The common experience of legs that swell at the end of a working day is the result of gravity. In healthy individuals this evening swelling is mostly asymptomatic and will disappear overnight. Nevertheless,unpleasant subjective feelings of heaviness and tiredness may be reported.

This professional article states that the protection of leg edema owing to long sitting or standing by wearing adequate medical compression stockings is advisable not only to improve symptoms of heaviness and tiredness, but also to counteract potential clinical hazards of persistent edema and thrombotic events.

Article commentary by: MITCHEL GOLDMAN, MD  La Jolla, California Once again we have a well-done practical study proving that calf-length compression stockings with a pressure range between 11 and 21mmHg are able to reduce or totally prevent evening edema. The importance of this study is to justify our recommendations to both our patients and the insurance industry that people with a profession connected with long periods of sitting or standing wear graduated compression stockings.

The question of how high the compression pressure must be to completely prevent evening edema has been answered in this study as, surprisingly, less than 10 mmHg.

The good news for our patients is that compression stockings at this pressure are easy to put on as well as comfortable to wear.

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