THE HEART COMES WITH CALF-HEARTS FOR A REASON.

April 2, 2022 9:43 AM

A powerful phenomenon that you may or may not be taking advantage of: the calf muscle pump. Time spent not using your calf pumps is time the heart muscle has to go it alone, which it’s not well-equipped to do. An illustrated valentine from Katy Bowman of Nutritious Movement, author and host of the Move Your DNA podcast (with transcripts!)
posted by spamandkimchi (22 comments total)

COOL
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:23 AM on April 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

That was interesting and funny, thanks for the link.
posted by medusa at 10:53 AM on April 2, 2022

Very good post, thank you.
posted by Glinn at 11:44 AM on April 2, 2022

I had no idea! Thanks for sharing this. Fascinating.
posted by Zumbador at 12:48 PM on April 2, 2022

I think this is why my hands will swell up on a long walk unless I use a walking stick or sticks. Flexing the arm muscles pumps out the blood that would otherwise pool up in your hands.
posted by Bee'sWing at 1:38 PM on April 2, 2022 [6 favorites]

Wait so does running also do this? Is that so obvious OP didn’t need to mention it, or is there something special about calf stretches or walking? I’m confused!
posted by heyitsgogi at 1:46 PM on April 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Any muscular contractions of skeletal muscles will push blood back through the veins. I figure the focus on walking/stretches is stuff that's more achievable indoors/at work.
posted by Ferreous at 2:08 PM on April 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

It's been known for a while that we need to stand up once in a while (or whatever the equivalent would be for people without the use of their legs), even if we get in a solid workout once a day. The Apple Watch has a reminder to stand up once an hour that I've found useful; I've joked in the past that, after Stand and the later Breathe app (which got rolled into a general Mindfulness app), the next iteration on the AW would be "Blink", but it does actually help with breaking up the stiffness that I get if I sit for too long.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:41 PM on April 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

I think this is why my hands will swell up on a long walk unless I use a walking stick or sticks. Flexing the arm muscles pumps out the blood that would otherwise pool up in your hands.

I suspect holding a stick also elevates your hand relative to having it at your side.
posted by leotrotsky at 2:52 PM on April 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

Wait so does running also do this? Is that so obvious OP didn’t need to mention it, or is there something special about calf stretches or walking? I’m confused!

When blood is not circulating well enough in the legs, it's known as chronic venous insufficiency, and you get things like high blood pressure, varicose veins, tightness and swelling in both legs, leg cramps and even sores - the blood basically spend more time slowly coming back from your legs, fluid builds up in the tissues, that sort of thing. Assuming you don't have a blood clot causing it, the solution is basically more exercise of your lower leg muscles, which, as the article covers, literally helps squeeze the blood back up your veins towards the heart instead of relying mainly on blood pressure; high blood pressure has a number of downsides.

Any form of regular lower leg exercise will generally help with this; definitely including running. Stronger muscles there will also help. If you can't run or do daily walks, then calf stretches and keeping your feet elevated will help too. Compression socks are an option if you're going to be fairly immobile for a while, such as surgery, or late stage pregnancy, or have compromised circulation.

Incidentally, the smartwatch prompts to get up and walk around every hour or so is not to help the heart, though that is an additional benefit. Mainly, it's to prevent the formation of a deep vein thrombosis, i.e. a blood clot in a big leg vein. Sitting for hours in a cramped position, such as at a desk or on a plane is one risk factor for this, particularly with legs crossed or bent tight, as is being stuck in bed for an extended period. This can be fatal if the clot breaks free and gets stuck in your lung (pulmonary embolism), so if you ever find just one leg is really sore, red, throbbing or significantly swollen for no reason, especially if you've been stuck immobile for a while, get it checked promptly!
posted by Absolutely No You-Know-What at 3:29 PM on April 2, 2022 [12 favorites]

I suspect holding a stick also elevates your hand relative to having it at your side.

Mounting a large upward-shaped V to your back and tying your arms up above your head will certainly keep this swelling from happening.
posted by hippybear at 3:33 PM on April 2, 2022 [5 favorites]

These valves aren't pumps, as they're completely passive. They exist to stop venous insufficiency. Which - thanks to some annoying genetics - I have. Exercise can help a tiny bit, compression stockings also (though those are murderously painful to put on), but basically, you don't want it
posted by scruss at 3:56 PM on April 2, 2022 [6 favorites]

I do complex, repetetive work at a keyboard all day, and I have to get up and walk around at least once every 45 minutes or so. Luckily we have three flights of steep stairs in the building, and a quarter-mile dock outside the back door so I can take a lap twice a day and keep everything moving.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 11:49 PM on April 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

While reading up on calf issues I read a comment that some call them "the second heart" which made sense and an impression. This post re-enforces and confirms that.

Use your "Second Heart"
posted by sammyo at 5:10 AM on April 3, 2022

I have two calves. Is one of them my “third heart”?

Octopus have three hearts. Do calf raises make me an octopus?
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 5:15 AM on April 3, 2022 [5 favorites]

From now on when people tell me to stop absentmindedly bouncing my legs I'm going to ask them why they want me to die
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:05 AM on April 3, 2022 [15 favorites]

Thanks for posting, I like "Calf-Valentines Day".
posted by winesong at 9:27 AM on April 3, 2022

Wait so does running also do this? Is that so obvious OP didn’t need to mention it, or is there something special about calf stretches or walking? I’m confused!


Swollen hands is a well-known side effect that many runners experience, especially during longer runs. I've heard runners attribute it from a relative lack of movement/ change of position of their arms and hands but this explanation makes more sense.
posted by etaoin at 9:58 AM on April 3, 2022

This is so cool. I just did a bunch of calf raises while waiting for my coffee to heat up, and now I barely need it anymore.
posted by EatTheWeek at 10:37 AM on April 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

I had to do some calf-raises for physio at one point, and I managed to work them into climing the stairs at my job, one raise per step. Obviously you want to be a bit careful about foot placement and also be wearing shoes with grips, but it did the trick for me.

It did look kinda weird, though.
posted by Sparx at 3:24 PM on April 3, 2022

Incidentally, the smartwatch prompts to get up and walk around every hour or so is not to help the heart, though that is an additional benefit.

Well, both it and the article here are all about not letting blood pool in your lower extremities, so in that sense they're both the same.
posted by Dysk at 9:10 PM on April 3, 2022

So sitting at my desk pumping my knees at a high speed is good for me? Excellent, because I effing love doing it.
posted by shenkerism at 10:48 AM on April 4, 2022 [1 favorite]