When your legs hurt and swell, this indicates that the body is unable to cope with the removal of excess fluid. Either because of some illness, or because you haven’t gotten enough sleep for several days. Be that as it may, the banal habit of putting your feet on a high surface at every opportunity - on a table, on the armrest of a sofa, etc. - can help. Perhaps this is not very polite in the presence of strangers, but when you are alone it is quite justified.
When your joints hurt and become swollen, the first thing you should think about is the reasons why your legs swell. Most likely it’s all about insufficiency of the muscular walls of the veins. The vein, whose direct responsibility is to return blood to the heart, begins to fail, give way, and as a result our legs hurt and swell, and a burning sensation occurs. At the same time, the blood stagnates, the veins gradually stretch - don’t expect anything good. However, you cannot place all the blame for swelling on the veins. The veins are ours, and it is our fault that they weaken. This occurs due to poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, and genetic predisposition. There are enough reasons.
Symptoms of such “chronic fatigue” of the legs cannot be ignored. If there is heaviness in the legs and a feeling as if they are on fire, the legs swell and hurt, it becomes very difficult to walk, and the skin becomes “transparent”, bluish veins appear, all this can lead to venous insufficiency, varicose veins and venous thrombosis. You should immediately find an hour and go to see a phlebologist. Be that as it may, no one better than an experienced specialist will find out the reasons why the legs swell, as well as why leg cramps occur, or what reasons in your particular case can provoke varicose veins.
However, the main reason for swelling and pain in the legs is our lifestyle, which is far from correct and healthy. Along with going to the doctor, it’s worth acquiring a couple of useful habits:
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The basis of edematous syndrome of the limbs or human body is always the conditions under which fluid easily penetrates into the intercellular space and its removal from the body is difficult.
A type of local edema is swelling of the legs, which is a manifestation of many diseases expressed in varying degrees of severity. When the swelling of the legs is not pronounced, that is, the looseness of the tissue increases slightly and water accumulates in it, this is called pastiness. In this case, there may be no visible swelling, but the skin becomes pale and soft, doughy.
Edema due to circulatory disorders and lymphatic edema have some differences.
Unlike lymphatic edema, with venous stagnation the swelling of the legs decreases somewhat with prolonged lying.
When swelling of the legs occurs periodically in a healthy person, you can analyze possible trivial causes, which in most cases can be eliminated:
In order to understand why the ankles of the feet swell greatly or why the legs generally look like pedestals, it is worth considering acute and chronic edema (see the article What to do if your legs swell).
Acute swelling of the legs includes those that develop within 2-3 days. In this case, damage can be:
Most often, thrombotic complications occur against the background of varicose veins of the legs. With prolonged bed rest or limb immobilization, as well as during chemotherapy or radiation therapy in cancer patients. An acute situation characterized by partial or complete disruption of the patency of the deep veins of the legs, which is accompanied by:
Although, there are a number of “silent” thromboses, in which the pain is not pronounced or minimal, and there is only swelling of one leg. The process can be either one-sided or two-way. Upon examination, in addition to changes in the color and volume of the leg, you can determine coldness of the limb and muscle soreness.
Post-traumatic unilateral edema is caused by rupture of Baker's cyst, avulsion of the medial head of the gastrocnemius muscle, and interfascial space syndrome. In addition to swelling, severe pain occurs in the projection of the injury.
This is usually a decompensation of chronic problems of venous outflow. It may be associated with changes in hemodynamic requirements:
Bilateral expansion of the venous trunks visible under the skin is accompanied by swelling, increased fatigue of the legs and pain after exercise.
Discomfort when walking, lameness, difficulty bending the knees, numbness of the lower extremities are unpleasant symptoms that older people often experience. Doctors often hear complaints that the joints in the legs are painful and swollen. Negative manifestations intensify with changes in weather, stress on the limbs, heavy lifting, and exacerbation of chronic diseases.
What to do? What ointments and rubs will help with negative symptoms? It is important to understand what factor caused discomfort in the joints and what disease is developing. Only after examination by an orthopedist-traumatologist, rheumatologist or arthrologist can treatment begin.
There are several dozen diseases in which destructive and degenerative changes occur in cartilage and bone tissue. A person without medical education cannot determine the cause of inflammation, swelling, aching or sharp pain in the joints of the legs.
To make a diagnosis, a visit to a specialist who deals with musculoskeletal problems is required. Often an examination is carried out by a gastroenterologist, gynecologist, neurologist, urologist, or infectious disease specialist. In many cases, the doctor prescribes not only an ultrasound, MRI, CT scan or x-ray, but also blood and urine tests.
Find out about the benefits and features of laser therapy for arthrosis of the knee joint.
What to do if your shoulder hurts a lot when you raise your arm up? Treatment methods are described on this page.
Treatment of leg joints with rheumatoid arthritis:
Find out about the rules for using Mucosat Belmed for the treatment of joint diseases.
The symptoms and treatment of hallux valgus in children are written on this page.
Follow the link http://vseosustavah.com/bolezni/lechenie/meditsinskaya-zhelch.html and read about the treatment of heel spurs with medical bile.
Provoking factors, symptoms:
Why do the joints of the legs and arms hurt and how to deal with negative symptoms? Useful tips in the following video:
According to statistics, every fourth person has pain and swelling in their legs, and three of them are representatives of the fairer sex. It is generally accepted that overweight people usually suffer from this disease, but, unfortunately, those who do not have extra pounds also suffer. Most often, the reason lies in insufficient physical activity, poor diet or genetic predisposition and other reasons. One way or another, every person should know what to do if their legs hurt and swell. If swelling and pain in the legs are constant, then you should consult a doctor, because swelling of the legs affects blood circulation and forces the heart to work harder. You can find information about which doctor to go to if your legs hurt in this article .
In order for your legs to stop hurting and to forget about swelling in your legs, you need to start with our habits - these are shoes, which have already been mentioned, and nutrition.
To prevent your legs from hurting and swelling, you need to avoid salty foods, very hot seasonings and foods that increase cholesterol in the blood. Eat more fruits and berries, raw vegetables, which have a diuretic effect and help remove excess fluid from the body.
If your legs hurt and swell, try to properly organize your workplace, where you can put your legs on a small stand, or put them on a chair or sofa for a while.
Try to take short breaks for basic physical exercise, then in the evening your legs will not swell and hurt.
Avoid sitting all day without getting up from your desk, which can reduce stress on your legs.
Have a spare pair of shoes at work so that you can change into more comfortable shoes if necessary.
To relieve fatigue from the legs, special baths are very helpful, but you must remember that hot baths are not recommended if your legs hurt due to varicose veins.
You need to add sea salt to cool water and lower your legs, sit for a while, give a light massage to the calf muscles, then wipe with a dry towel.
Contrast baths are very good for pain and swelling, starting with cold water (10 seconds), then immersing in hot water (5 minutes), adding salt and herbs - chamomile or lemon balm - to the hot water. The last bath should be hot. There is no need to apply cream after baths: why should your feet need extra stress, even in the form of cream, they should rest overnight.
When you come home after work, so that your legs don’t start to hurt and to relieve swelling, it’s good to just lie on the couch with them elevated and let them relax.
If you are sitting, you can put them on a nearby chair or armchair.
If possible, go to the pool, ride a bike, do yoga, walk more, at least 30 minutes a day.
You can do simple exercises during the day if your feet hurt and swell in the evenings: take off your shoes and first rise on your toes, and then lower yourself onto your heels and do this several times.
Do not smoke, as nicotine destroys the walls of blood vessels and this can cause illness.
Try to wear elastic underwear, which helps improve blood circulation. Tight underwear (stockings, tights, socks) impedes blood flow and the limbs begin to swell in the evening.
Good circulation of the circulatory system of our body also depends on a sufficient amount of vitamins and microelements that we consume. If your legs hurt and swell, you need to include foods rich in potassium in your diet: bananas, dried apricots, honey, apricots, lettuce.
Puffiness of the limbs can indicate serious diseases of the cardiovascular, urinary and other systems. It can be detected through a detailed examination of the patient.
Doctors of various specialties often hear the question from patients: why is there swelling in the arms, legs, and face? This problem affects people of various age groups and causes a lot of trouble. This is often a life-threatening condition that requires urgent action.
There are many reasons why swelling of the arms and legs occurs. They lead to:
Swelling of the hands and feet is primarily a symptom. Taking into account the characteristics of edema, it is possible to make a preliminary diagnosis already at the examination stage, to navigate further examination and treatment tactics for the patient.
Edema appears when heart failure develops. The greater the degree of decompensation of the disease, the more obvious the swelling. Swelling is localized in the legs and gradually rises, intensifying in the evening, the skin is cold to the touch and has a bluish coloration, and is symmetrical in nature.
In this case, the swelling is also symmetrical. But there are distinctive features. The skin is warm and pale. Favorite localization is the upper half of the body. As the underlying problem progresses, spread to the lower extremities is noted. Swelling appears mainly in the morning.
Most often, hypothyroidism leads to swelling - decreased function of the thyroid gland. First of all, the face and upper half of the body swell, and as the function of the thyroid gland decreases, the lower extremities also swell. The swelling is symmetrical, the skin is dense. Constancy is also characteristic of this type of swelling.
Swelling appears in the evening and intensifies after physical activity. May be asymmetrical. This depends on the level of vascular damage and the degree of decompensation. The skin is cold and cyanosis is often observed.
It is also worth noting that during pregnancy you can also experience swelling of the legs. This is due to compression of the veins in the pelvis by the growing uterus. This obstructs the flow of blood and as a result, fluid accumulates. Against this background, the ankles and ankles swell.
Swelling can be systemic in nature, when the arms, legs, face, torso swell symmetrically and localized - ascites. Its constancy is characteristic. It is associated with the loss of protein by the body.
Treatment of swelling is carried out depending on the cause that caused it. Each specific case has its own characteristics. This is why it is so important to identify the causes of this problem.
Drug treatment is aimed at compensating for the underlying disease. Each pathological condition has its own treatment characteristics.
In case of cardiovascular diseases, swelling of the legs is eliminated with the help of diuretics. In practice, doctors use loop (Furosemide), thiazide-like (Hydrochlorothiazide), adaldosterone antagonists (Veroshpiron). All other classes of drugs used in the treatment of cardiac pathology are intended to compensate for disorders and prevent the development of swelling.
When the arms and legs are swollen due to renal pathology, diuretics are also used. Also, the complex of therapy should include antibiotics, drugs that improve blood flow in the kidney and other agents.
Treatment of swelling due to hormonal disorders involves hormonal correction. After this, the puffiness of the face, arms, and legs disappears.
To eliminate swelling in vascular diseases, venotonic drugs (Venarus, Phlebodia), drugs with a venotonic and at the same time lymphatic drainage effect (Detralex) are used.
Treatment of edematous extremities in hepatobiliary diseases puts the primary goal of eliminating the cause. For example, for viral hepatitis this is antiviral therapy. In severe cases, when there are large losses of protein, these losses are replenished by infusion with a protein preparation (Albumin).
Surgical treatment does not involve eliminating swelling of the leg or arm, but eliminating the cause. They resort to it in cases of severe decompensation of the underlying cause, when therapeutic measures have exhausted their possibilities. When the development of edema is associated with heart pathology, they resort to stenting, coronary artery bypass grafting, and valve replacement. In particularly difficult situations, heart transplantation is performed.
If the face and hands swell due to kidney disease, then there are a number of surgical interventions to restore normal kidney function. In cases where this function cannot be restored, the solution is a kidney transplant.
Surgical interventions on the thyroid gland are extremely rarely necessary. It is removed according to strict vital indications. In the case of hypothyroidism, surgery is not necessary in most cases. Swelling is eliminated with the help of hormonal correction.
Surgical treatment of varicose veins includes sclerotherapy and removal of the affected veins.
If there is a violation of the hepatobiliary system, bypass surgery is performed, and in extremely severe cases, liver transplantation is performed.
It is important to know why limbs swell when using folk remedies.
Leg joints can become inflamed due to a variety of diseases. All of them are divided into two large categories: arthrosis or arthritis. In this case, diseases of each group can be secondary or primary.
Primary diseases develop on their own, usually as a complication after injury or mechanical impact on a joint of the leg, foot or heel.
Secondary diseases are a complication of an existing disease - tuberculosis, osteoporosis, lupus.
Half a century ago, arthrosis and arthritis of the knee, foot and other joints were diagnosed mainly in people over forty years of age.
Today, even teenagers come to the arthrologist with complaints that one or another joint is swollen and has been hurting for a long time.
This is due to two extremes of the lifestyle of modern man:
An additional impetus for the development of foot or heel diseases can be injuries, wearing uncomfortable, low-quality shoes for the sake of fashion, or bad habits.
There are characteristic symptoms that indicate that the joints of the foot, leg, knee or hip are unhealthy. If the joint is swollen, and this symptom does not go away for more than a week, or repeats from time to time after physical activity, the development of joint pathology can be suspected. At the same time, the manifestations of arthritic and arthrosis diseases are somewhat different.
Arthritis is an inflammatory process in the joints. In the later stages, almost all tissues are involved: tendons, cartilage, muscles, ligaments, bones. If left untreated, the joint becomes deformed and then destroyed.
Arthrosis is the premature wear of cartilage. With excessive loads and metabolic disorders, the cartilage becomes thin and then wears out. To make up for it, the joint forms bone growths, as a result of which its mobility is impaired and eventually it is completely blocked.
Both of these diseases are equally unpleasant and lead to complete disability if left untreated. Here are the symptoms of the most common joint diseases.
If your knee, ankle, or hip joint is swollen, it may be a symptom of an internal organ problem, such as hypertension or kidney dysfunction.
Often accompanied by swelling. But in this case there is no pain or very weak.
Inflammation of the knee, hip or ankle joint can be caused by a variety of factors. The main ones:
Obviously, if one of the joints of the legs (knee, leg or thigh) is swollen, there can be many reasons for this. Among them are serious diseases, the treatment of which should be carried out under the supervision of a doctor after an accurate diagnosis.
It is impossible to determine the disease and its form just by the fact that the joint is swollen and painful; additional research and then treatment are required.
How successful treatment will be for a hip, knee, shin, or heel depends on when the patient seeks help.
Early diagnosis allows you to minimize treatment with medications and switch to physiotherapy and folk remedies, as well as avoid serious complications and consequences.
People often turn to a rheumatologist with a problem – pain in the joints of the arms and legs. The hand, despite being thin, can withstand different loads. Aching arms and legs can occur due to various diseases. In addition to severe pain, joint mobility is impaired. Arthralgia leads to loss of performance.
There are mechanical and inflammatory causes. In addition to aching joints, stiffness is felt in the affected area, and motor activity decreases. During the inflammatory process, the skin swells and turns red. Mechanical causes include degenerative processes and various injuries that lead to severe pain. When a person rests, the pain intensifies.
Most often, the symptom is caused by the following diseases:
1. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, when the body’s defense system fails. The body mistakes its own cells for foreign cells. The joint is gradually destroyed, followed by an inflammatory process, aches and unbearable pain in the affected area. Rheumatoid arthritis occurs in older and younger people. It has a symmetrical development. The joint begins to deform, then the fingers become bent, and motor function is completely impaired.
2. Gout also causes pain. The disease develops when large amounts of uric acid crystals accumulate in the joints. Gout occurs in those who love meat products. With gout, the pain becomes excruciating and unbearable. Due to the weather, aches and pains appear in the arms and legs. Burning throbbing pains worsen at night, becoming a little easier in the morning.
3. Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage of a joint wears out. The disease is characteristic of old age. Osteoarthritis of the hand joints leads to aches and pain in the joints of the hand, wrist, elbows, and shoulders. Unpleasant sensations worsen with physical activity. Aches occur when pressure is applied to the damaged joint.
4. Arthritis refers to an infectious disease in which an inflammatory process develops in the joints. In acute arthritis, in addition to aches, there is severe pain, swelling, the skin in the joint turns red, and the body temperature rises sharply. Chronic arthritis is characterized by periodic pain that occurs less frequently.
5. Various injuries can also cause joint pain. In case of sprains, fractures, dislocations, in addition to aches, unbearable excruciating pain worries you. In addition to aches and pain, the joint swells greatly, the skin turns red, and motor activity is impaired.
Aches and pains are a fairly common problem; a person cannot work fully. It is important to undergo a comprehensive examination and treatment on time, this way you can alleviate the symptoms, restore functions in the hand, and get rid of pain.
The treatment method is selected depending on the disease. You can get rid of aches in the joints of the arms and legs with the help of medications. The most commonly used painkillers are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. They help stop the inflammatory process and relieve pain. Pay attention to the side effects of such drugs, the function of the intestines and stomach is disrupted.
To get rid of the aches that occur in the case of an autoimmune disease, it is necessary to use glucocorticosteroid hormones. They are a powerful remedy against inflammation; the patient feels much better after taking them. For aches and pains, it is recommended to use special healing ointments; they have an anti-inflammatory and anesthetic effect.
This symptom is typical for arthrosis, radiculitis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteochondrosis, spinal injury, and displacement. An orthopedist will tell you the exact cause of the pain.
Aching is not always a sign of problems with the joints; in some situations it can indicate vascular or cardiac pathology, and also occurs with diseases of the spine. Aches have been bothering me for a long time and are a common symptom when the weather changes.
The joints are sensitive to low atmospheric pressure, high air humidity, and sudden, sharp cold snaps. When the weather changes, joint pain increases. In rheumatism and arthritis, the nerve endings are damaged. Atmospheric changes affect joint pressure. A person has severe joint pain because the endings of the nerves of the cartilaginous surface in the joints are irritated. When the pressure returns to normal, the symptoms go away. When the amount of water in the air increases, the nerve endings begin to swell sharply, and severe pain occurs.
Symptoms often occur in older people who experience age-related degenerative processes. You can relieve the aches by taking a hot bath; going to the sauna is useful. In cold weather, try not to get too cold; use warming ointments, belts, and bandages.
Get as much sleep and rest as possible. Aches and pains can cause fatigue. To forget about a symptom forever, you need to find out its root cause. For preventive purposes, perform a special set of therapeutic exercises.
In the future, it is necessary to undergo comprehensive treatment to normalize metabolism in bone tissue. It is advised to take vitamins, chondroprotectors, include biological supplements in your diet, and adjust your menu. Fish, meat, pearl barley, seafood, and buckwheat will help restore cartilage tissue. The universal remedy “Osteoartisi” contains components that improve the condition of cartilage tissue.
So, aches in the joints of the arms and legs can be caused by various reasons. To get rid of it, you first need to find out the cause, and then select the necessary course of therapy. For preventive purposes, lead a healthy lifestyle and perform special exercises.