How many cars have you owned during your life that were built with strong steel engines? The average life of a car may be 20-30 years until the engine fails. Every person has a heart that is the engine to the body simply made of muscles and soft tissue, yet people often outlive our cars. All things eventually wear out and fail whether it is a steel engine or our hearts.
One simple way to determine if our heart is getting weaker is when our lower legs start to swell. This signals that our heart is not strong enough to pump the blood that flows to our feet with the help of gravity back up to the chest area of our body for proper blood circulation. If left unchecked, this can cause a heart attack, stroke or death. Physicians normally prescribe water pills to help with this problem of fluid retention in the legs but they rarely inform the patients of one simple step to help ease the stress on the heart to extend the life of our loved ones.
If your elderly loved one has feet and legs that are swelling you should promptly get them to a physician to check their vitals to determine what the problem is. It could be congestive heart failure or other problems where the heart is not as strong as it used to be. One question you should ask the physician is, "Should your elderly family member keep his or her legs propped up on a regular basis?" Doctors for some strange reason do not volunteer this important information. Whereas your active elderly loved one may not take this advice from a family member to prop their feet up whenever they can, they may be more likely to adopt this habit if they are informed by their physician.
Propping up your feet above the height of your heart allows your body to use gravity to your hearts advantage so the heart does not have to work so hard and stress itself to keep proper blood flow. Just by using a few pillows at the end of the bed to prop the feet up can extend the life of the heart and prevent dramatic life altering problems such as a stroke or heart attack to help extend the life of your loved ones.
Medical technology and methods are constantly changing. During the 1990's physicians prescribed long pressure socks that were knee high to help squeeze the blood back up to the heart. I was informed that the medical community abandoned this practice. One other way to check the strength of the heart is to see if the elastic band of the socks is making an indentation on the ankles or lower leg restricting blood flow. If so, it is a good idea to use scissors to cut the elastic band about a 1/2 inch to eliminate that pressure to allow proper blood flow. These simple and inexpensive methods can help extend the life of your elderly loved ones and avoid unpleasant emergencies including falls which are a common cause of fatality rates for the elderly. It is sad that medical professionals do not have a habit of informing patients of these important tips for preventative health which helps lower medical expenses and insurance rates. Doctors seem more interested in just prescribing medication as the fix all solution and many physicians also invest in pharmaceutical companies to further their own financial gain and self interest instead of acting in the best interest of their patient.
Dale B. Adams formed Majestic Publishers in 2000, and is the author and self publisher of the book, "Care Giving Made Easy - How to be an Awesome Caregiver" Second Edition. His many experiences include being a Security Consultant, General Contractor and Energy Conservation Specialist. To learn more valuable information
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