Back to School with Dr. Segal's

September is coming up quickly and that means students are heading back to school! When creating your back-to-school checklist Compression Socks may not be at the top of your list, but trust us, you’ll want to put them in there as an essential item.

Not quite sure why Compression Socks are so essential for students? Keep reading to find out!

THE SCIENCE BEHIND COMPRESSION SOCKS

Before jumping into why Compression Socks are a back-to-school staple, you should first understand the science behind Compression Socks.

To best understand what compression socks are, it’s important to first understand how circulation impacts your legs.

Your heart works to pump blood constantly through your arteries and vessels to reach all the areas in your body. These arteries and vessels act like a hose that carries blood that is highly pressurized throughout your body, providing your cells with oxygen and other necessities. 

Your veins, however, are not pressurized. This means that they have to work a lot harder to move blood and fluid from your limbs back to your heart because they’re working against gravity. Typically the muscles in your legs assist with this circulation, but they’re not always as effective. This can lead to fluid and blood from pooling in your legs and feet, resulting in swelling, achiness and a feeling of heaviness in your lower limbs.

Compression socks work to stimulate circulation in your legs and feet by helping push fluids and blood out of your legs and back up to the heart. They create a gradient of pressure by having a snug fit around the ankle, with the tightness gradually reducing towards the top of the sock which lands just below the knee. This pressure gradient helps prevent swelling and fatigue after a long day of work and activity, and creates better venous pressure. 

 COMPRESSION SOCKS AS A BACK-TO-SCHOOL STAPLE

Students are often sitting for hours on end, whether that be in lecture halls or studying at home. Studies have shown that the blood flow in our legs can decrease up to 50% just after 60 minutes of immobility. This results in increased pressure in the veins of the lower legs as blood fights against gravity when returning to the heart. Wearing Dr. Segal’s Compression Socks can help alleviate the achiness and swelling that develops in your feet throughout the day by increasing circulation in your legs.

For students going back to school at colleges or universities with large campuses, running from one end of campus to the other in order to make your next class is a common occurrence. But if you’ve been sitting for over an hour at a lecture and are getting ready to sprint to your next one, you might hurt yourself by tearing a muscle! Sure, it may sound dramatic, but so many people experience injuries to the legs and feet by simply jogging or walking quickly. 

Dr. Segal’s Compression Socks improve oxygen flow to muscles to prevent injuries, help with ankle stability and support, and generally energize your legs so you can make it to your next class without injury, and with time to spare!