Just a small move can keep you away from this "invisible killer"!

Economy class syndrome

In November 2000, on a plane to Australia, a grim-faced man in a black woolen coat never took his eyes off a 28-year-old British woman. The flight lasted 20 hours, and the man had enough patience to send a death card to the woman. Sure enough, the woman fainted on the ground as soon as she arrived at London Airport and died in a British hospital two hours later. MI6 later found out that the killer's name was Economy Class Syndrome.

At the end of 2019, Shanghai Pudong People's Hospital admitted five passengers returning from abroad in just ten days. After getting off the plane, they had symptoms such as chest tightness, chest pain, difficulty breathing, and fainting. It was economy class syndrome again. With the reports of many news reports, this disease has entered more of our public's field of vision.

Because the cabin space is small, when the flight time is too long, the legs that cannot move are prone to blood clots. After getting off the plane and starting to move, the blood clots are very likely to transfer to the lungs or heart, causing death. Evidence shows that taking appropriate preventive measures can reduce the relative risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) by 50%-60%, and the relative risk of pulmonary embolism (PE) by nearly 2/3.

Next, we will introduce you to a simple and easy method - ankle pump exercise. Simply put, it is to make the muscles on the front and back of our calves continuously contract and relax through the movement of the ankle joint, acting like a pump, promoting blood circulation and lymphatic return in the lower limbs, thereby effectively preventing the formation of deep vein thrombosis in the lower limbs.

The ankle pump exercise is mainly divided into two steps: the first is plantar flexion exercise: slowly, forcefully, without pain or within the limit of slight pain, stretch the foot hard, and press the foot down as hard as possible.

The second is dorsiflexion exercise: curl your feet at the maximum angle, with your toes pointing toward yourself.

Practice frequency: It is best to practice for 5 minutes every hour; you can also practice 3-4 times a day, 20-50 times each time. The same action principles apply when sitting, it is very simple but very practical, please share it with everyone, stay away from risks and stay healthy.

In addition to the above methods, what other methods are more effective?

Recommended Experts

Wang Guodong

Director of the Department of Cardiology, Beijing Boai Hospital, China Rehabilitation Center Head of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Science Popularization Professional Group, Science Popularization Committee, China Medical Education Association Vice Chairman of the Geriatric Rehabilitation Branch, China Geriatric Health Medicine Research Association

Standing Committee Member of the Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Committee of China Association for the Promotion of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Member of the Cardiovascular Disease Committee of the Chinese Rehabilitation Medicine Association

Director of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Committee of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies

Young member of the Cardiovascular Disease Branch of the Beijing Medical Association

Member of the Department of Cardiology, Capital Medical University

Source: Zhongkang Cardiac Rehabilitation Client, some pictures are from the Internet