When a child's legs hurt, especially during sleep or at night, this is considered a sign of his growth. This does not happen to everyone; for many, the pain is not so severe and they simply do not feel it. As a rule, such painful growth occurs from 2 to 3 years, when the entire skeletal system is formed. However, pain can also appear in 7-9 year old children. And this can also be considered growth, since at this age many children begin to stretch out greatly.
In any case, no physician has yet been able to identify the cause of the growth mechanism. According to doctors, when bones begin to grow quickly, the muscles simply cannot keep up with them, as a result of which the muscles and tendons become tense, fit tightly to the bones and compress the joints, which causes a feeling of discomfort. The places of pain can also be different - from the upper thigh to the lower ankle of the legs. Growing pain has its own characteristics; it is not sharp, piercing, but nagging, like after an intense workout in the gym.
The fact is that the child is constantly in motion all day long - he plays, runs, jumps, and during sleep the muscles relax, but the tension remains and causes pain. However, growing pains should not be confused with cramps. The latter represent an acute pain that blocks all steps of the slightest movement. There is no clear interval and frequency of pain, as well as the reasons for its occurrence. Today the child is cheerful, playing and having fun, and tomorrow he spends his evenings at home, complaining of unwell legs.
Not everything is as harmless as we would like to see. Sometimes the cause of leg pain can be the onset and development of a serious disease such as rheumatoid arthritis. Only a doctor can make an accurate diagnosis.
Particular attention should be paid if the pain is accompanied by:
Once the diagnosis of arthritis has been completely ruled out, it’s time to find other ways to deal with night pain.
In addition to physical manual manipulations, you cannot do without taking special medications for quick and effective pain relief. It can be:
They are produced in the form of syrups and that is why they are easy to use and tasty even for the most fastidious patients. Before use, use the attached instructions for the drug, and you must be completely sure that the child does not have any allergies, since there are a huge amount of additives in these “miracle drugs”. If the pain is associated specifically with growth, then it will be short-term in nature and may relapse no earlier than in 2-3 years. And a few sleepless nights are mere trifles for loving parents.
Today, the vast majority of the adult population complains of nagging pain in the legs, especially if we are talking about city residents. This, first of all, may be associated with blood flow disorders and vascular diseases, but the reasons can be completely different, so the necessary studies must be ordered to determine them.
One of the answers to the question of why the legs are pulled should be looked for in the spine. Diseases associated with this vital element of the human body, for example, osteochondrosis, are often the root causes. This is due to pinched nerves and is often accompanied by aching pain in the lower back. Such sensations can appear at any time of the day and to eliminate them, first of all, a tomogram of the spine is done.
In addition to pinched nerves, the causes of nagging pain in the legs can be a number of diseases, for example, varicose veins, diabetes, gout, atherosclerosis. This also includes problems with the genitourinary system, rheumatism and poisoning.
Some of the diseases listed above directly affect the thickness of the walls of blood vessels and the free circulation of blood. Due to deposits on the walls, blood flow worsens and metabolic products are not removed in a timely manner. This causes a feeling of heaviness, which causes patients to ask: Why do my legs feel sore at night? A vascular surgeon can determine the causes of the disease, and there are also procedures for scanning the arteries. In addition, blood is donated to measure platelet levels, glucose and coagulability.
The reason why legs drag is often a lack of useful minerals and trace elements in the body. This condition can occur, for example, in pregnant women. After starting to take vitamin complexes, the patient’s condition may improve in the coming days. Such preparations must contain calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and vitamin C. There are also special tests that determine the lack of a specific element or vitamin. For example, treatment for such symptoms, when legs drag at night, is based on replenishing the body with magnesium reserves. To prevent such situations, a balanced diet is necessary.
There is one more criterion that stands apart, which can provoke such complaints - acute and chronic poisoning, intoxication. The presence of microbial processes, along with a decrease in the functions of a number of organs, leads to an excess of lactic acid and ketone bodies in the muscles of the legs, which causes uncomfortable sensations. What should you do in such situations if your legs are pulled? First of all, cleanse the body of poisons and toxins. To more accurately determine signs of poisoning, biochemical tests of urine and blood are prescribed. Disorders of metabolic processes often cause accelerated accumulation of toxins, and the polluted body sends signals about this in the form of pain in the limbs.
Nagging pain at night is more common among the fairer sex. There are often situations when, after examinations, no pathologies related to blood vessels or the endocrine system are revealed, and there are no signs of varicose veins. Despite all preventive measures, the pain continues. These cases are related to the mental state of the patient, and the reasons should be sought in his head. Due to the presence of stressful situations, the brain does not allow the muscles and muscle fibers to fully relax. The muscles are constantly toned and tense. This is the main answer to the question of why leg muscles pull.
Often before going to bed, a person wants to move his legs, in the apparent absence of cramps in the limbs. The so-called restless legs syndrome can even provoke a nervous breakdown. Having established the reasons why the leg muscles are pulled, you need to start exercising, which you can easily do at home. To do this, you need to properly load the leg muscles in the evening. It is recommended to do the following set of activities 2 hours before bedtime:
Such exercises can help in situations where the right leg or both legs are pulled at night. Naturally, you should avoid stressful situations and keep your own emotional background under control.
Pregnant women often experience a feeling of heaviness in their legs. They come to see a doctor with a complaint that their legs are stretched during pregnancy. The reason for this phenomenon lies in the fact that with the development of the fetus in the mother’s womb, the weight of the woman herself increases, and therefore the load on the lower limbs. This is a fairly common ailment and in order to avoid possible swelling and varicose veins, it is necessary to adhere to preventive measures. These include, again, proper nutrition, daily exercise, and avoidance of high-heeled shoes. It is necessary to compensate for the lack of vitamins in the body, especially to ensure sufficient consumption of vitamins D, E, magnesium, potassium, calcium and other useful elements. Despite the abundance of possible factors why in this case the legs drag at night, the answer, first of all, should be sought in pregnancy itself and the overloads of the body inherent in it.
I always thought that all foot problems were caused by heels. Or rather, heels are already a problem for feet, and therefore you should not wear them, and if you wear them, then not 11-centimeter stilettos, but a stable heel no more than 6 cm.
Recently, my husband and I went to explore the area in which we had recently purchased a home, and somehow, unnoticed, we got lost. ))) We went into some industrial area, we don’t know where we came from or in which direction we should continue our journey, we decided to follow the sound of the train. We got lost for a total of two hours, walked at a fairly fast pace, that is, we covered about 10 kilometers. When we finally got to the railway station, I was not only tired, I couldn’t even take a step without pain, which was the most surprising thing: after all, I was wearing soft leather shoes with completely flat soles. And my feet were pulling and aching just incredibly, which seriously alarmed me!
When your feet hurt , when every step is painful, then all thoughts about heels are instantly discarded. You can only think about this - pain in the foot - and wish that it would stop as soon as possible. What medications are recommended, how to interpret the doctor’s words, what the symptoms indicate, and most importantly, how to treat foot pain? Step-by-step instructions are waiting for you in this article! Get ready to remember that massage is not only a relaxation procedure, but also an effective treatment, including for pain in the feet.
“Wandering” pain in the foot is often the result of ligamentitis, a kind of inflammation of the ligaments that leads to narrowing of the tendon canals. And if a surgeon or orthopedist does not detect any serious damage to the foot, then most often this kind of pain in it is precisely a signal of a developing disease.
If you feel sudden pain in your feet in the heel area , you should treat it with cold for the first 48 hours. It is recommended to massage the heel with an ice cube for 5-7 minutes until it becomes numb. Ice massage can be performed 3-4 times a day. After 48 hours, you need to start alternating cold with heat: apply ice to the sore spot for 15 minutes, then take a break for 15 minutes, and then apply a hot heating pad for 15 minutes. This procedure should be carried out once a day.
If pain continues to occur (especially when putting stress on the legs), you can resort to anti-inflammatory, analgesic ointments such as viprosal, indomethacin, diclofenac. These ointments should be rubbed into painful areas, trying to thoroughly massage the painful areas. Naturally, the same treatment methods can be used for ligamentitis of the upper extremities. And experts also recommend taking special non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, brufen, ortofen for this disease.
If the patient does not have the opportunity to go to a physiotherapist , he must take the matter of fighting ligamentitis (and preventing its exacerbations) into his own hands. Often, insufficient elasticity of the heel tendon, which increases with age, can cause pain in the heel and arch of the foot even after minor physical exertion. Stretching the tendon can relieve pain. In some cases, no other treatment is required.
Ligamentitis does not necessarily occur in the foot. Remember how your hands sometimes begin to ache or how pain appears in the area of the wrist joints if you have moved furniture or worked thoroughly with a shovel, rake, hoe, or even just a broom - this most often also indicates the initial manifestations of the disease.