What causes swelling of the calves

Why women's legs swell and how to deal with it

Swelling is a signal of excessive accumulation of water in the tissues. Swelling of the legs is more common in the fair half of humanity. A healthy body is able to remove all excess fluid on its own, so if you observe alarming symptoms, you need to figure out why women’s legs swell and how to deal with it.

Naturally, not all cases are worth worrying about: there are many conditions in which swelling is a normal reaction to the external environment. For example, women's legs often swell in the summer, but the symptoms go away after a cold bath or half an hour of lying with their legs elevated.

The only warning about malfunctions is constant swelling, to relieve which you have to use medical means.

Main reasons and types

Some of the causes are fraught with serious consequences, others can be easily eliminated, making your life easier and the strain on your veins.

Heart problems appear when women have swelling in their calves. The cause may be heart failure, often high blood pressure or cardiomyopathy. These manifestations occur if the legs of older women swell. In addition, the inability of the heart to ensure normal blood circulation is evidenced by shortness of breath and increased fatigue when walking.

Kidney failure, which is associated with high blood pressure, mechanical obstructions in urine excretion, autoimmune diseases or diabetes. The principle of the disease in this version is the inability of the kidneys to filter waste in the form of residual fluid, which as a result is retained in the body and provokes edema.

Factors less hazardous to health include:

uncomfortable shoes;

sedentary work;

great physical activity;

excess weight.

According to the causes of swelling, several types are distinguished:

• Hydraemic: associated with kidney diseases.
• Cachectic: manifests itself in connection with heart disease.
• Congestive swelling: appears as a result of inelasticity of blood vessels and increased pressure in the capillaries.
• Mechanical: typical in the case of tumors of various etiologies and during pregnancy.
• Neuropathic: appears due to diabetes or alcoholism.
• Allergic: occurs after exposure to an allergen, disappears after treatment with antihistamines.

Constant swelling, which is almost impossible to remove on your own, always has a reason, which often only an experienced doctor can identify. If you notice the corresponding symptoms, you need to contact a general practitioner, who will refer you to a urologist, cardiologist or phlebologist.

You can remove it yourself using different methods:

• Walking. Daily walking helps strengthen the walls of blood vessels in the legs. In addition, walking helps improve blood circulation due to periodic tension of the lower leg muscles, which means it prevents the appearance of congestive swelling. In this case, you should take only comfortable shoes, because otherwise the effect will be the opposite.
• Swimming. The water presses evenly on the skin, providing a lymphatic drainage effect, and tension in the calves helps improve blood circulation, ensuring its flow from the legs to the heart. To achieve long-lasting results, you need to swim about three times a day for at least half an hour.
• While lying on your back, perform circular movements with your feet, first in one direction, then in the other, and then stretch your toes and heels alternately. Each movement should be repeated at least 20 times. This is especially helpful if your feet are swollen at the ankles.

Medical supplies

There are many suitable medications that can be classified according to their direction of action:

• Toning gels, creams or ointments for topical use. Such products are often based on chestnut or ginkgo biloba extract. They normalize the elasticity of the walls of blood vessels, improving its permeability. The same drugs can be used in tablets, but only on the recommendation of a doctor in complex forms of the disease.
• Diuretics are aimed at ridding the body of fluid that the kidneys are unable to filter. There are many homeopathic medicines for this, which include strawberries, juniper, rose hips, horsetail, plantain, nettle and other natural ingredients.

Garlic infusion: crushed garlic must be poured with boiling water, and after the mixture has cooled, rub the swelling area, leaving for half an hour.

To prevent swelling, you should follow simple rules:

1. Do not eat a lot of salty foods, smoked foods and foods that cause thirst.
2. Move more, avoiding prolonged sitting.
3. Do a foot massage. This is especially useful if women's legs swell in the evening.
4. Take twenty-minute cooling baths.
5. Wear comfortable shoes.

Why legs swell: 4 main reasons

This unpleasant discovery - swelling in the legs - can be made by anyone on one not-so-wonderful day. And, of course, he will think about how to get rid of them. But, before starting treatment, you need to find out why your legs are swelling. Only in this case will the treatment be successful.

Reason number 1: excess salt in the body

Remember: you ate salty food to your heart’s content, then drank some water – and then you’re welcome?! And you don’t need to think about why your legs swell: it’s just an imbalance of microelements in the body . As you know, potassium ensures the flow of water into the cell, and sodium – from the cells. This is how the potassium-sodium pump works. By consuming a lot of salty foods (read sodium), we created an artificial excess of sodium in the body, as a result of which water from the cells began to leak into the pericellular space - this is how swelling was formed, which, under the influence of gravity, will first accumulate in the legs. But, since there is little fluid in the cells, the body becomes thirsty, we drink again, and water again passes through the cell into the pericellular space and increases swelling.

What to do? You can eat salty foods, but you need to know when to stop . It is better to quench your thirst with juice with mineral water or warm tea with lemon. The swelling will go away on its own within 24 hours.

Reason No. 2: poor vascular function

If you lead a sedentary lifestyle rather than an active one, then your small vessels ( capillaries ) cease to be elastic. Without receiving their complex of daily movements, they gradually weaken and, as a result, lose the ability to quickly move water from arterioles to venules. Blood circulation stagnates, and water gradually accumulates in the legs. This can most often be determined by pressing on the skin over the shin bone close to the ankle.

What to do? Increase physical activity . Introduce the healthy habit of walking for at least two hours a day - and gradually your blood vessels will regain their former strength and swelling will disappear.

Reason No. 3: poor heart function

Swelling in the legs can also occur due to problems with our main pump in the body - the heart . It can suffer not only from heart disease itself, but also from pneumonia, prolonged bronchitis and all kinds of viral infections. In this case, the heart cannot ensure the normal movement of blood through the vascular system, as a result of which it stagnates in the veins and capillaries and its liquid part sweats through the walls of the vessels into the peri-tissue space, which is why the legs swell.

What to do? During acute illnesses, do not be a hero, lie down in bed. If after or during an illness you notice swelling in your legs, consult a therapist or cardiologist .

Reason number 4: poor kidney function

Another reason why legs swell is kidney disease . The kidneys are the body's filter, passing huge amounts of blood through itself and separating waste products that are excreted in the urine. If kidney function is impaired, swelling will certainly appear, including in the legs.

What to do? If you find swelling in your legs and your diuresis (the amount of urine per day) has decreased significantly, do not delay a visit to a nephrologist or urologist . Timely, competent treatment will allow you to fully restore your health.