Air
travel and blood clots
Risk increases with time
in the air. A flight of less than two hours may be free of risk unless it follows
another flight of two or more hours or if you spent two hours in your seat waiting
to take off. It is assumed that about 100 air travellers dies every year of
blood clots.
Recommendations to prevent
risk of thrombosis injury:
- Traveller's with little
heightened risk for blood clots, are recommended to wear medical compression
hose
- Traveller's with medium
heightened risk for blood clots ( e.g.cancer, recent surgery, obesity, diabetes,
heart disease ) are recommended recent to talk to their doctor about taking
anticoagulants as Heparin
- Traveller's with high
risk for blood clots (e.g mutiple - thrombosis) are mostly recommended to
take anticoagulant medicine before departure and after arrival.
- Do not rely in taking
Aspirin
Factors to reduce risk
of thrombosis injury:
- Don't wear anything
that could impede the circulation
- Risk increases with
time in the air. A flight of less than two hours may be free of risk unless
it follows another flight of two or more hours or if you spent two hours in
your seat waiting to take off.
- Frequent leg flexing,
as described below:
- Extend your legs straight
out in front of you and flex your ankles, pulling up and spreading your
toes, then pushing down and curling the toes. If your shoes limit toe movement,
just make the effort and don't worry, or remove the shoes.
- If there isn't room
to extend your legs, start with your feet flat on the floor and push down
and curl your toes while lifting your heels from the floor. Then, with your
heels back on the floor, lift and spread your toes. Repeat this heel - toe
cycle ten times.
- Sleeping is dangerous.
A thirty minute nap would probably be OK, perhaps using an alarm watch to
waken . You could sleep longer if there is enough room for you to lie with
your legs up on the same level as your upper body. Flex thoroughly when you
wake.
- Avoid sitting with your
legs crossed for more than a few minutes at a time.
- Drink extra non-alcoholic
caffeine-free beverages before and during your flight to avoid dehydration.
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