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Leg swelling after riding

 
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Anonymous
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 10:18 am GMT +0000    Post subject: Leg swelling after riding Reply with quote

Hey Doc!

Glad to hear you will be in the Texas panhandle soon. Look forward to meeting you some day.

I rode my first 24hr MTB race this past weekend on a SS. Did great(1st in age group), no major problems other than a little cramping three hours in due to the temp being 102! Anyway, I took Monday off from work and just rested, cleaned the bike, etc.
Came back to work on Tuesday. Legs felt good, a little sore. I work in a warehouse so I do a lot of walking. In fact I usually eat lunch at my desk, then walk for about 20 minutes after eating. Yesterday around three o'clock I noticed that my legs started to swell and get really tight. And they really started to hurt pretty bad. I went home early and noticed that if I layed down the swelling would lessen. They seem to be better today. In fact I even rode to work. Any idea what the cause of this was?
My neighbor, who is a pharmacist, said because of where my desk is positioned and that my A/C blows right on my legs, that it caused the muscles to cotract and squeeze the water out of them. And that is what caused them to swell. He could be right, because I did not notice it until after I turned on the A/C in my office. What do you think?

Oh yeah, there were no knots and the legs did not feel warm or hot.

Thanks!
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The Bike Doc
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Joined: 08 May 2003
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Location: Corpus Christi and Warda, Texas

PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 11:47 am GMT +0000    Post subject: Reply with quote

SSMTBer:

I would not hang my hat or my socks for that matter on the AC causing the leg swelling. It is more likely due to the recent hard effort you put on the legs and then switching back to a less strenuous activity. Greg Lemond notes in his autobiographical book that he would experience leg swelling with long races. This is not unusual. The intense effort coupled with the increased blood flow to the leg muscles can cause increase fluid leaking into the tissue about the muscles and cause swelling. Sitting down or standing up walking will increase fluid accumulation in the legs.

The cure for this kind of leg swelling is two fold; one, pump the muscles such as taking an easy spin on the bike the day after an intense race; two get support stockings to help compress the muscles and tissues in the lower legs to help squeeze the accumulated fluid out and also to help prevent it from accumulating. I happen to experience this problem and I have found that knee length support stockings do the trick in keeping the swelling away. Medical supply stores sell men’s support stockings in various sizes and colors. They look like regular knee length socks. Watch for me riding in Palo Duro Canyon soon as I can’t be missed, I am the geek in knee length black support stockings that match my black lycra shorts. The bright side is I no longer suffer chain ring tattoos on my calf AND my feet and ankles no longer swell. (The sign of a happily married man, Very Happy he doesn’t worry about looking like a geek in public much to the dismay of his adolescent children! Embarassed )

Thanks,
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Paul K. Nolan, MD
AKA: The Bike Doc
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Anonymous
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 12:44 pm GMT +0000    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Doc!

I was kind of worried, because this is the first time I have had this happen. Never had it happen after a long road century or other long rides. It's also the first time I've done 24hrs! Laughing
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