Tom Cruise’s extreme stunts: Impact on his health?
Tom Cruise has starred in countless action films like Top Gun and Jack Reacher, and is famously known for performing his own stunts, often pushing the boundaries and making Mission Impossible now seem possible. From climbing the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol or jumping between two rooftops in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Tom Cruise has accomplished spectacular physical feats that have left audiences in awe. In the latter example, he even broke his ankle in the process and continued to finish the shot – which actually ended up being in the actual movie!
While these stunts are impressive, it is important to recognize that extreme physical stress can significantly affect the body, especially the legs. Extreme stunts can entail hard lifting, powerful impacts, or prolonged physical effort, all of which can put more strain on veins, especially in the legs. In Tom Cruise’s case, these stunts are a regular part of his job as an actor and repeated trauma or high-impact activities can also cause chronic inflammation, increasing the risk of varicose veins. This pressure can damage the valves within the veins that help regulate blood flow, and the venous system can no longer do its job of returning blood to the heart, causing blood to pool and leading to varicose veins or spider veins. Varicose veins are bulging blood vessels that take on a dark purple, green, blue, or red color. They look knotted and twisted, unlike healthy veins that run in a relatively straight line and are most commonly found in the legs.
The use of tight gear, harnesses, or clothing during stunts can compress veins, restricting blood flow. This can lead to poor circulation and increase the likelihood of varicose veins over time. In Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Tom Cruise strapped himself to the side of an Airbus A400M as it took off, and was dangling from the airplane at over 1,000 feet in the air during takeoff, with only a harness keeping him secure. Most recently, he performed a stunt jump from the stadium roof during the Olympics closing ceremony, being lowered on a cable attached to a harness. These types of harnesses or tactical gear that he wears are very important for his safety, but they can be harmful in the long run. It is very important to ensure healthy blood circulation to prevent varicose veins from developing.
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What are the symptoms of vein disease?
Symptoms of vein disease can include heaviness or aching, especially after a long day of being on your feet, because more blood makes its way down to the legs. Leg fatigue and swelling in the feet or ankles and leg muscle cramps due to insufficient circulation, which would otherwise carry away excess lactic acid produced from normal muscular activity, are also common findings. The varicose veins and spider veins themselves may be Itchy, burning, or throbbing. When the vein disease becomes severe, there may be some dark red/brown patches or ulcers on the skin, resulting from red blood cell breakdown as part of a condition called stasis dermatitis. These ulcers, typically found on the shin or calf, are open wounds that don’t have enough blood flow to heal quickly or easily.
Even the most physically active actors are prone to vein problems, despite Tom Cruise’s seemingly unbreakable persona on the silver screen. The good news is that there are efficient and effective varicose and spider vein treatments, such as sclerotherapy and laser ablation, that can improve circulation and promote leg health for future stunts. While many people tend to think that all of these signs and symptoms are just normal experiences with aging, vein disease can be treated at a vein center with non-surgical minimally invasive treatments that cause minimal discomfort and take less than a half-hour.
Treatments for varicose veins
Treatment for spider and varicose veins used to exclusively be through surgical procedures, but biomedical science innovation has made it possible to treat varicose veins and spider veins through minimally invasive vein treatments. Rather than a long surgery with an even longer hospital stay, minimally invasive procedures take about an hour and only require a small incision to perform the procedure. This often means that minimally invasive procedures have a lower risk, shorter procedural time, and less recovery time after leaving the vein clinic.
Sclerotherapy involves the use of tiny needles to inject a drug called a sclerosant into damaged veins during a sclerotherapy procedure. This medication irritates the vein wall linings, causing them to adhere together and block the vein, allowing blood to be rerouted to healthy veins. Varithena, a sclerotherapy foam injected into a damaged saphenous vein by a vein doctor to lessen the appearance and symptoms of large and often painful varicose veins, is a new type of sclerosant that has shown excellent results. This procedure, like the previous one, closes off the affected veins and then reroutes blood supply. It takes less than an hour at a vein clinic and has little to no recovery time.
Vein ablation is a procedure that uses energy to seal off varicose veins. There are several types of ablation used to treat spider and varicose veins, but our doctors recommend laser ablation, as it is safe and does not require recovery time. Laser ablation starts with a local anesthetic and the insertion of a small catheter into the unhealthy vein using ultrasound imaging. The catheter uses light energy to close down the walls of the damaged vein, redirecting the blood flow through healthy veins.
We can’t know for sure if Tom Cruise has varicose veins, but his extreme stunts can be putting him at risk for vein disease that can be treated through minimally-invasive vein treatment at a vein clinic. As a Hollywood actor and California resident, we would refer him to seek vein treatment from one of our highly trained vein doctors at one of our numerous vein clinic locations in California. Whether you are a stunt actor or not, if you are experiencing any of the symptoms of vein disease that we talked about, learn more about our vein clinics and what you can expect at your vein clinic appointment, because ignoring the signs of vein disease can be Risky Business!
