DVT Delicate Calf/Shin Protectors

Here is help for people who've had DVTs or Post-Thrombotic Syndrome in their lower legs and who's skin is very delicate and easily torn or punctured by hard objects. I'm one of these and, in addition to the other items I've suggested on this site prior, this one may be stronger, easier to make and cheaper to buy the raw material for!

To make this type of lower leg armor, I've used an ordinary plastic "Flex-A-Spout" from the garden center or roofing gutter sections of Home Depot, etc. ($8-10). From one spout, two, three or four leg guards could be had.

The trick is to pull/stretch out the accordion folds to a length which fits the tender skin area on your leg. Cut horizontally at one of the inner folds then cut vertically from end to end. The plastic edges along the vertical cut will be sharp so should be smoothed down with sandpaper or a sandpaper sponge block or maybe covered with heavy tape so as not to scratch your skin while putting around the leg!

Pull both sides of this corrugated tube apart enough to fit it around the calf from the back (or front?). Once on the leg, bring part of the tube together with string, wire or rubber band. Where the tube is open along the vertical slit, one can augment with a conventional sports shin guard. Use both the tube and guard together in order to provide 360 degrees of armor protecting your lower legs from scrapes and punctures, usually requiring expensive and painful ulcer and wound-care nursing!