New Delhi: Patients with leg ulcers, you may want to hit the gym as according to a recent study, exercise may help you heal faster.

 

Leg Ulcer:

A leg ulcer is simply a break in the skin of the leg, which allows air and bacteria to get into the underlying tissue. This is usually caused by an injury, often a minor one that breaks the skin.

 

In most people such an injury will heal up without difficulty within a week or two. However, when there is an underlying problem the skin does not heal and the area of breakdown can increase in size. This is a chronic leg ulcer.

 

What causes leg ulcers? 

The most common underlying problem causing chronic leg ulcers is disease of the veins of the leg. Venous disease is the main reason for over two thirds of all leg ulcers.

 

• Venous Disease (caused by veins not working) - about 80% of leg ulcers

• Arterial Disease (caused by the arteries not working) - about 15% of leg ulcers

• Other causes (includes diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis as well as some rare conditions) - about 5% of leg ulcers

 

In some cases two or more conditions may be causing damage at the same time.

 

How does venous disease cause ulcers? 

The veins in your leg are tubes that carry the blood back from the foot towards your heart. The veins in your legs have one-way valves that make sure the blood flows up the leg and not back down. In some people, these valves are not very effective or can be damaged by thrombosis (clots) in the veins. If the valves are damaged, blood can flow the wrong way down the veins, which results in a very high pressure in the veins when standing up. This abnormally high pressure in the veins damages the skin and leads to the ulcers.

 

But need not worry a recent study may help you with your leg ulcer with just you sweating out.

 

In the Sheffield Hallam University study of 39 patients with venous leg ulcers who were randomized to compression therapy plus supervised exercise (including aerobic, resistance and flexibility elements) or compression therapy only, ulcer healing time was lower in the exercise group (13 versus 35 weeks).

 

Lead author Markos Klonizakis noted that the findings suggest that people with ulcers not only enjoy taking part in a supervised exercise scheme, staying in the programme until the end, but may also draw multiple benefits from it, offering reduction in treatment costs as well.

 

The study said “Although this is a feasibility study and we can't draw any final conclusions from it, our findings suggest that people with ulcers not only enjoy taking part in a supervised exercise scheme, staying in the programme until the end, but may also draw multiple benefits from it, offering reduction in treatment costs as well”.

 

References:

www.circulationfoundation.org.uk

https://medicalxpress.com

http://www.hindustantimes.com

www.news-medical.net

http://www.abplive.in