave them

1
Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan

http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html
 Leg recovery during a long flight-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist

When depleted blood is left to stagnate, the water or lymphatic fluid separates from the
depleted blood and makes its way through the vessel walls where it fills the tissue spaces; as it
cannot be pumped away the fluid pools in the lower legs and the ankles swell.

Separation of water (or lymph fluid) from the blood

For the travelling baby boomer or senior flier, this means problems because when the water
leaves the blood it upsets the balance between 2 important components that are part of the
blood complex
These particular components are clotting agents that make the blood congeal and stop the flow
of blood to an injury site when we are have been hurt-and anti clotting agents that prevent it
clotting before it should, this is responsible for the free flow of blood around the body
If the balance between them is changed in favour of the clotting agents, then blood clots can
form anywhere in the veins-if it changes in favour of the anti-clotting agents then if you cut
yourself then you could bleed to death without medical help
Deep Vein Thrombosis
The body is a column of fluid held in by the skin; it is made up of blood and water, which
flows through a series of vessels called veins and arteries that supply the muscle tissues with
blood when the legs stop moving on a long flight so does the blood.
Clots in the veins can be very dangerous because they may break away and lodge further up in
the body causing a blockage of blood flow to the heart and this may result in serious illness or
death

In this picture you can see the difference in legs after my flight-notice the width and tightness
from the fluid build up and the bright redness from the trapped blood trying to get into the
muscle tissues and unable to
2
Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan

http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html
 Leg recovery during a long flight-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist

(I knew all about deep vein thrombosis but being an experimental person I deliberately set out
to see what happened when I copied my fellow passengers-I simply moved as little as the
people sitting around me did-when the flight ended only their doctors or mortuary attendant
would have known how badly affected they were)
To minimize the chances of this happening, see a physician before flying for advice on Deep
Vein Thrombosis prevention as it relates to your individual circumstances-and follow their
advice

A major way of minimising swollen ankles and the threat of the DVT is to move

During the flight, there is always something stopping the exercises or the legs being moved;
many people are self conscious about doing them when no one else is, or feel there is not
enough room, or they can’t get out into the aisle to walk around
With the increased number of people on board, who may be attempting to shuffle around the
aircraft accidents may happen if an unexpected descent occurs as happened on
Qantas QF72 accident Singapore-Perth October 2008 when 74 people were injured as the plane
dropped in altitude without warning-due to a computer fault which over rode the pilot controls-
can anyone predict this?
If they had been sitting strapped in their seats unless going to the toilet (except for the 10 cabin
crew who have to do their work) the injury toll would have been much less than it was
Whatever the reason, not too many people move their legs enough and are placing themselves
in more danger of developing deep vein thrombosis than they otherwise would be if they
moved during the flight

Listen to the airlines and watch the videos on moving

All airlines (depending on who you are flying with) have some information on DVT and what
to do to reduce the chance of developing it-read their handouts and practise what they say on
the video and do not worry whether the person in the next seat is doing them or not-they may
not be worried about their health
If you do not move your legs may finish up like mine did after my long flight-it took 2 weeks
of inconvenience for my legs to revert to normal-and I was using my own recovery system-
Light Manual Muscle Relaxation to do it
Without it, it may have taken twice as long for my body to repair the damage to my muscle
tissues

Move the legs and to make the calf muscle pump work by exercising the legs in
the seat space provided and you may prevent the problems I had

3
Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan

http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html
 Leg recovery during a long flight-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist

Below is a chart from when I discovered working with the muscles rather than
on them shows how much things did improve for the runners and walkers
If these figures are translated into recovery speed for the person with aching legs they
would be very happy
Results from 1995 Coburg 6 day footrace

N ame Day 1 Day 2 D ay 3 D ay 4 Day 5 Day 6

A Krouglikov 237.2 113.6 130 106 126 108 Kil ometers
539 284 325 365 315 270 Laps

T R usek 215.2 98.8 98 139.6 138.4 122.4 Kil ometers

538 247 245 349 346 306 Laps

M Taylor 174.4 128.8 143.6 123.6 138.4 122.4 Kil ometers

436 322 359 309 302 223 Laps

B Beauchamp 180.4 133.2 124 117.6 110 93.2 Kil ometers

451 333 310 294 275 233 Laps

P Gray 150 134 105.2 94.8 111.6 106 Kil ometers

375 335 263 237 279 265 Laps

D Parri s 138.4 108.4 106.8 116.4 106 107.2 Kil ometers

346 271 267 274 265 268 Laps

I Davis 168 119.2 90 116.4 106 107.2 Kil ometers

420 298 225 291 180 247 Laps

G Watts 132.2 96.4 99.2 104.4 92.8 133.6 Kil ometers

328 241 248 261 232 334 Laps

C Young 142 91.2 90 97.6 88 92 Kil ometers

355 228 225 244 220 230 Laps

D Kettle 138.2 86.8 90.8 95.2 94.4 84.4 Kil ometers

332 217 227 238 236 212 Laps

R Hill 128 80.8 99.2 70 95.6 96.6 Kil ometers

320 202 248 175 239 241 Laps

K Fisher 164 91.6 50 115.2 49.6 81.2 Kil ometers

410 229 125 288 124 203 Laps

G Pollard 120 74.8 73.6 68.4 69.6 61.2 Kil ometers

300 187 184 171 174 153 Laps
The above group came i n for Light Manual Muscle Relaxation
The below group did not or had thei r own recovery people
T R afferty 141.6 112.8 104.8 101.6 98 96.4 Kil ometers
354 282 262 254 245 241 Laps

G McConnel 145.6 110.8 126.4 113.6 108.4 106 ki lometers

363 277 287 284 271 265 Laps

G Audley 152.8 110.8 126.4 113.6 114.8 95.2 ki lometers

S Scanlon 140.8 82 84 34 0 0 Kil ometers

352 205 210 85 pulled out-bli sters Laps

J Ti mms 127.2 98.4 4

74.8 0 0 0 ki lometers
Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan

http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html
 Leg recovery during a long flight-Michael Gillan Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist

Resource Box

Michael Gillan is an Ultra Marathon Recovery Specialist who has been a masseur around many
ultra long distance events both in Australia and internationally since he was a student in 1993

In 1995 while working at a 6 day run, he changed the approach to recovery of the athletes from
the conventional way of working on the muscles using the hands and fingers to increase muscle
blood circulation, to working with the muscles and making them work on themselves

The results from this changeover can be seen on the Coburg result sheet on page 5

In 1996 Michael went to the Nanango 1000 Mile 16 day event where it was tested and helped
the worlds 4-5 and 11th to achieve their distances

Other notable events the World Run Recovery System was tested on was World Run 1 with
Jesper Olsen www.worldrun.org and the World Run 2 training camp in Denmark in 2007

How can someone with aching legs benefit?

Because the muscles are being worked with they are actually doing the work-this means that
the skills needed to do the recovery after training and competition do not have to be as great or
as complicated as when they are being worked on
Nothing is being fixed nor is any attempt being made to repair anything

All that is happening is that the body is repairing itself-we are just facilitating it’s ability
to do that by increasing circulation to the muscles

Aching legs should always be checked out by a medical professional before doing anything to
and with them because there are many medical reasons why they may be aching-see a
physician first

If you want more details on Light Manual Muscle Relaxation go to my website at

http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html

5
Copyright 2008 Michael Gillan

http://seniors.aching-legs-relief.com/airlines_and_after-flight_recovery.html