Originally Posted by
grwoolf
And yes, I personally know 2 people that have had DVT bad enough to go to the hospital after flying and have met several others while flying (of course, I fly a lot and I'm typically sitting next to other people that fly a lot).
Flight-related DVT is not being studied systematically, so it's difficult to tell how many people have been affected by it.
Many articles on the subject quote medical authorities who note that clots may not make themselves known till days, weeks, or longer after a flight. Plus, even if the person sees a doctor, the connection to air travel may not be uncovered.
The US government doesn't keep statistics and no nationwide studies have been done, but the Airhealth.org Web site has extrapolated some figures.
It is hard to get accurate statistics on DVT because people don't die or look seriously injured or whatever right there on the airplane. In my case I thought my left calf had cramped from sitting for so long. It was 6 weeks later before other symptoms showed up to make me think it was not a cramp after all. I put it together, that it came from flying, because I knew when the symptoms started, but some people don't have symptoms. All of a sudden one day they are coughing up blood and are diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. If that happens a month or two after a flight, the connection might not be made.
And since I've developed it, I've met numerous other people who have had DVT too, mostly flight related.
They've actually got a name for it: "Economy Class Syndrome" ... although apparently people in First Class are just as affected by it.
http://www.economyclasssyndrome.net/howbadisdvt.html
http://www.americanheart.org/present...tifier=3010041
CdCf makes the comment, "
And again, people are seated for just as long, in comparable environments at work, and DVT seems absent from there." ... which is not true either. People who sit too long can develop DVT too. But in a work/office environment you are encouraged to get up and move around. You get up to make yourself a cup of coffee. You get up to go to the toilet. You get up to go get something off the printer. You get up to talk to a coworker about something. You get up to go for lunch. Etc. Etc. You don't come in to work at 8 am, and sit at your desk till 4 pm.
But on a flight, that can happen. I've done it, I've observed other people doing it. They get onto the flight, they are served their meal, they go to sleep ... and they don't get up and move around at all for 8+ hours. On a 15-hour Sydney to Vancover flight I sat next to a guy who did not move from his seat the entire flight. I consider him very, very lucky if he didn't end up in hospital a few weeks later.
I'm not suggesting (and neither is all this information) that we should pace the airplane for 15 hours, but rather that if we take flights that are more than just a few hours long, that we should get up every 1-2 hours and walk to the toilet or do a lap around the plane or whatever ... just like we would if we were in an office job.
But I am suggesting that it may be particularly important for those of us who have lowered our resting heart rates through exercise to get up and move around periodically and/or to pump the blood in our legs by moving our feet (as described in an earlier post).