In addition, it is 600 times more powerful than rutin, according to animal studies. A clinical trial on 35 patients with chronic venous insufficiency measured the volume of patients' feet while lying down and standing up. Horse chestnut proved highly effective against foot edema in both positions, without depressing potassium levels, as do diuretics. How Horse Chestnut Protects Veins T he heart pumps blood through the arteries, then into the capillaries, from which it returns through the veins. However, the low pressure in the veins can pose a problem in the legs, where blood must flow upward against the pull of gravity to reach the heart when a person is standing.
Veins have one-way valves to prevent backflow of blood.
The muscles of the calf compress the deep veins of the leg, propelling blood upward from the legs, but the superficial veins of the leg are not surrounded by muscles, so blood flows through them more slowly. The condition of inadequate return of blood from the leg veins to the heart is called venous insufficiency. Physiologically, the basis is elevated blood pressure in the veins of the leg. The main cause is backflow of blood due to malfunction of the valves in the leg veins. In varicose veins, the superficial leg veins lose tone, stretching both lengthwise and widthwise.