**Conservative Management of Chronic Venous Insufficiency Insufficiency**

**Conservative Management of Chronic Venous** 

Özlem Çinar Özdemir and Mahmut Surmeli Özlem Çinar Özdemir and Mahmut Surmeli Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/67752

#### **Abstract**

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120 Clinical Physical Therapy

Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is a common medical condition with major socioeconomic impact. Prevalence in adult population is estimated to be 5–30%. Its pathology is based on venous hypertension on the lower extremities. This results in edema, subcutaneous fibrosis, pigmentation, chronic pain and ulceration. The severity of chronic venous disease is closely related to the magnitude of venous hypertension. Treatment options for CVI include medical, interventional, surgical and physical treatments. The initial management of CVI involves conservative approaches to reduce symptoms and prevent development of secondary complications and progression of disease. It includes the elevation of the limb together with the supportive methods, pharmacotherapy and structured exercise program, as well as complex decongestive physiotherapy (CDP), intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC), compression stocking (CS), patient education and kinesio tape. CVI is a chronic disease that needs a lifelong care. In this review, we present a discussion about pathophysiology and risk factors for CVI development and conservative treatment options.

**Keywords:** chronic venous insufficiency, conservative treatment, compression, exercise

#### **1. Introduction**

Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is described as the inadequacy of the venous system to return blood to the heart [1]. It is common condition which affects many people around the world [2] and denotes some symptoms ranging from minor reticular veins to serious skin changes such as lipodermatosclerosis or venous leg ulcers [1, 3].

CVI is commonly seen in lower limbs. The prevalence of CVI varies in the populations, but it is reported that the prevalence of CVI ranges between 25 and 40% and 10 and 20% in women and

men, respectively [4–6]. Because of its clinical characteristics, it restricts individual's daily activities and has great impact on physical and psychosocial status, as well as socioeconomic status [7].

There are many treatment options such as medical, pharmacological and conservative methods used in CVI. Among these, because of being invasive and causing less adverse effects than other methods, conservative approaches are commonly used to treat CVI [8]. On account of this, we aimed to give information about the conservative approaches used in the treatment of CVI in this chapter. However, due to the different structure of the venous system, to understand the effectiveness of the treatment and how it works, it is necessary to comprehend well the anatomy and pathophysiology of the venous system.
