In the eyes of TCM experts, the importance of calf health has long outstripped its supporting role. The calf is connected to the liver, brain and heart, but many people don't pay attention to it and get sick! It's not too late to see.
In the eyes of TCM experts, in our body, the calf can even be called the "second heart" of the human body!
Calf = second heart, helps blood flow, delays aging,
China
Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Medical Experimental Center Dr. Dai Jingang explained:
The human body's blood runs including arteries and veins. Arterial operation is most important for heart propulsion;
For the veins, the pressure generated by muscle contraction is one of the hemodynamic forces, and the venous return of the leg mainly depends on the contraction of the calf muscles.
Professor Liu Changxin, director of the Tuina Pain Department of Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, said that taking good care of the calves is equivalent to adding a "pump" to the lower part of the body, which can help the heart.
This means that the importance of the calf has reached the status of the "second heart" of the human body. As the saying goes, people grow old before their legs, and they can live a long life if they have strength in their legs. Middle-aged and elderly people are a group with a high incidence of leg diseases, and special attention should be paid to maintaining the health of legs.
The calf is a "load-bearing wall"
The
calf is like the load-bearing wall of the human body, and any movement, including standing and walking, is inseparable from the contraction of the calf muscles. It can be said that more than half of the activities and energy expenditure in a person's life are completed by the calves. The fact that the elderly are prone to falls has a lot to do with the reduced function of the lower legs.
The lower leg is the "traffic artery", and
50% of the nerves, blood vessels, and blood in the human body are in the legs. There are also more than 60 acupuncture points distributed on the calf, and the six important meridians of the three yang meridians and the three yin meridians of the foot also pass through the calf, which is an important traffic artery of the human body, maintaining the upward and downward movement of qi and blood.
The calf is a "health care center", and
the calf plays an important role in health care, disease prevention and treatment. On the one hand, there are many meridians and acupuncture points in the calf, and often massaging the calf is like massaging the five internal organs; On the other hand, the calf can be taken like the "mouth", because the skin behind the ears and back is the thinnest in the skin of the whole body, and the calf ranks third, but it has a larger area and more blood vessels, so it is more suitable for medicated bath soaking.
Nowadays, foot massage shops are all over the streets, but the thickness of the calf skin is only 1/5 of the soles of the feet, and the area and number of blood vessels are 4~6 times that of the feet.
The
calf is a "disease reflection area",
and many diseases will be reflected in the calf, such as calf cramps may be related to calcium deficiency, swelling indicates that the viscera is diseased, and cold means that the constitution is weak and cold, etc., and the symptoms are found in time, which is conducive to early prevention and treatment of diseases.
A lot of habits that hurt the legs affect the heart, brain and liver
The
calves are so important, but many people don't know how to cherish them and let bad habits harm their health.
1. Sedentary and long-standing
When sitting, most of the muscles of the human body, including the calf muscles, except for the lumbar muscles, are in a relaxed state, but long-term relaxation is not good, because the muscles need to be constantly contracted to maintain elasticity and toughness.
Surgeons, police, security guards and other people who stand for a long time have calf muscles in a state of tension for a long time, and they are not healthy.
The Achilles tendon is the ligament that connects the bones in the heel to the calf muscles. When you press your toes, the Achilles tendon will tense, and if you step on high heels, the Achilles tendon will be tense all the time, and it will not relax after a long time.
When you wear flat shoes again, you will feel that the muscles in your calves are stretched very hard, and the shape will naturally not look good, and that is because your Achilles tendon is shortened. The higher the heel, the greater the tension on the Achilles tendon.
Cold air penetrates into the calves and is not conducive to blood circulation, and may also induce osteoarthritis over time. Clinically, patients with "upper heat and lower cold" are prone to sweating and fever above the waist, and are prone to weakness and cold pain below the waist, which is related to the fact that people do not pay attention to keeping their legs warm.
When the legs are stilted, the knee that is pressed by the pad is compressed, which is easy to affect the blood circulation of the lower limbs, induce varicose veins in the legs, and even blood clots. Patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease should pay special attention.
It's not good to let your muscles sit idle, and it's not good to overdo it. Traditional Chinese medicine says that "long-term walking hurts tendons", and there are tendons at the junction of the calf and foot, which play an important role in lifting the foot and walking. Proper exercise is conducive to the strengthening of the tendons and fascia of the limbs, but long-distance travel, excessive force, and exceeding the due load will cause muscle strain and muscle injury. In severe cases, sudden death may occur.
Leggings and shaping stockings may obstruct blood circulation in the calves and even cause varicose veins in the lower limbs, causing visible spiderweb-like capillaries and even earthworm-like vein bulges to appear on the skin of the calves.
Traditional Chinese medicine experts have a trick to protect the calf, three steps to reduce the age of the calf
, the leg is young, and the person is not old!
The
health of the calves is so important, it is never too late to take care of the calves, especially after the age of 40, the functions of all parts of the body are declining and accelerating, and it is necessary to pay more attention to protecting the calves. Builds muscles and strengthens vein contraction.
1. "Seven bumps and hundreds of diseases in the back"
and "seven bumps and hundreds of diseases in the back" are one-style movements in the fitness qigong Baduanjinli, which can effectively exercise the calf muscles and relieve heel pain.
Ding Liling, an associate researcher at the Health Qigong Management Center of the General Administration of Sports of China, said that foot bump can develop the strength of the muscles in the back of the calf, lengthen the plantar muscles and ligaments, and improve balance.
2. Walking is the easiest way to train legsWalking
is the easiest way to train legs. The American College of Sports Medicine also recommends that walking is a good exercise to strengthen the legs. Building leg strength can be effective in preventing falls.
Insist on 30 minutes a day, more than 5 times a week, and gradually increase the pace.
3. Leg throwing: prevent atrophy and weakness of the lower limbs
Leg throwing can promote blood circulation, relax muscles, and prevent hemiplegia, atrophy and weakness of the lower limbs, leg numbness, calf cramps, etc.
Cross your hands on your hips, first swing your calves forward, so that your toes are stilted upwards, and then swing backwards, so that your toes are forcefully backwards, your feet are straight, and your legs are as straight as possible. When throwing the legs, the upper body is straight, and the legs are exchanged dozens of times each.
4. Rubbing the legs: Rubbing
the
legs can enhance the leg strength.
Clamp one calf tightly with the palms of both hands, rub while turning, knead about 20 times on each side, and then knead the other leg in the same way.
5. Daily foot soaking: "taking medicine" with legsExperts
suggest that everyone should develop the habit of soaking their feet every day. The calf can be taken like a "mouth", because the calf has thin skin, a large area, and many blood vessels, so it is more suitable for soaking in a medicinal bath.
According to Liu Changxin, director and professor of the Department of Tuina Pain in Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, the thickness of the calf skin is only 1/5 of the soles of the feet, but the area and number of blood vessels are 4~6 times that of the feet.
Choose a deeper basin, soak the calf 2/3 of the water, and
the
water temperature should be 40°C~45°C, and the time should not exceed half an hour.
After soaking your feet, it is better to massage the acupuncture points slightly, and pay attention to keeping your feet warm.
Use the above five methods to do it every day to keep your calves healthy and young, so that you can live a long life and have less pain! The calf is the second heart, and the maintenance of the calf should start now. Tell your friends!
