Swelling in the leg occurs as a result of the filling of cells and intercellular spaces in the muscle tissue with fluid. Typically, this pathology affects the lower parts of the legs - legs and feet. This is due, first of all, to the heavy load to which the lower limbs are exposed during the day.
Swelling can be either a norm, indicating the body’s adaptation to external factors, or an alarming signal indicating a disease. You can reliably find out what causes leg swelling by contacting a doctor and undergoing an examination. In this article we will look at the most common reasons.
You can recognize the signs of leg swelling based on certain symptoms. Swelling has varying severity; it can be stable or progressive .
In the first option, we can say that this is most likely a physiological feature of the body ; in the second case, we are definitely talking about a disease.
You should pay close attention to the dynamics, based on the results of which you can determine what causes swelling in the legs. The warning signs are:
When the extremities of the legs swell, the cause is both excessive fluid consumption and internal pathologies of the body. Therefore, at the first symptoms you should consult a doctor.
Swelling of the legs is not an independent ailment , but only a signal that must be correctly deciphered. The causes of swelling in the legs are different - both serious, requiring medical intervention, and those that can be corrected on your own. The latter include:
There are other reasons why swelling in the legs occurs - various pathological processes in the human body . Only a specialist can answer exactly what diseases cause your legs to swell, and why the body reacts this way, after an examination .
Below is a list of the most common diseases that can cause swelling of the legs.
So, what diseases cause swollen feet? This list, as it turns out, is quite long (turn it up louder)
This disease is caused by stretching of the veins and stagnation of blood as a result of disruption of the venous valves (reflux).
Varicose veins of the legs are common in medical practice.
Swelling of the legs is the initial symptom of this disease and usually appears in the late afternoon.
At the same time, there may be a feeling of heaviness and fatigue in the legs, pain, and decreased sensitivity in the fingers.
This ailment is a very common cause that explains why legs may swell. In itself, it is also a symptom that accompanies most vascular and heart diseases, such as hypertension, ischemia, arrhythmia, atherosclerosis.
In heart failure, the legs swell in the evening if the patient remains in an upright position. When he assumes a supine position, this reduces the load on the heart, and accordingly, swelling goes away.
This disease usually causes swelling in the feet and toes , but sometimes the effect extends much further, depending on the form and severity of the disease.
A disease that causes blood clots in the veins is another factor that explains why a leg or both limbs swells.
It provokes the formation of severe swelling, accompanied by painful sensations, as well as partial loss of sensation in the fingers or toes completely.
The temperature may rise, weakness and malaise may occur.
If the patient does not receive timely and correct treatment, the disease is fraught with dangerous complications , such as pulmonary embolism, which leads to death.
It provokes swelling of the legs, the cause and symptoms of which are caused by disruptions in the outflow of lymph through the vessels. Lymphodema usually causes severe swelling of both legs ; treatment is complex and time-consuming.
When the thyroid gland malfunctions, mucous swelling occurs, it is better known as hypothyroidism .
The disease causes a significant increase in body weight, apathy, and swelling of the tongue.
It can be acquired or congenital; in order to detect congenital hypothyroidism in infants, mandatory screening is carried out; acquired hypothyroidism is detected using blood tests for hormones.
With myxedema, swelling of the front of the legs appears . To get rid of it, it is necessary to eliminate the original cause.
Various pathological changes in this organ cause swelling of the legs. This phenomenon is usually observed in cirrhosis. What is the reason if the legs swell with this disease:
Concomitant signs of swelling of the lower extremities with cirrhosis are yellowing of the skin and itching.
Often the cause of swelling is various infectious and inflammatory processes, for example, rheumatism, osteomyelitis, boils and others. All diseases are individual and require different treatment.
Edema in this case acts as a concomitant symptom.
Swelling of the lower extremities as a result of injury is also not uncommon.
Bruises, dislocations, and fractures can provoke various types of swelling. Accompanied by pain, it can be one of the main symptoms of injury.
Alternatively, after the bones have healed after a fracture or fracture of the ankle, a person may experience chronic swelling of the leg where the fracture occurred.
Many allergic reactions cause swelling of the lower extremities and other areas of the body. Allergic arthritis affects the joints and is a consequence of various diseases of the joints and musculoskeletal system.
It can cause slight swelling of the legs , which quickly subsides after taking anti-allergy medications. Leg swelling can be caused by Quincke's edema, but this is rare; generally, the location of such edema is the face.
Legs may swell due to treatment with medications, mainly hormonal ones . They retain fluid in the body, causing swelling. The same reaction can occur after taking medications for hypertension.
The saliva of some insects contains toxic substances or allergens, as a result of which, after their bite, swelling occurs and the bite site swells. Such insects are bees, wasps and spiders, scorpions, and snakes.
Of course, this is not a disease, but it often causes swelling of the lower extremities.
This phenomenon is usually periodic and passes quickly.
The reasons in this case may be the following:
Modern medicine provides consumers with a huge number of drugs for the treatment of leg swelling. Most of them effectively eliminate symptoms, but there is still no need to self-medicate without finding out the cause of this phenomenon. Be healthy!
There are many reasons that cause swelling of the legs - some of them are quite harmless and are associated, rather, with a certain lifestyle, while others are associated with certain diseases and health problems. The nature of the swelling depends on the reasons that cause swelling of the legs.
The nature of swelling of the legs (unilateral or bilateral) may indicate the following reasons:
Finding out the cause of leg swelling is not an easy task, since dozens of very different factors can provoke leg swelling. In some cases, accompanying symptoms help determine the cause of edema of the lower extremities:
The most common causes of leg swelling
Most often, the cause of swelling of the lower extremities is harmless - fluid retention in the body as a result of poor nutrition (for example, too much salt in the diet).
Swelling of the legs can be a completely natural consequence of being in an upright position or in an uncomfortable position for a long time. Very often, swelling of the legs is observed during pregnancy, with excess body weight, and in elderly people.
Systemic causes of leg swelling
Systemic causes of swelling of the extremities are those disorders and diseases that affect the condition of the body as a whole. Such reasons include:
Local causes of leg swelling
Much more often, the appearance of swelling of the legs is caused by some kind of local disorder, affecting only the lower extremities.
In such cases, swelling of the legs can be caused by any leg injuries, thrombosis of the lower extremities (formation of blood clots in the lumen of blood vessels), cellulite. Is cellulite a disease or inevitable? , an allergic reaction to any food or medication. A fairly common cause of leg swelling is rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune connective tissue disease that causes damage to small joints and, as one of the consequences, swelling of the skin at the location of the damaged joints.
Drugs as a cause of leg swelling
A fairly common cause of leg swelling is certain medications that cause fluid retention in the body. Swelling Swelling: symptoms and treatment of the legs may be associated with the action of the following medications: