Unusual question on vascular problem

[CTTKDKing]

So I have an odd question. Over the last 10 years I've developed some pretty severe varicose veins in my left leg. I'm young and while I am overweight (gained a lot when I went back to college about 4 years ago), they should not be as bad as they are just from being overweight. Turns out I have a hereditary condition where the valves in the veins don't function correctly. I recently had an episode where one of them ruptured and started bleeding. I've been out of Taekwondo for about a month and a half now, as they test me out to see which procedure is appropriate for my type of vein issues, and am going in for surgery in a few weeks.

My question is, what is appropriate after the fact for martial arts training? Half the sites out there say that it's bad to do something high impact like Taekwondo with this condition and half say it's good for it as it promotes circulation. My doctor knows nothing about martial arts so he said he wasn't sure, but it should be fine. I plan on going back to prep for a championship at the end of April in Massachusetts and was wondering if anyone here had any additional incite on the matter or experience based thoughts to offer?

[Wolfman08]

My advice: take baby steps back into it. After you're recovered from your surgery do a few simple strikes to the air. If that isn't a problem, do a low impact form (probably one of your first forms). If that isn't a problem, do a more high impact form (something little higher in rank). If that's fine, call your instructor and ask to just do some focus mitt work in your next class for maybe half an hour. If you're still fine, do some light sparring for 10-20 minutes. If you still don't have any problems, do some more intense sparring.

If at any point in testing your limits you start to feel like you're having any problems (weak in the legs, bleeding, anything, since I'm not familiar with your condition) stop. You may be able to develop up to a point where you're able to do more intense work, but hurting yourself before you get there is entirely counter productive.

[CTTKDKing]

Agreed. Hurting myself would be a bad thing. After doing some more reading on some more medically technical sites, I'm thinking that I'm going to be able to. If a person has bad veins and develops deep vein thrombosis (which I know I do not have because my doctor told me I don't after one of the tests) then high impact exercise is a no no, but I only have damage in the veins near the surface of the skin so once those are treated it's looking on the up and up.

[sensei8]

My doctor knows nothing about martial arts so he said he wasn't sure, but it should be fine.

More importantly is that your doctor knows the human body, in that, I'd strongly suggest that you refer to your doctor and not what's on the internet.

Stay strong in your faith!!

[bushido_man96]

You may need to tailor your training a bit differently. Listen to your body. You may be able to do basics and forms, but you might have to hold off on sparring for a while.