What To Do If Your Legs Hurt?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

What to do if your legs hurt?

Pain in the leg area is a fairly familiar phenomenon for many people, but not everyone rushes to the doctor with their problems. One of the misconceptions is that old people are always sick, and there is no need for treatment. Someone is treated at their own discretion. Observations show that timely referral to a specialist and correctly prescribed treatment usually lead to recovery.

Why do legs hurt?

An adult may experience leg pain from physical exertion or from an uncomfortable body position. For example, in women during pregnancy, the load on the legs increases and pain may occur to the fullest. There are also many diseases that are accompanied by pain in the legs. People with flat feet feel heaviness and pain in their legs after a long walk. Simply incorrectly chosen shoes, perhaps even with seeming comfort, manifest themselves with pain and cramps during prolonged wear.

Impaired blood circulation and vascular weakness cause varicose veins, leading to pain and heaviness in the leg area, especially in the evening. With the manifestation of the disease, swelling and deformation of the veins is noted, and at an early stage, varicose veins are manifested only by pain in the legs. Only a specialist dealing with veins and blood vessels, namely a phlebologist, can determine the stage of development of the disease after diagnostic tests.

The basis for the development of pain in the legs can be a neglected disease of the spine. For disorders in the intervertebral discs or inflammation of the sciatic nerve, pain radiating to the legs is characteristic, while the spine may not hurt. Scoliosis, various childhood traumas can remind of themselves after many years with pain in the legs. Diseases of the joints are manifested by pain, which seems to "twist" the legs. The pain syndrome intensifies when the weather changes. The attack of pain in gout is prolonged and severe.

Inflammatory processes in the muscles are manifested by severe pain. This is myositis - a disease that requires treatment under the constant supervision of a doctor. Sometimes the source of pain in the lower extremities is an infection in the bones. It gives sharp and long-lasting painful sensations. It can be concluded that there are many reasons for the formation of pain in the legs. They can be diseases of the joints, muscles, spine, vessels of the legs, therefore, an appointment with a doctor and accurate diagnosis is important for successful treatment.

Treating leg pain

When you feel pain in your legs, it is important to understand that this is a signal from the body about problems. Only a doctor can figure out what kind of help your feet need. Comprehensive diagnostics using ultrasound and a biochemical blood test will identify the cause of the disease, and then the specialist will prescribe the most effective treatment. After the main course of treatment, to consolidate the positive result, doctors give individual recommendations.

Treatment of varicose veins at an early stage is carried out with medication, advanced cases require surgical intervention or laser exposure to the vessels. An individually selected set of exercises, medicines that strengthen blood vessels and the use of compression golf will be the prevention of the development of the disease.

Flat feet are excellently treated in childhood, so it is extremely important to identify its presence on time. Performing exercises for the feet every day and using insoles-instep supports, the child can easily correct the foot.

Adults do not treat flat feet. The pain can only be removed with the help of correctly selected orthopedic shoes, or shoes with special insoles. Excessive excess weight aggravates the disease, wearing shoes with high heels and flat soles. This puts additional stress on the feet and contributes to their greater deformation. Watch for possible changes to your toes to avoid arthritis or arthrosis. The slightest changes in the shape of the fingers can be a signal for the onset of the disease.

For preventive purposes, to prevent leg pains, it is necessary to limit fatty foods in the diet, where cholesterol predominates, which poses a threat to blood vessels. It is also useful for the whole body to bring the weight back to normal, quit smoking. You should do a simple set of leg exercises regularly and be careful not to stand or sit for too long. With sedentary work, you need to take a break every hour and change your body position.

For diseases of the spine, accompanied by pain radiating to the legs, it is recommended to conduct a course of massages aimed at strengthening the muscle group of the abdomen and back. This method will help reduce pain. A reason for going to a doctor may be a sharp pain in the leg that does not go away for three days, cold, numb, weak legs, blue and swollen skin of the legs, severe post-traumatic edema, pain that radiates to any part of the leg. Only a specialist will identify the cause of the pain and prescribe an appropriate treatment.

Author of the article: Kaplan Alexander Sergeevich | Orthopedist

Education: diploma in the specialty "General Medicine" received in 2009 at the Medical Academy. I. M. Sechenov. In 2012 completed postgraduate studies in Traumatology and Orthopedics at the City Clinical Hospital named after Botkin at the Department of Traumatology, Orthopedics and Disaster Surgery.