Elevating your legs above heart level for at least 15 minutes is the fastest way to start draining fluid from swollen ankles. But lasting relief usually requires a combination of strategies, from compression and movement to dietary changes, depending on what’s causing the swelling in the first place.
Elevate Your Legs the Right Way
Elevation works by using gravity to move pooled fluid out of your lower legs and back toward your heart. The key detail most people get wrong: your ankles need to be higher than your heart, not just propped on a footstool. Lie on your back and rest your legs on a stack of pillows, a wedge cushion, or the arm of your couch so your feet sit above chest height. Hold this position for about 15 minutes per session, and repeat several times throughout the day if swelling is persistent.
Elevation is most effective when you combine it with other strategies rather than relying on it alone. Think of it as immediate relief while you address the underlying cause.
Use Your Calf Muscles as a Pump
Your calf muscles act like a built-in pump for pushing blood and fluid back up your legs. Each time these muscles contract during a step, they compress the veins inside them, raising pressure and pushing blood upward toward the heart. Valves inside the veins prevent the blood from falling back down when the muscle relaxes. This system moves roughly 33 milliliters of blood per pump cycle into the vein behind the knee, with about 20% of that flow coming from veins at the ankle.
When you sit or stand still for hours, this pump essentially shuts off, and fluid pools in your lower legs. Even simple movements restart it:
- Ankle pumps: While seated, point your toes down, then pull them up toward your shin. Repeat 20 times per foot.
- Calf raises: Stand and slowly rise onto your toes, then lower back down. Do 10 to 15 repetitions.
- Walking: Even a five-minute walk engages the full foot-and-calf pump system. Each step compresses the deep veins on the sole of your foot like a hydraulic press, pushing blood into the calf veins.
If you work at a desk or travel frequently, set a reminder to move every 30 to 60 minutes. The pump only works when your muscles are contracting.
Try Compression Socks
Compression socks apply graduated pressure to your lower legs, tightest at the ankle and looser toward the knee, which helps push fluid upward and prevents it from pooling. Over-the-counter options typically provide 15 to 20 mmHg of pressure, which is enough for mild swelling from standing or sitting all day. For more significant edema, doctors commonly prescribe socks rated at 20 to 30 mmHg or even 30 to 40 mmHg.
Generic “copper-infused” or sports compression sleeves often don’t provide enough pressure to make a real difference for edema. If you’ve tried those without improvement, step up to medical-grade compression with a specific mmHg rating. Put them on first thing in the morning before swelling builds, and expect a learning curve. They’re snug by design, and most people find them annoying to pull on at first.
Cut Back on Sodium
Excess sodium signals your kidneys to hold onto water, which increases the volume of fluid circulating in your blood vessels and makes it easier for that fluid to leak into surrounding tissue. Reducing your daily intake to around 2,000 milligrams (about one teaspoon of table salt) can meaningfully reduce fluid retention. For reference, a single fast-food meal can easily contain 1,500 to 2,000 milligrams on its own.
The biggest culprits are processed and restaurant foods: canned soups, deli meats, frozen meals, soy sauce, and chips. Cooking at home with fresh ingredients gives you far more control. Read labels and look at the sodium line specifically, since foods that don’t taste salty (bread, cereal, condiments) can still be loaded with it.
Drink More Water, Not Less
It sounds counterintuitive, but drinking more water can actually reduce swelling. When your body senses dehydration, your kidneys respond by retaining more sodium and water. Staying well-hydrated, around 1.5 to 2 liters a day, helps your kidneys flush excess sodium more efficiently instead of holding onto every drop. If you’ve been skipping water thinking it would reduce puffiness, the opposite is likely happening.
Check Your Medications
Certain blood pressure medications are notorious for causing ankle swelling. Calcium channel blockers, a widely prescribed class, cause ankle edema in 1 to 15% of patients at standard doses. At higher doses taken long-term, that number can climb above 80%. The swelling happens because these drugs relax blood vessel walls, which allows more fluid to seep into surrounding tissue.
Other common medications that can cause fluid retention include some diabetes drugs, steroids, hormonal therapies, and certain anti-inflammatory painkillers. If your ankle swelling started or worsened after beginning a new medication, that’s worth a conversation with your prescriber. In many cases, switching to a different drug in the same class can resolve it.
What About Epsom Salt Soaks?
Soaking your feet in warm water with Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) is one of the most popular home remedies for swollen ankles. Some people report that it helps, and the theory is that magnesium reduces inflammation and draws out excess fluid. However, there isn’t enough scientific evidence to confirm this actually works for edema. The warm water and the act of sitting still with your feet up may provide some temporary comfort, but don’t count on Epsom salts as a primary strategy.
One Ankle vs. Both Ankles
The pattern of your swelling matters. Swelling in both ankles is usually related to a systemic issue: fluid retention from too much sodium, a medication side effect, prolonged sitting or standing, or in more serious cases, heart, kidney, liver, or thyroid problems. Chronic venous disease, where the valves in your leg veins stop working properly, affects over 25 million adults in the United States and is the single most common cause of ongoing bilateral ankle swelling.
Swelling in just one ankle is a different story. It can result from an injury like a sprain, but it can also signal a blood clot in the deep veins of the leg. If one ankle swells suddenly, especially with pain, warmth, or redness, that warrants prompt medical attention. New swelling in both ankles that doesn’t improve with elevation and basic measures also deserves evaluation, since it can be an early sign of heart or kidney issues that are much easier to manage when caught early.
When Swelling Becomes Chronic
If your ankles have been swollen for weeks or months despite trying elevation, compression, movement, and dietary changes, the cause may be structural. Chronic venous disease develops when the one-way valves in your leg veins weaken or fail, allowing blood to flow backward and pool in the lower legs. Symptoms include persistent swelling, a heavy or aching feeling in the legs, itching, and in advanced cases, skin changes or ulcers near the ankle.
Initial treatment focuses on compression therapy and wound care if needed. When conservative approaches aren’t enough, procedures like thermal ablation (which uses heat to seal off malfunctioning veins) or sclerotherapy (which injects a solution to close them) can address the underlying valve problem. These are typically outpatient procedures with relatively short recovery times, and 2025 clinical guidelines support their use for patients who aren’t getting adequate relief from compression alone.