My father got a blood clot in his leg after he had surgery on his lower back and it caused a lot of pain. How does this happen?
When you stand and walk around, your leg muscles encourage the blood in your legs to move around, to circulate. Because the legs are at the lowest part of the body, your heart needs help getting the blood moving. When someone has had surgery and is lying in bed, the legs aren't actively encouraging the blood to move around, so it can be sluggish. Because it's moving more slowly, it can clot more easily. This is one reason why people who are bed ridden are encourage to move about as much as possible and doctors and nurses push people to get out of bed as soon as it is physically possible.
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