Many people have sore legs. Why is this happening? We will examine in more detail in this matter. Pain in the legs is a fairly common symptom. The causes of such pain can be varied, as well as the form of their manifestation. Below we consider the main provoking factors of such pathologies and what means can be used to reduce their manifestations.
Pain description
A symptom such as leg pain is a non-specific sign of various diseases and conditions. Often it has non-pathological causes, but in some cases they may indicate a disease, sometimes quite serious. It often happens that a person has a sore toe.
Despite the fact that the legs can hurt at any age, this problem most often appears in women during menopause, as well as in older people, as their cartilages and joints wear out and their bones become fragile. But the child’s legs hurt. In fact, there is a benign pain that appears in children from 4 to 12 years old, which is characteristic of the lower extremities. The true causes of this pathology are unknown up to the present.
Flat feet
Why do my legs hurt? One of the most common causes of severity, burning and pain in the calves and feet is flat feet. People with this diagnosis have a feeling that their legs are as if filled with lead. This disease often leads to pathological deformation of the toes. This is a valgus curvature, called in life "bone". That's why a toe sore.
In addition, it acts as the basis for the formation of other pathologies of the foot, including also its dislocations and subluxations, since a very flat and flat foot does not tolerate the body load. Flat feet cause disturbances in posture, spinal diseases appear, and therefore, pathologies of the joints and lumbar region are often found in a person with this diagnosis. This is also the reason that the child’s legs hurt.
Better to warn than to heal
It should be noted that this disease is among those that are better to prevent than to treat subsequently. Most often, it appears due to the constant wearing of tight and uncomfortable shoes, including high-heeled shoes. Patients with flat feet have to wear worn, loose shoes that will be comfortable for the foot. If the ailment is in primary or secondary form, an adjustment by means of arch support is required, and only an orthopedic surgeon is able to pick them up, taking into account the characteristics of the disease.
If your feet hurt, to strengthen them it is recommended that you often walk barefoot on grass and wet sand, do training exercises (walking on heels, tiptoe, on the outer and inner side surfaces, raising your toes, raising small objects). Especially serious types of flat feet are eliminated in an operational way.
Heel spur
Why are my legs sore? Calcaneal spur is the growth of the awl-shaped appearance on the calcaneus. It is accompanied by a process of inflammation and its consequence, such as pain while walking. Often, spur becomes the result of flat feet of the longitudinal type, obesity and other metabolic pathologies. Also its causes are injuries of the calcaneus, defects in the blood circulation of the legs, various complications of various chronic diseases (for example, arthritis).
Heel spurs are treated through a series of measures, including physiotherapy, anti-inflammatory ointments, therapeutic exercises, massage, orthopedic insoles. Recipes of traditional medicine are also of some importance, but they are recommended to be used only together with other methods.
Osteoarthrosis, arthrosis and arthritis
These diseases are a common cause of leg pain in the elderly. Each of them is a rather serious medical problem. Although the words “arthritis” and “arthrosis” sound very similar, the causes of these diseases are actually completely opposite.
The diagnosis of osteoarthrosis is made to elderly people aged 60 to 70 years in about 70% of cases and is essentially destructive transformations in bone tissue and cartilage. This disease can manifest itself in different ways in certain patients: some people think that they don’t have legs, others feel pain in the joints and muscles when climbing stairs or another load, although there is nothing at rest. The right leg often hurts, but the left leg can also hurt.
Joint deformation risk
Mobility is limited, articular crunch appears, swelling may periodically appear. If there is no treatment, then the joint is gradually deformed and may lose its mobility. That is why when such symptoms occur, you need to contact a competent specialist and not lose time. He will prescribe either drug therapy, or gymnastics, or physiotherapy. All gymnastic exercises should be light, without causing pain. If discomfort appears, then this means exceeding the maximum load limit for the joint.
Arthrosis hurts arms and legs. The main destructive activity falls on the degenerative processes in the cartilage of the joint, and in case of arthritis - on the inflammatory ones. This is where the main distinguishing features of arthritis and arthrosis lie.
Arthritis is an inflammatory joint disease. Its first symptoms are morning stiffness of the joints, naughty and “cottony” legs and arms. The big toe often hurts.
Fine motor impairment
When arthritis of the joints of the fingers is affected, fine motor skills are impaired. After this, articular burning and pain appear. It occurs in the mornings and may disappear by lunchtime, in connection with this, patients often ignore it and think that such unpleasant sensations are caused by sleep in an uncomfortable position. But subsequently, these symptoms intensify. Above the inflamed joint, the skin turns red and hot. In especially serious cases, general weakness, fever, and leukocytosis may occur. With an advanced disease, serious joint deformity may appear, which can even lead to disability. The joints of the legs hurt due to arthritis, but it can be different.
Types of arthritis
Arthritis has many varieties, in modern medicine there are about 150 species.
The most common:
- ankylosing spondylitis (ankylosing spondylitis);
- rheumatic fever;
- rheumatoid arthritis;
- specific infectious arthritis (tuberculosis, gonorrhea, viral, dysentery, etc.);
- psoriatic;
- infectious and allergic polyarthritis.
When your legs hurt badly, it’s important to quickly find out the cause.
Arthritis is also distinguished that occurs with allergic pathologies, metabolic disorders (for example, with gout), diseases of the blood, lungs, digestive tract, malignant tumors, etc.
It should be noted that with autoimmune processes it is possible not only a sensation of joint pain, but also fatigue and weakness in the muscles of the legs due to an immune attack on the cells.
Since the reasons that the feet hurt are varied, the treatment should be selected individually in each case, taking into account all the characteristics of the patient’s body, as well as his condition, stages of the disease and the causes of the appearance. Disease prevention comes down to following the principles of a healthy, healthy lifestyle. It is about strengthening immunity, moderate physical activity and a healthy diet.
Why do my legs hurt and swell after alcohol?
Today, experts have identified several causes that lead to pain in the limbs after drinking alcohol. Each should be explained logically. So this is due to:
- Dilation of blood vessels from drinking alcohol. As a result, the circulatory system in the lower extremities suffers. It is because of such violations that the legs begin to hurt.
- With varicose veins, a large amount of alcohol can provoke venous insufficiency. Doctors strongly forbid the use of a large number of alcoholic beverages.
- After drinking alcohol, the limbs noticeably swell. As a result of this, fluid accumulates in the legs. This provokes such an unpleasant sensation.
- As a result of the withdrawal of potassium from the body under the influence of alcohol, a person may experience leg pain and cramps. Therefore, it was noticed that the limbs seemed to ache after a hangover.
It is necessary to seriously consider this problem. With frequent alcohol abuse, regular cramps and even lower limb paralysis may develop. Because the central nervous system is affected by constant libations. It is never too late to start a healthy lifestyle, to be more in the fresh air, to eat right. All this will contribute to good health.
What other reasons provoke pain in the legs? Sometimes unpleasant discomfort appears due to vascular disease.
Vascular pathology of the legs
For what reason can my right leg hurt? Vascular pathologies of the lower extremities include thrombophlebitis, varicose veins, obliterating endarteritis, atherosclerosis of arteries, inflammation of blood vessels and lymph nodes.
Pathologies caused by negative changes in blood flow in the lower extremities, all the time become the causes of discomfort, fatigue and pain. All vascular pathologies, as a rule, are divided into diseases of the lymphatic vessels, arteries and veins. In any of these cases, my legs hurt a lot.
The causes of persistent pain during varicose veins are trophic tissue disorders caused by a decrease in their blood supply, painful transformations of the venous wall, which lead to its extension, as well as stagnation in the blood vessel, and therefore the patient himself can easily detect them. Such pains mainly appear in the popliteal fossa, lower leg, in some cases - in the region of the ankle joints. They can be either aching, constant, or spasmodic, sharp, depending on the load and the degree of the disease. Most often appear with prolonged standing, walking, lifting weights, with an increase in the load on the vessels and increased pain. Pain is relieved if you hold your legs in a raised position for some time or make an intensive massage, thereby improving blood circulation. It seems as though the muscles of the legs hurt.
Thrombophlebitis
Thrombophlebitis most often affects the dilated veins of the legs, and therefore is considered a complicating factor in varicose veins. It can occur suddenly, manifesting itself in the form of painful seals with skin redness along the path of dilated veins, however, it often develops slowly and becomes chronic. In the presence of this pathology, the patient feels severe pain, body temperature may rise. Most often, the superficial veins of the lower extremities are affected. In some cases, deep veins are also involved in this process. A pulling painful sensation appears in the thigh or calf muscle with edema. The treatment of such diseases can be both surgical and drug, which is determined by the degree of development of the process. Why are my legs sore?
Artery disease also leads to this. The most common among them is atherosclerosis of the leg arteries, related to obliterating vascular diseases. Previously, mostly older men were exposed to him. However, at present, such a disease can occur in middle age. Even the occurrence of this pathology in women is becoming more frequent. Risk factors are well known: low physical activity, smoking, heredity factor, coronary heart disease, hypertension, pathologies of the biliary tract and liver, diabetes mellitus, high blood cholesterol, obesity. The joints of the legs also hurt due to atherosclerosis.
Vascular atherosclerosis
Arterial blood circulation of the legs at rest may be sufficient, but with physical exertion, the narrowed arteries are not able to satisfy the increasing muscle demand for oxygen. That is why pain occurs in the muscles, and the patient develops intermittent claudication. During walking, especially when climbing up, pain in the calves appears, which forces the patient to stop from time to time. Pain differs from sciatica in that it does not depend on twists and turns of the body. The patient may also be disturbed by cramps, weakness, and a feeling of heaviness. If treatment is not available, gangrene may develop with further amputation of the inflamed area.
Obliterating endarteritis affects the peripheral small arteries of the lower extremities. It differs in a wavy course, when exacerbations are replaced by remissions. Its feature is the symmetry of inflammation of the limbs.
Severity and pain, combined with edema, can indicate lymphadenitis, that is, damage to the lymph nodes, as well as lymphangitis, an inflammatory process in the lymphatic vessels of the legs. However, in old age, edema of the lower extremities is most often caused by pathologies of the heart and blood vessels (for example, insufficiency), diseases of the thyroid gland and kidneys. The use of certain drugs (antidepressants) may also affect. Swelling of one leg is most often caused by a local disturbance - venous thrombosis, lymphatic disease, arthritis.
Thus, there are many reasons for the occurrence of pain in the lower extremities, but it is not recommended to search for them on your own. It is better to consult a doctor on time. He will be able to make the correct diagnosis and determine why his legs hurt. The reasons for the appearance of these unpleasant sensations, we examined in this article.