Seem to see a lot of cyclists with varicose veins. Do you think cycling is the cause or is it sufferers being advised to exercise by cycling?.
I know they are caused by pressure closing valves and want to do all I can to prevent them, any thoughts ?
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 arthur, biology lesson: to return blood to your heart, the veins in your legs must work against gravity. this is accomplished by muscle contractions in your lower legs, which act as a pump & toned elastic vein walls that help blood return & and tiny one-way valves in your veins. the valves open as blood flows toward your heart and close to stop blood from flowing backward.
varicose veins occur when the valves in your veins malfunction. as you get older your veins can lose elasticity, causing them to stretch out. when that happens, blood that should be moving toward your heart may flow backward. blood pools in your veins, and your veins enlarge and become varicose. The veins appear blue because they contain de-oxygenated blood, which is in the process of being recirculated.
as a cyclist the veins in your leg are enlarged and as a result the blood tends to pool, so we are unfortunatly susceptible to them. sean yates has particularly bad veins. you can have them removed surgically if they are a problem.
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 A mate of mine had it done under local anaesthetic.
It appears they tie off both ends and rip them out.
Claret all round!
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Thanks Rob, well informed,
So cycling is a cause not a cure.
I was kinda hoping it was the other way round.
So it could be something we've all got coming ?
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The more I think about it, runners and bodybuilders don't seem to suffer from this as much. Why ??
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 Arthur, I don't see that many varicose vein sufferers out on the bike, but a lot of boys with some big fat meaty veins. Now you have to admit that these look the dogs nuts and make you appear well hard! If things get a little bit varicose later on in life, so much the better, rock hard mate, rock hard!
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Yeah must agree OBM, which is the case with bodybuilders and sprinters especially.
It's the twisted knotted large blue ones I'm scared of.
Or am I just being vain (lol)(pun).
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 Simple and well documented answer (i'm qulaified fitness trainer). Rob is right - its the venous return - basically you hammer for hours then, instead of cooling down so the calves (often called the "little heart") can do their best to pump all the rapidly pooling blood back up against gravity you stop abrubtly and have a chat. Calves go "f**k this" and give up and the blood just rests on the non-return valves progresively making the viens more stuffed as time goes on.
No-one knew about cooling down ages ago and so just sprinted for home/the cafe and collapsed in a heap. Looks like they are normally ugly rather than a concern as true Varicose viens are - but if in doubt - check it out - you shouldnt get 'em if you cool down and arent susectible anyway
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al,
when you say cool down do you mean go easy for a mile or two, or does stretching help?
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alan how much cooling down is required for this? its easy to spin the last mile or so to a lunch/brew stop but for regroups at the top of hills etc it tends to be a stop and wait then off again. More info please!!!
Ithink this is probably the same question as robs thinking(or not) about it g
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Ah so what you are saying is that if I want to develop some big fat monster veins, all I have to do is contiually work the legs hard before stopping abruptly.
Yeah, one Sean Yates look alike coming up!
Actually maybe not.
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Having read all yours about 'pooling' , is
there a benefit (after proper warm-down)
in sitting with legs horizontal??
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How about hanging upside down at the very end of a ride (proper equiptment required of course)
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but get off the bike first...
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 Familial suseptibility is by far the most common cause of Varicose veins (VVs).
There is potential for "pumped" legs to cause venous hypertension transiently when stopping excerise and cooling down may well help here - there are many reasons to cool down and this is just one more that we should all consider!
You need constant venous hypertension to really bring VVs on, such as being pregnant and having a baby impinging on your pelvic veins for 9 months. There again VVs post baby are usually "in families".
although when cycling hard there will be more blood in the leg;
over time the number of veins and total capacity for drainage will improve, the whole system is "plastic" and changes to accomadate. The suseptible may hasten VVs but it is most unlikely fit, non obese, well nourished people will significantly induce VVs by cycling.
Large, smooth hypertrophied (enlarged, due to the demands made on the cardio vascular system)have no long term chance of becoming varicose unless you were going to get them anyway...
Surgery is reserved for those VVs that are painful or causing ulcers. Occasionally HUGE vvs that may get damaged by trauma are also an indication. Cosmetic VV operations are now few and far betwen on the NHS, there's not bloody money you see.
In summery, dont worry, if you are gonna get em you will, and warming down is so good for you we all should do it anyway.(ahemmm...... i really should get in the habit myself!)
Hope this helps..
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 For what it's worth I had bad VV years before I started cycling seriously (even had an ope when I was 24!) and if anything the situation seems to have got better since cycling - or at leasst the rate of decay seems to have slowed
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Food for thought Liam, I wonder what the surgeon thinks
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