Deep Vein Thrombosis and Logging

By Brie Weisman, OTR/L, ME AgrAbility. 

Reprinted with permission from Logger’s Voice. Summer 2026.

I have given workshops for both conventional and mechanized loggers, and it is no exaggeration to say that these groups can be distinguished at a glance. A room full of conventional loggers are by and large fit. It may not be a room full of Paul Bunyans, but they generally have a sinuous strength, if not lean at least not very overweight, and carry themselves with a casual physical confidence. A room full of mechanized loggers is a different scene.

Mechanized loggers are on their feet (off their butts) less than the average lawyer or convenience store worker. Unless they are one of the rare cases who exercises regularly, they have a body built by sitting. The Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety’s last Maine Logger Health and Safety Study warns, “the average [Maine logger’s] body mass index is just over the obese line, the average blood pressure is in the stage 1 hypertensive range,

and some loggers have indications of sleep obstruction. All these point to loggers having an increased risk for heart problems. This study was 70% mechanized loggers, so the stats are actually helped by the inclusions of leaner, conventional loggers. A study of solely mechanized loggers would certainly be bleaker. 

In short, the logging machine, a boon for providing protection from serious traumatic injuries, does so at the cost of lack of regular on the job exercise. A sedentary job, particularly one requiring prolonged sitting, is, if preventative steps are not taken, a major risk factor for health.

Mechanized loggers who average 10-12 hour work days are at higher risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot that can lead to discomfort, pain, stroke or a fatal heart attack. Long hours spent in a static position allows blood to pool in the lower extremities, and folding your legs in a sitting without room to substantially shift position and without frequent breaks is like putting a kink in a hose. Healthy blood is reduced, pressure builds. That painful feeling of a leg regaining blood flow after being “asleep?” That’s your body saying, “Yeah, don’t do that to us anymore.”

Signs and symptoms of a DVT are pain, swelling, and heat emanating from the back of the leg, often behind the knee. Our circulatory system carries nutrient-rich oxygenated blood throughout our body. It relies on a good flow to get the job done. Prolonged, unrelieved sitting not only starves our muscles of nutrients and oxygen, sluggish blood flow can cause clotting that can lead to a stroke or heart attack. 

The good news is that you don’t have to take the higher risks of a sedentary occupation sitting down. There are strategies to employ to reduce your risk of DVT. 

1.Simply getting up and taking a walking break can reduce the chances of a clot developing. Moving around every 20-30 minutes. A simple, quick walk around your machine is a stress and stroke reducer that is proven to leave you more productive overall over the course of the day.

 2. Whenever your legs feel tired or sore, or when you don’t want to take a walk break because of weather, take a minute–a literal sixty seconds–to do toe and heel raises in your seat. These will improve blood flow in the lower extremities. Simply lift your toes while the heels contact the ground, then lift your heels while the toes contact the ground. Alternate back and forth between these two in a rocking motion. 

3. Staying hydrated can also help keep the blood flowing by literally hydrating your blood, reducing blood viscosity. This not only relieves pressure on the vascular system, promotes blood perfusion to the extremities for greater strength and temperature regulation.  

4. Self monitor. If, at the end of your day, your feet feel sore, your boots feel tight, you can see the imprints of your socks on your skin, or you can see swelling in your lower legs, these are signs that you are at elevated risk of DVT and other circulation-related issues. Talk to your primary care provider about wearing compression stockings and an exercise regimen to improve circulation. Depending on any other health risk of hereditary issues, you may be a candidate for a blood thinner to reduce chances of clotting. I can almost guarantee that your primary care provider has no idea how long you sit for your job and commute. Whether you share this during a visit for a specific complaint or during your next routine checkup, this knowledge will almost definitely inform their advice for you moving forward. 

Factors that increase your risk of developing DVT include:

• Being overweight
• Taking birth control pills
• Having a venous catheter
• Being over 60
• Past history of blood clots

The good news about DVT is that lifestyle issues that contribute to it can be successfully addressed by mild behavioral changes–you don’t have to become a health nut or exercise addict. And genetic susceptibility is manageable with prescription meds. The key to best outcomes, as with so many of our health issues, is early awareness and response.