What exactly is venous insufficiency?
A. Venous insufficiency is the abnormal backward flow of blood through the leg veins. Normally as we walk, our calf muscles contract pushing blood up our legs. Inside these leg veins are one-way valves that do not allow the blood to come back down. When these valves malfunction, gravity pulls the blood backward down the vein. The backward flow of blood generates high pressure inside the vein causing the vein walls to stretch until the vein bulges and becomes varicose.
