Can you tell if your blood vessels are blocked by running? Cardiovascular doctors debunk rumors: It's not that simple

Once the blood vessels are blocked, our organ tissues will die. If the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular vessels are blocked, we will also suffer myocardial infarction or cerebral infarction, which are often fatal.

So how can you find out if your blood vessels are blocked?

I have seen many people say: If your blood vessels are blocked, just run and you’ll know!

This sentence may be only partially correct, or at least not completely.
You can tell whether your blood vessels are blocked by running. It is more of a way to determine whether there is severe stenosis in the heart vessels, but it cannot determine whether there is stenosis in other parts of the blood vessels, and it is certainly not a way to determine whether the blood vessels are blocked.

For example, if your carotid artery is blocked, you won’t be able to detect it while running. So the symptoms vary depending on the location and the degree of vascular stenosis.

1. Vascular blockage is divided into complete blockage and partial blockage

When we talk about blockage, we actually mean that the blood vessels are completely blocked, that is, there is no blood flow, which is called blockage. However, ordinary people generally call it blockage as long as there is stenosis.

So, we have to share it separately.

Complete blockage of cerebral blood vessels is called cerebral infarction; complete blockage of heart blood vessels is called myocardial infarction; complete blockage of pulmonary blood vessels is called pulmonary embolism; complete blockage of carotid arteries is called carotid artery occlusion; complete blockage of lower limb arteries is called lower limb artery occlusion.

In addition to complete blockage, many people are used to calling the presence of plaques in other blood vessels blockage. In fact, it is more accurately called stenosis, which is divided into mild stenosis, moderate stenosis, and severe stenosis.

2. Complete blockage

1. Lower limb artery occlusion

Only when the blood vessels in the lower limbs are completely blocked, we will experience leg pain after walking or running, and often stop passively. Our professional term is "intermittent claudication". This is because the lower limb artery occlusion causes ischemia and hypoxia in the lower limbs, leading to symptoms of lower limb pain.

In the case of complete occlusion, that is, stenosis of the artery, running can be used to find out whether the blood vessel is blocked. However, when blood vessels in other parts are blocked, running is not necessary or cannot be used to determine whether the blood vessel is blocked.

2. Complete occlusion of blood vessels in other parts of the body

A. Blockage of the heart vessels is called myocardial infarction. There is no need to run. Patients with myocardial infarction will feel very uncomfortable and have a sense of impending death. It can even be said that they cannot run at all.

However, when the heart vessels are completely blocked, the patient will have persistent chest pain, chest tightness, shortness of breath, precordial pain, sweating, and other symptoms of angina pectoris. At this time, the patient will stay passive and cannot move at all, let alone run to find out whether the blood vessels are blocked.
Therefore, it is impossible to determine whether the heart's blood vessels are blocked by running. Once persistent angina pectoris occurs, it is suspected that the heart's blood vessels are completely blocked.

B. Blockage of cerebral blood vessels is called cerebral infarction. There is no need to run. Patients with cerebral infarction will have hemiplegia, aphasia, hemiplegia, coughing when drinking water, asymmetric strength of the four limbs, slanting walking, etc. It is not necessary to judge whether the cerebral blood vessels are blocked by running.

C. Chronic occlusion of the carotid artery cannot be diagnosed by running. Patients may experience dizziness, headache, memory loss, tinnitus, blurred vision, insomnia, transient aphasia, hemiplegia, hemianopsia and other symptoms.

D. Blockage of pulmonary blood vessels is called pulmonary embolism. Generally, patients will suddenly experience chest tightness, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, black spots in front of the eyes, fainting, etc., and running cannot be used to judge.

3. Non-complete blockage

That is what we call stenosis. All mild stenoses generally have no symptoms. For example, if the stenosis of the heart vessels is less than 50%, we generally will not have any symptoms. For example, if the blood vessels in the limbs are mildly stenotic, I will not have any discomfort. For example, if the carotid artery is mildly stenotic, we will not have any symptoms.
Only when the stenosis gradually worsens and moderate or even severe stenosis occurs, will we show some symptoms.
Running is mainly to determine whether there is severe stenosis in the heart's blood vessels.

When the stenosis of our heart vessels is less than 70%, most of us will not have symptoms, even after exercise, most of us will not feel uncomfortable. When the stenosis of the cardiovascular system exceeds 70%, angina pectoris will appear after running, especially jogging or going upstairs, exercising, working, laboring, being tired, etc. For example, chest pain, pain in the precordial area, chest tightness and shortness of breath, sweating, back pain, shoulder pain, toothache, headache, throat tightness, upper abdominal pain, etc. are all manifestations of angina pectoris.

These symptoms of angina pectoris indicate that there is severe stenosis of the heart vessels. Generally, angina pectoris lasts for 3-5 minutes, up to 15 minutes, and at least 2 minutes. It can be gradually relieved after rest. This is why some people say that you can tell whether your blood vessels are blocked by running. In fact, it is mainly to judge the severity of stenosis of the heart vessels, not to judge other things.
Of course, if the lower limb arteries are severely narrowed, lower limb pain will also occur after running.

However, severe carotid artery stenosis cannot be diagnosed by running. On the one hand, symptoms such as dizziness, headache, memory loss, tinnitus, blurred vision, insomnia, transient aphasia, hemiplegia, and hemianopsia may occur. On the other hand, carotid artery color Doppler ultrasound is needed to detect whether there is carotid artery stenosis.

4. How to detect mild stenosis

Almost all mild stenosis does not cause any discomfort. To detect mild stenosis of blood vessels, for example, we need to do coronary CTA or coronary angiography for cardiovascular disease, MRA for cerebral blood vessels, color Doppler ultrasound for carotid arteries, and color Doppler ultrasound for blood vessels in limbs.
These tests can detect mild stenosis.

In short, running can determine whether blood vessels are blocked, especially severe heart vascular stenosis; it can also find out whether the lower limb arteries are narrowed or occluded. But it has no reference value for most blood vessel blockages and vascular stenosis in other parts!