Sore legs when flying - suggestions?

aliasojo

Son is pretty fit and muscular, out of all of us he is the last one I would have expected to have any problems whilst flying but he suffers badly with pains in his legs when flying, especially long haul.

He's off on holiday again soon and I'm wondering if there's anything he can take to alleviate this? He has the compression socks that were pretty pricey and did nothing at all to help.

As soon as he's off the plane he's fine but last time he had a really hard time and nothing he did helped (getting up to walk to the toilet etc, trying to massage his legs etc). He said he felt close to tears at times and he's a 6 foot strapping lad who's not prone to being a baby, lol.

Would the Doc be able to give him anything if there was no over the counter product that would help? I really have no idea if there is anything out there for this kind of problem.

Edit: I should add that that the pain starts in his thighs and works down rather than 'just' being calf pain.

ailuro2

Try

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/aviation/hci/hacc/departmentofhealthreportrevi2958?page=3

is this what you had in mind?

Consider paying more for extra leg room seat also, if he's 6ft tall then his long legs won't have room to move.

aliasojo

I didn't actually have anything in mind tbh. I don't know what's causing the pain, whether it's muscular or to do with his veins.

I don't know if it's common to have this. (You can tell I'm a seasoned flyer......not. :rotfl:)

SugarSpun

It's more likely to be sitting cramped and still for long periods than it is to be his veins, if the flight socks didn't help. Tell him to walk around the cabin once every half hour, drink as much water as he can manage, and do stretches in his seat and in the galley area in the middle of the flight.

You can also Google "flight exercises" for things he can do while the seat belt sign is on, to stop the pain from starting while he's stuck in the seat.

A friend of mine's 6'6 and has the same problem - it's just a matter of making sure the legs aren't too confined for too long.