A few decades ago, only elderly people were bestowed on leg pain . In our time, diseases are getting younger and itās not uncommon when a childās leg hurt from knee to foot. Often young people complain about such problems.
Possible causes of pain
If you feel discomfort in your legs, then do not rush to take painkillers that can drown out the manifestation of the problem. After all, they are not able to eliminate it. If you do not want the feeling of discomfort to become your eternal companion, if you have any concerns, it is better to go to a specialist.
After all, if your leg hurts from knee to foot, then the reasons may be as follows:
ā¢ Injury. Often aching pain is accompanied by cracks, thinning of bones, stratification of tissues.
ā¢ Damage to tendons, their ruptures or strains.
ā¢ Inflammatory processes. They can affect both ligaments and synovial bags or muscles.
ā¢ Inactivity. Lack of activity leads to certain disorders, which are accompanied by weight gain. The joints and muscles of the legs are not ready for this.
ā¢ Blockage of arteries, varicose veins. In such cases, compressive pain appears in the calf muscles. Atherosclerosis is accompanied by unpleasant sensations in the legs, which are worse when walking.
ā¢ Damage to the patella or cyst.
ā¢ Flat feet, some diseases of the spine. These problems lead to improper distribution of the load on the legs and, as a result, a feeling of pain appears.
Action tactics
To understand what to do when a leg hurts from the knee to the foot, it is important to correctly establish the diagnosis. Only in this case, the doctor will be able to prescribe a treatment that will not only eliminate the consequences of the disease in the form of discomfort, but will also be able to cope with the cause of its appearance.
Often discomfort occurs as a result of prolonged stress. Problems appear as minor pain while walking. Patients tend to underestimate them, because they do not know that in most cases any discomfort indicates the onset of inflammation.
Also, one of the most common causes of leg pain from the knee to the foot is spinal problems. Unpleasant sensations intensify due to compression of the nerve roots. This can be with osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernia, spondylosis.
As a rule, the pain is not localized at any one point, it extends to a width of up to 15 cm. And this is evidence of extensive damage to the muscle structures of the leg. By the way, it was found that smokers complain more often that their legs, feet, and knees hurt. To establish an accurate diagnosis, it is not enough to visit one surgeon or osteopath, sometimes a neurologist or phlebologist can establish the cause of the pain. It is also necessary to check the heart, blood vessels.
Atherosclerosis of the limbs
If you feel a feeling of squeezing in your legs, then you canāt tolerate and wait until the discomfort disappears. Indeed, over time, severe pain begins, which does not even make it possible to fully move. The disease is characterized by a deterioration in blood flow in the arteries. Most often, atherosclerosis occurs in smokers, people suffering from diabetes mellitus, and arterial hypertension. Heredity also matters.
Normal blood biochemistry can determine the disease , it is judged by the level of cholesterol. In addition to pain, cramps that occur during physical exertion should alert.
Atherosclerosis Treatment
At the first stages of the development of the disease, symptoms appear only with vasospasm. But over time, and in a relaxed state, people feel that the leg hurts from the knee to the foot.
Treatment may include droppers with the drug Ilomedin, Actovegin, and Cardiomagnyl and Vasilip are also recommended. Doctors with this disease are advised to start moving more. If an attack of pain occurs while walking, then you must wait until it passes, and then continue to walk, but at a slower pace. It is important to follow a diet with a low cholesterol content, refuse fatty meat, egg yolks, sausages, and smoked meats. Use preferably unrefined and unrefined vegetable oil. It contributes to the "resorption" of existing atherosclerotic plaques.
If your foot hurts from knee to foot due to atherosclerosis, then only a specialist should decide how to treat it. He can prescribe bile acid sequestrants - they are designed to normalize cholesterol levels. This may be the drugs "Quantalan", "Questran", "Colestid." Means āZokorā, āLipostatā, āHoletarā can also be prescribed. In diabetes mellitus, fibratates are prescribed - the drugs "Clofibrate", "Bezafibrat". They lower the level of triglycerides in the blood.
If medical methods do not help, then surgeons will come to the rescue.
Phlebeurysm
Often the cause of pain in the lower leg is vascular thrombosis. Blood clots in the veins lead to stagnation and overstretching of the walls of blood vessels. In such cases, the leg from the knee to the foot hurts constantly. Discomfort increases in the evening after exertion. The pain in this case is aching in nature.
This condition is quite dangerous, because clots can migrate. They can travel to the arteries of the lungs or brain. This can cause strokes or pulmonary embolism.
Methods for treating varicose veins
Even with the appearance of the initial stages of the disease, it is impossible to ignore it. If you have a genetic predisposition to the development of the disease, then an examination with a phlebologist must be carried out every 2 years. In this case, an ultrasound examination of the veins is mandatory.
It is important not to forget about the need for compression therapy. Under the action of squeezing, the diameter of the veins decreases, reflux can pass, and the speed of blood movement increases. Also, medicines are used that increase the tone of the veins, improve the permeability of capillaries. It can be such means as āRutinā, āVenarusā, āEndotelonā, āEskuzanā, āVazobralā, āGlivenolā and the like.
The main treatment is phlebectomy. This is an operation during which problem veins are removed. Laser coagulation is also possible. Using this minimally invasive method, you can get rid of problems without incisions. Being in a hospital is not required.
Also, without incisions, treatment can be carried out using radio-frequency coagulation. This method allows without surgical intervention to eliminate reflux in the small or large saphenous veins. The procedure is performed under local anesthesia with ultrasonic process control.
One of the modern methods is sclerotherapy. This is gluing veins with a special drug that is injected into a vein.
Inflammatory processes
As a result of increased loads on the legs and a combination of a number of unfavorable factors, a person may be faced with the fact that the leg hurts from knee to foot when walking, running, and even at rest. It can be caused by arthritis, bursitis, tendonitis, osteomyelitis, fasciitis. Each of the diseases can even lead to a restriction of human mobility.
Only a specialist can diagnose and select a treatment regimen. These diseases are accompanied by pain, swelling, sometimes the affected areas turn red, local hyperthermia appears.
Treatment of inflammatory processes
Before proceeding with the treatment of pain in the joints that cause the discomfort to spread to the foot from the foot to the knee, it is important to establish the true problem.
More often, edema resulting from bursitis can spread to the muscles of the leg, causing pain and a feeling of heaviness. A diagnosis can be made by visual examination of a bulging rounded swelling. It is confirmed by ultrasound. For treatment, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, analgesics are prescribed, for example, the drug āIbuprofenā or āCodeineā.
Various arthritis that affects the joint can also cause a sore leg from the knee to the foot. What to do in this situation, you need to deal with a specialist. After all, discomfort, as a rule, occurs immediately in two legs. For treatment, the same painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs are often used. Physiotherapeutic procedures, cartilage restoration with a laser and HILT therapy are highly effective.
Injury and overvoltage
Any overload of the joints and muscles of the legs, their excessive stretching, and even more so bumps, do not always go unnoticed. Various injuries are often complicated by the onset of inflammatory processes. If you have a leg from the knee to the foot that hurts after the load, and even more so, do not choose to treat it yourself. After drowning for some period of aching sensations, later you can encounter more serious problems.
Muscle lesions are characterized in that at first the pain is localized on the inside of the lower leg, slightly above the ankle. When you try to turn your foot or stand on tiptoe, it intensifies. When the muscles are stretched, the lower leg appears heavy, swollen. When probing, marked pain is noted, it intensifies with movements. Sensations usually occur after excessive stress, often they appear only after 12, or even 24 hours.
If you feel a sharp pain localized in the back of the lower leg, similar to a strong blow during muscle tension, you can assume a muscle break. Moreover, the tendon is partially and sometimes completely separated from them.
Also, pain can occur due to inflammation of the ligaments, damage to the Achilles tendon and other problems. It can also occur as a result of a fracture of the lower leg bones. Each of the conditions requires consultation with the surgeon and the choice of an individual treatment regimen.
Tactics for mechanical damage
If you have stretched your ligaments, broken your leg or strained muscles, you need to see a doctor. Only he is able to determine the true cause of the problems. So, with bruises it is often enough to apply cold and tightly bandage the affected area.
When sprains, dislocations, or muscle breaks, it is important to immobilize the patient. Often a plaster cast is applied to the shin. It is also mandatory for a fracture. In this case, the patient is forbidden to rise to his feet. Drug treatment consists of taking painkillers. The drug "Paracetamol", "Ibuprofen" may be prescribed.
If the Achilles tendon is damaged, then two joints are immobilized - ankle and knee. Stepping on a damaged leg is prohibited.