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How Massaging Your Calves Can Strengthen Your Heart (4 Easy Exercises)
Heart Health
Etsuko Katahira
Etsuko Katahira
Jun 1 2022
biggersmaller
How Massaging Your Calves Can Strengthen Your Heart (4 Easy Exercises)
Editor’s note: The calves are the driving force behind blood circulation, helping the venous blood flow back to the heart. If the calves are stiff, the blood will not be able to return to the heart. This article introduces four types of massage and exercise methods which use calf movements to help with the smooth flow of blood and body fluids, thus rendering the heart stronger.
Calves are Vascular Pumps to Help Blood Flow Back to the Heart
The blood sent from the heart transports nutrients and oxygen through the blood vessels to the microvasculature throughout the body. During the process, a portion of the blood leaks out of the blood vessels to replenish nutrients for the cells of the subcutaneous tissues and to absorb the waste materials and carbon dioxide, and it then reenters the blood vessels and flows back to the heart. This process takes about 60 seconds, and this cycle will continue as long as the person is alive.
The blood vessels that transport blood from the heart are arteries, and the vessels that return blood to the heart are veins.
The arteries use the heart as a pump, supplying blood at a fixed speed, and the blood flows together to the extremities of the body.
The arteries don’t have to work on their own, as the heart is a pump that helps send blood throughout the body.
So, what is the pump that helps the blood flow from the veins back to the heart? It is the calf muscles.
When the calf muscles are tightened, they will compress the veins that return the blood to the heart from the muscles. You can think of this process as pressing the pump with both hands when filling the tires of a bicycle with air. When standing, the blood in the veins will flow from the bottom to the top, and there are valves inside the veins to prevent backflow.
In modern times, many people don’t have a large physical workload, so they must use some methods to promote the operation of the venous valves to maintain balance.
The following are three methods to massage the calf muscles.
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