Many people have sore feet. Why is this happening? Let's take a closer look at this issue. 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 will consider the main provoking factors of such pathologies and what means can be used to reduce their manifestations.
Description of pain
Such a symptom as pain in the legs is a non-specific symptom of various diseases and conditions. It often has non-pathological causes, but in some cases they may indicate a disease, sometimes quite serious. It often happens that a person's big toe hurts.
Although feet can hurt at any age, this problem is most common in menopausal women and older adults as their cartilage and joints wear down and their bones become brittle. But also the childsore feet. In fact, there is pain of a benign nature, which appears in children from 4 to 12 years old, which is characteristic of the lower extremities. The true causes of this pathology are unknown until now.
Flat feet
Why do my legs hurt? One of the most common causes of heaviness, burning, and pain in the calves and feet is flat feet. People with this diagnosis have a feeling that their legs are as if poured with lead. This disease often leads to pathological deformity of the toes. This is a valgus curvature, referred to in everyday life as a "bone". That's why my toe hurts.
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 spread and flat foot does not tolerate the load of the body. Flat feet cause posture disorders, diseases of the spine appear, and therefore, a person with such a diagnosis is often found to have pathologies of the joints and lumbar region. This is also the reason why the child's legs hurt.
Prevention is better than cure
It should be noted that this disease is one of those that are better to prevent than to cure later. Most often, it appears due to the constant wearing of tight and uncomfortable shoes, including high heels. Patients with flat feet have to wear well-worn, loose-fitting shoes that are comfortable for the foot. If the ailment is in its primary or secondary form, an adjustment is required by means of instep supports, and only an orthopedist is able to pick them up,taking into account the characteristics of the disease.
If the feet hurt, to strengthen them, it is recommended to walk barefoot on the grass and wet sand more often, do training exercises (walking on heels, tiptoe, on the outer and inner side surfaces, spreading the toes, lifting small objects with them). Especially serious types of flat feet are eliminated in an operative way.
Heel spur
Why else do my legs hurt? A calcaneal spur is an awl-shaped growth on the heel bone. It is accompanied by the process of inflammation and such a consequence of it as pain while walking. Often, the spur becomes the result of flat feet of the longitudinal type, obesity and other metabolic pathologies. Also, its causes are damage to the calcaneus, circulatory defects in the legs, various complications of certain chronic diseases (for example, arthritis).
Heel spurs are treated through a number of measures, which include physiotherapy, anti-inflammatory ointments, therapeutic exercises, massage, the use of orthopedic insoles. Traditional medicine recipes are also of some importance, but they are recommended to be used only in conjunction with other methods.
Osteoarthritis, arthrosis and arthritis
These diseases are a common cause of foot 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 different.opposite.
Osteoarthritis is diagnosed in older people aged 60 to 70 in about 70% of cases and is essentially a destructive transformation in bone tissue and cartilage. This disease can manifest itself in different ways in certain patients: for some it seems that their legs do not go, others feel pain in the joints and muscles when climbing stairs or other load, although there is nothing at rest. The right leg often hurts, but the left leg can also hurt.
Risk of joint deformity
Mobility is limited, articular crunch appears, swelling may appear periodically. If there is no treatment, then gradually the joint is deformed and may lose its mobility. That is why, if such symptoms occur, you need to contact a competent specialist and not waste time. He will prescribe either drug therapy, or gymnastics, or physiotherapy. All gymnastic exercises should be light, without causing pain. If discomfort appears, this means that the load limit for the joint is exceeded.
Arthrosis hurts the arms and legs. The main destructive activity falls on the degenerative processes in the cartilage of the joint, and in 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 "cotton" legs and arms. The big toe often hurts.
Fine motor impairment
When arthritis affects the joints of the fingers, fine motor skills are impaired. After that, joint burning and pain appear. It occurs in the morning and may disappear by the afternoon, in connection with this, patients often ignore it and think that such unpleasant sensations are caused by sleeping in an uncomfortable position. But then these symptoms get worse and worse. Over the inflamed joint, the skin turns red and becomes hot. In especially serious cases, general weakness, fever and leukocytosis may occur. With advanced disease, a serious articular deformity may appear, which can even lead to disability. Joints of the legs hurt due to arthritis, but it can be different.
Varieties of arthritis
Arthritis has many varieties, in current medicine there are about 150 types.
Most common:
- ankylosing spondylitis (Bekhterev's disease);
- rheumatic fever;
- rheumatoid arthritis;
- specific infectious arthritis (tuberculous, gonorrheal, viral, dysentery, etc.);
- psoriatic;
- infectious-allergic polyarthritis.
When your legs hurt a lot, it's important to quickly find out the cause.
Arthritis is also distinguished, which 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 in autoimmune processesit is possible not only to feel joint pain, but also fatigue and weakness in the muscles of the legs due to immune attack on cells.
Since the causes of pain in the feet are varied, then 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, stage of the disease and the causes of occurrence. Prevention of the disease comes down to following the principles of a proper, he althy lifestyle. We are talking about strengthening the immune system, moderate physical activity and a he althy diet.
Why do my legs hurt and swell after alcohol?
Today, experts have identified several reasons that lead to pain in the limbs after drinking alcohol. Each must be explained logically. So, it happens because of:
- Expansion of blood vessels from the use of alcoholic beverages. As a result, the circulatory system in the lower extremities suffers. It is precisely because of such violations that the legs begin to hurt.
- With varicose veins, a large amount of alcohol can provoke venous insufficiency. Doctors strictly forbid the use of large amounts of alcoholic beverages.
- After drinking alcohol, the limbs noticeably swell. As a result, fluid builds up in the legs. This provokes such unpleasant sensations.
- As a result of the removal of potassium from the body under the influence of alcohol, a person may experience pain in the legs and cramps. Therefore, it was noticed that the limbs seemed to ache after a hangover.
This issue needs to be seriously considered. With frequent alcohol abuse, regular convulsions can begin and even paralysis of the lower extremities can develop. Because the central nervous system is affected by constant libations. It is never too late to start leading a he althy lifestyle, to be more in the fresh air, to eat right. All this will contribute to good he alth.
What other causes provoke pain in the legs? Sometimes unpleasant discomfort appears due to vascular disease.
Vascular pathology of the legs
For what reason can the right leg hurt? Vascular pathologies of the lower extremities include thrombophlebitis, varicose veins, obliterating endarteritis, atherosclerosis of the 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, the legs hurt a lot.
The causes of constant pain in varicose veins are trophic tissue disorders due to a decrease in their blood supply, painful transformations of the venous wall, which lead to its stretching, as well as stagnation in the blood vessel, and therefore the patient himself is easily able to discover. Such pains mainly appear in the area of the popliteal fossa, lower leg, in somecases - in the region of the ankle joints. They can be both aching, constant, and spasmodic, sharp, depending on the load and the degree of the disease. Most often they 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 up for a while or make an intense massage, thus improving blood circulation. It seems like the muscles in my 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, but 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. There is a pulling painful sensation in the thigh or calf muscle with swelling. Treatment of such diseases can be both surgical and medical, which is determined by the degree of development of the process. Why else do my legs hurt?
Arterial disease also leads to this. The most common among them is atherosclerosis of the leg arteries, which is related to obliterating vascular diseases. Previously, it was predominantly used by older men. However, at present suchthe disease can also occur in middle age. Even cases of occurrence of this pathology in women are becoming more frequent. Risk factors are well known: low physical activity, smoking, heredity factor, coronary heart disease, hypertension, pathology of the biliary tract and liver, diabetes mellitus, high blood cholesterol, obesity. The joints of the legs also hurt due to atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis of vessels
Arterial circulation in the legs at rest may be sufficient, but during exercise, the narrowed arteries are unable to meet the ever-increasing oxygen demand of the muscles. That is why pain occurs in the muscles, and the patient develops intermittent claudication. While walking, especially when going up, there is pain in the calves, which forces the patient to stop from time to time. Pain differs from sciatica in that it does not depend on turns of the body and sudden movements. The patient may also be disturbed by convulsions, weakness, a feeling of heaviness. If there is no treatment, then gangrene may develop with further amputation of the inflamed area.
Obliterating endarteritis affects the peripheral small arteries of the lower extremities. It is distinguished by a wave-like course, when exacerbations are replaced by remissions. Its feature is the symmetry of the inflammation of the limbs.
Heaviness and pain, combined with edema, may indicate lymphadenitis, that is, damage to the lymph nodes, as well as lymphangitis, an inflammatory process in the lymphleg vessels. However, in old age, swelling of the lower extremities is most often caused by pathologies of the heart and vascular system (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 disorder - 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 look for them on your own. It is better to consult a doctor in time. He will be able to make the correct diagnosis and determine why the legs hurt. We examined the reasons for the appearance of these unpleasant sensations in this article.
