Health news

The leg exercises recommended for frequent flyers help prevent deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot in the calf of the leg that can break loose and lodge in the lungs as a pulmonary embolus. Frequent flyers Richard Nixon and Dan Quayle had this condition.

A recent comment in the Alaska Airlines in-flight magazine mentioned that the incidence of blood clots in passengers wearing elastic support hose was one-tenth the incidence of clots in those with no support stockings.

ROY CHRISTIAN, M.D. (Ret.)
Aptos, CA