Toe a healthy line
Walking in flights is difficult. Avoid that 'aeroplane ankle' with these simple ideas
When I fly, my ankles and feet swell up like balloons. I keep my shoes off and even curl my legs under me so they are not dangling. My doctors tell me I should walk around the aircraft, but security rules make that difficult. On a flight to and from Buenos Aires, I had to ask just to go to the bathroom. How can I continue to fly without having swollen feet?
— Linda Mowry
Easy. By flying only to places that are within an hour or so of home.
For Mowry and others who love to travel, that is not very practical advice. But the realities of flying today also make it more difficult to address the issues that the realities of flying today create.
If you are sitting still, you are more likely to develop 'aeroplane ankles' because blood will pool in your lower extremities. The way to reverse that is by moving around, which forces the blood back up to where it is supposed to be. Getting up, however, could be your ticket to trouble. Since the 9/11 attacks, on-board security has become a delicate balancing act between passengers' rights and comfort and the need to ensure safety.
I asked Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the US Transportation Security Administration, about Mowry's assertion that she could not get up. Here is his e-mail response:
"There is no security requirement for passengers to remain seated at all times. Passengers can wait in line at lavatories other than the front [one].
"Often times, for shorter flights, captains will keep the seat belt sign on because there is little need to stretch one's legs, but if someone has a medical condition, they should not be stopped for any security purpose unless an incident is occurring."
This sounds good in theory, but the reality is that you are often not free to move about the cabin. Beverage service, turbulence and control-freak flight attendants all can keep you in your place.
What is a poor passenger to do? Dr Terri Rock and Dr Vic Kovner, both southern California physicians who are experts on health and travel, came up with these suggestions:
- Forget fashion. Wear loose clothes and low-compression stockings.
- Do not spend your pre-boarding time sitting down. Walk the concourse.
- If, by some miracle, you can stretch out on the flight, do so. Do not tuck your legs under you. That tends to crimp veins.
- Drink plenty of water. Besides keeping you hydrated, it gives you a reason to walk, if only to the lavatory. If the seat belt sign is on, call the flight attendant and try to get the in-flight equivalent of a hall pass.
- Exercise in your seat. Push the ball of your foot on the floor to constrict the calf muscles. Or, Rock says, use your feet to write alphabets in the air.
- Better yet, write great opening lines of novels. Thomas Pynchon's "A screaming comes across the sky" leaps to mind …
