Soon it’ll be summer and many of us will be driving or flying long distances to go on holiday. The problem is that while travelling you’re sitting still and at risk of developing a blood clot in the leg, known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
David, 61, a cycling enthusiast, fit, active and healthy apart from occasional asthma, came back from a holiday involving a series of long-distance journeys. Having worn stockings on the plane and kept well hydrated, he assumed that when he started getting short of breath over the following weeks it was just his asthma. Several weeks later, he woke to find a painful and slightly swollen calf but put it down to an old achilles tendon injury. By then it had been a month since travelling, so he told the doctor he hadn’t been on a long-haul flight recently.
DVT can be dangerous – the clot can break off and travel around the body, eventually blocking the blood from circulating to your lungs, known as a pulmonary embolism.