This is a case of being sensible on long haul flights. I always try and drink plenty of water (even if it means several toilet breaks!), wear compression socks and take aspirin to thin the blood. Drinking alcohol while flying is obviously a bad idea.
Perhaps a lot of people are unaware of the DVT risk, airlines should include it in the pre-flight safety briefing.

My sister had a DVT problem and the danger is that a clot travels up the vein to the heart. It then moves on to the lungs where it gets trapped and blocks the blood through small vessels stopping them getting oxygen. One big clot or several small ones can be fatal.

The 'deep' veins are those that run up deeply through the leg muscles and the pelvis up to the heart. Blood goes down the legs quite quickly but is much more sluggish coming back up to the heart. Not moving about for long periods on an aeroplane allows blood to clot in the veins.
Other factors such as smoking, being dehydrated or taking the contraceptive pill can also make things worse.

When I had an operation a year ago, the doctors told me that I could not fly for six weeks because the operation increased the risk of DVT.

This talk about walking around might be ok for first-class passengers but where do you walk if you are in an ordinary seat? Do you get people to move to let you out just because you want to go for a stroll up the aisle. If you want to stop this DVT then you have to make the seats better with more room.

This is a problem but I have always wondered why pilots do not suffer from it. After all, they sit down for the flight and you do not see them walking around the aircraft doing their exercises. So what why are they ok with it?

I use a Venoflow anti DVT foot pedal exerciser gadget on long haul flights. It really helps prevent/relieve stiff and uncomfortable legs on flights, it cost me about £12.

I agree with Alex, its so irritating when you are getting up all the time climbing over everyone, especially when you are trying to get some sleep. The airlines need to rethink for us mortals who are in 'slug class'!!

In response to DavidReiss's comment, pilots have a lot more room in the cockpit than passengers have in their seats and must move around, take toilet breaks etc while the co/second pilot takes over. I expect that there have been a number of pilots who have suffered DVT.

If you are worried about DVT here are some signs and symptoms - Calf, knee, or thigh pain, swelling, and/or discoloration of the leg with no history of truama are suspicious for DVT. The more concerning thing is having shortness of breath with that. This means that the clot has traveled to the lungs and you have a pulmonary embolism. This can occasionally obstruct all blood flow into the lungs (called a "saddle embolus" because of how it looks at autopsy).

I only know of one person who had this but it happened about two months after an operation. She had asked the doctors and they said give it six weeks post-op before you fly (which I understand is pretty standard advice).
She says she was careful, moving about as much as she could and keeping her fluid levels up. Then about a fortnight after the return flight, she was back home and the problems started. She ended up back in hospital. She recovered pretty quickly but it does show what can happen.

I use Scholl flight socks and these really do work for me. I do not know the medical reasons but I assume there must be some because they use similar things in hospitals after operations. What I do know is that when I take the socks off before landing, I can then get my shoes on. If I do not use them, I find getting shoes back on really difficult.

The airlines know all about DVT but do not say much. I think they ought to make warnings about it part of the safety briefing. At the very least they should say that you are at risk if you:
- are over 60
- had a recent accident or surgery
- have coronary artery problems
- are a smoker
- are Pregnancy
- are over weight
- use the pill
- have a family history of clotting problems.

Just to explain a bit about DVT. It is a condition where a thrombus or blood clot forms within a deep vein. The most common locations are in the calf or the thigh where the clot can either partially or completely block the blood flow. In the bad cases, the blood clot breaks free from the vein wall and travels up to the lung or may block an artery. This type of pulmonary embolism can be fatal. There is also a risk to pregnant women, where the embolism can lodge in the placenta and put the fetus at risk.

I am a retired professional pilot having flown both long-haul and European routes and I can confirm that pilots do also succumb to DVT.
About ten years ago, a colleague in his late thirties suffered a pulmonary embolism and was off duty for three months before the CAA reissued his class one.
There have been long running talks between the CAA and the operators about DVT awareness, legroom etc. but it never gets anywhere as there is so much pressure to increase payloads not just for revenue but also for environmental reasons.
If I recall correctly, there are about 2,000 reported cases of flight related DVT each year. Dying from DVT was put at a higher risk than dying from an air-crash.
The advice about moving around is still sound but passengers do need to be reminded that whilst the chances of your getting DVT are small, the consequences can be very serious.

I too have used Scholl flight cotton feel compression socks in the past. They are really comfortable and are meant to help prevent DVT and relieve tired legs.

Most first class and Upper class services include socks in the courtesy packs and so they are considered to be good. Whether they are a substitute for proper exercise and moving around is not obvious. I have to admit that I find this subject a bit scary. I had no idea that DVT could take so ling to show itself after the flight.

After reading these article/comments I will certainly take the necessary precautions when flying in the future. The same applies to work, being seated for up to 8 hours a day in the office, I have started drinking plenty of water and stand up and move around as regularly as possible.

Even on short flights, air passengers are still at risk from fatal deep vein thrombosis.
Apparently almost one in five of British DVT deaths happened after three hours or less on the plane, say researchers.
This contradicts the widely-held belief that blood clots are solely a problem on long-distance flights.

The Scholl Flight socks are brilliant and really easy and comfortable to wear, and they do relieve tired legs, I always use them be it on short haul or long haul flights.

This is all very enlightening information, I was not really aware of DVT and its consequences, especially as I have recently had surgery, no-one mentioned to me in hospital that I should be careful flying before six weeks, so this really is good to know, I think this advice needs to be more widely available.

Hello
I have a theory that decompression and then recompression could be the primary factor for DVT/PE following flight.
Took my sons to China at Easter. Came back and ended up with multiple PE within 10 days. Only signs were a dry cough and my chest felt light. Four days of that and then a Sunday where I could not walk up or down any steps without my heart racing wildly. Went to a Walk In Centre and was referred immediatly to Emergency Assessment Unit. If I had gone to A&E they would have ignorned me and I would probably be dead from a heart attack. Met guys on Coronary Ward who had waited in A&E for hours until suffering heart attack.
Multiple PE, clots all round heart, right hand heart side expanded, bottom of lungs collapsed. Very very lucky to be here. Even the consultant was looking at me strangly, like I should be dead, when the results of scans came in. 15 days in hospital from 25th April 2010.
What I don't get is the 'you can get DVT from office chair work or coach travel' etc. I am sure there is a causal link due to the specific conditions of flying and not just cramped legs. Since I went back to work I have heard so many cases of people dying following flights.
For the record I had some history of bad veins and heritage from my mother. One supervicial vein clot before so knew what they were, what the signs were and how to deal with it. Hence very thrown by the sypmtoms above which did not match.
Clearly not everyone who dies has these precurser symptoms, yet they still die post flight.
Max

It took me a while to search online, only your site explain the fully details, bookmarked and thanks again.
- Kris

I have the same opinion with most of your points, however some need to be discussed further, I will hold a small conversation with my partners and perhaps I will ask you some suggestion shortly.
- Henry

If you are travelling for a long period, consider having Fruitflow. It is an active ingredient that is contained in the drink Sirco and is scientifically proven to help blood flow in a similar way to Aspirin, but without ANY known side effects. Look into it, simple natural drink that is proven to work and tastes good too. I drink it before any long journey.

I agree with Marcus, if this disease is a serious threat then surely they should inform us about in in the saftey run throught at the begining of the flight!

As Andrew says the foot pedal exciser works a treat, I usee it on every flight and i have never suffered from DVT.

Some aspects of DVT are truly scary. My doctor says that you also have to be careful about veins in the liver and places like that which can get clots particularly if you have had other treatments.
There is so much that can go wrong that it almost makes me ill just worrying about it.

I'm 29 years old, active person and i had DVT one year ago.
I first felt pain in my left leg and went to the doctor, but they said that it could be simply a tension in the nerves, then 3 weeks later, the pain disappeared. After that 1 month later i had a enourmous pain in my chest and lung, went again to the hospital and they said i had "undefined Pneumonia". Three weeks later, the pain in the leg came back and I went again to the hospital, then they found out i had DVT all the time and that led also to Pulmonary Embolism. They also diagnosed in me the Factor V, heterogenous. I just quit the medication yesterday after 1 year and i still have some "scars" left in one of my affected veins. I'm super scared that this will happen again next time i fly and then i will have to be with medication for the rest of my life.
I'm glad i can still somehow have a normal life.

I had a swollen arm in 2010,as I had a problem with my carpel tunnel I thought it was the pain causing it to swell.I had the op.to sort out the carpel,no-one at the hospital questioned why my arm was swollen.I saw my GP as a had a swelling under my arm,he diagnosed a lymphoma,and sent me for a scan.The scan showed I had a DVT in a small vein in my arm,I was admitted and treated for it. This was in October,I had previously had two long hauls the last being LA to London in June. Not sure if it was the cause,but don't be careless and think it won't happen again,as in Feb 2011 I had a PE leaving a football game,and was told am lucky to still be alive.I am now on blood thinner for life(clexane)

I am a 42 year old, 6ft 3,100 mile a week male cyclist. Went to Lanzarote in Dec 2011, had diarrhoea before getting on plane and had drunk half bottle of champagne, then slept in a cramped position for 3 hours.
5 days later I had pain in my rib cage, felt like I had pulled a muscle. Lived with it for 3 days, went to docs,he thought muscle pull or wind! Day after visiting doc, I coughed up a small amount of blood. Went to see another doc, he did a blood test and told me I had a clot, rushed into emergency, given a shot of herapin and a ct scan showed multiple pe in both lungs.
I am know on warfarin for 6 months.
I had no sign of a dvt, the hospital say that I may have had a silent dvt in my pelvis or a partial dvt that threw bits of clot into my lungs.
The doctor that diagnosed the embolism doesn't seem to think that the flight has caused the pe, so I'm having lots of other tests so am obviously still worried.
After reading the above I am beginning to think that the flight must have ca

I did a long-haul flight from the Maldives - 10.5 hours and wore flight siocks. Two weeks later I had a DVT. I am very active and a hill walker and the day before had been hauling logs and chainsawing. It started with a stiffening of the calf muscle in the afternoon but the next morning my leg was locked solid. It feels like permanant very bad cramp and is very painful, The doctor - after a scan- has put me on warfarin and a tummy injection but a week later I am still in pain and only able to hobble with a stick. It came as a shock that you can get DVT two weeks after a flight and I strongly recommend to everyone to take every precaution you can as this is miserable.