Customize your hockey pants and protection with hockey suspenders and belts. Practice Apparel: Head to the gym with training shorts, T-shirts, hoodies and sweats, all designed with a stretchable, lightweight fit for your training.
Venous return is affected by several factors including muscle contraction, respiratory activity and gravity. Decreased venous compliance and vena cava compression also influence venous return. Other factors include valve competence, heartbeat, intrapericardial pressure, blood volume and degree of filling systematic circulation.
The net effect is that the cycle of compression and relaxation propels the blood in the direction of the heart. Venous valves prevent the blood from flowing backwards, thereby permitting unidirectional flow that enhances venous return. When a person is standing, postural muscles in the legs alternately contract and relax to keep the body in balance. This muscle activity promotes venous return and helps to maintain central venous pressure and venous return, and to lower venous and capillary pressures in the feet and lower limbs. Respiratory Activity (Abdominothoracic or Respiratory Pump) Respiratory activity influences venous return to the heart. Briefly, increasing the rate and depth of respiration promotes venous return and therefore enhances cardiac output.