Something pretty cool happens every time you wiggle your toes. Your calf muscles squeeze veins deep in the lower leg and force blood upwards, against gravity, to your heart.
The same thing happens when you flex your ankle, climb the stairs, stand on tiptoes or take a walk.
It’s basic anatomical machinery – faintly miraculous when you stop to think about it, but so ubiquitous and normal that it’s often overlooked.
That could now be changing, however, as scientists wonder if this mechanism – known as the calf muscle pump function – could be a powerful lever to improve short- and long-term health.
In 2024, researchers at the Mayo Clinic looked at what happens when this function doesn’t work so well. They found that mortality rates increase quite dramatically for people with calf pump dysfunction.
