having blood pool in your legs because valves in a superficial vein don’t work properly (a varicose vein).getting too little activity and sitting too much.sitting for long periods - even three to four hours - in a car, plane, or train.being bedridden for long periods because of surgery or illness.

Sherry Scovell, a vascular surgeon who specializes in venous disease at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. 'If blood in the deep leg veins doesn’t move fast enough, or if you have a condition that makes you prone to blood clots, a blood clot can develop,' explains Dr. What causes DVT and PE, what are the symptoms, and how can you prevent them? Causes and triggersĪfter your arteries bring oxygen-rich blood to your legs, your veins send the blood back up to your heart and lungs (for more oxygen). More people die from PE each year in the United States than from breast cancer. Worse, the clots can break loose and travel through the blood to the heart and then to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism (PE). Here’s what to do to keep your blood flowing.īlood clots that form in the deep veins of the legs (deep-vein thrombosis, or DVT) can cause leg symptoms. Don’t let a plane ride or an extended couch potato session put you at risk.

Signs of dvt in leg