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Heaviness in the legs
Last reviewed: 05.07.2025
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When a person feels heaviness in the legs, it is not just fatigue. It can be a signal of a complex disease that needs to be treated immediately. The peculiarity of "heavy legs" is that this symptom can manifest itself when the hidden disease is still unknown.
Why are the legs the first to react?
Legs are the organ that bears the heaviest load, since the entire body weight falls on them. And it is no secret that many people suffer from excess weight. In addition, legs are constantly in motion. A person takes an average of six to eight thousand steps per day. As soon as the legs start to hurt, a comprehensive diagnosis is needed, which can detect other diseases at their very beginning.
Why does blood stagnation occur?
Stagnation of blood in the veins of the extremities occurs because the liquid, which is blood, cannot independently rise to the heart valve and circulate throughout the body. This is the law of gravity. This causes swelling in the legs and thrombi (blood clots) in the veins. To prevent them from forming, the blood must be sufficiently liquid and move quickly enough through the veins, without stagnating in them.
Causes of leg pain
Pain in the veins and lower extremities may be signs of damage, injury or inflammation of the arteries. It may also be caused by diseases of the veins, as well as vertebrae, vessels, tendons, muscles, and lymph nodes.
The causes of pain in the veins can also be diseases of the nervous system, which have not yet been diagnosed. Pain in the veins can occur when joints, lymph nodes, bones and tendons are deformed or inflamed.
Pain in the veins can be a signal that something is wrong with a person's blood. One of the diseases that can start with pain in the legs, heaviness in the legs, can be diabetes. Moreover, doctors can diagnose high blood sugar levels after the patient complains of heaviness and pain in the lower extremities.
Diabetic foot
Symptoms of diabetes mellitus include muscle cramps in the legs, weakness in the lower extremities when a person stands, general weakness, increased dryness of the skin, which is not removed even with creams. The legs may swell, and edema appears in them. An edematous foot is called a diabetic foot. This is a very serious symptom. If a diabetic foot is not treated, it will eventually have to be amputated.
Other signs of diabetic foot are dry, even over-dried skin, skin irritation, itching, peeling, pimples (small). Very often, a person may be bothered by pain in the lower extremities, especially in the calf area, as well as cramps. At night, cramps can intensify even more in combination with pain in the veins.
In addition to these symptoms, the legs may become cold, numb, and the person cannot feel anything in them even when pricking with a light needle. This means that the nerve endings are affected. The person may also feel as if small bugs are crawling on his legs, and this is very irritating.
Pain in the lower extremities can be either smooth and constant, or sharp and increasing. It does not depend on the season or time of day. If the pain is sharp and changes - sometimes quiet, sometimes strong - it may be a sign of vascular occlusion, in particular, a large artery. Then the leg is deprived of nutrients and oxygen, which is carried with the blood. It can be saved only if the person immediately seeks emergency medical care. Otherwise, the leg will have to be amputated in 4-5 hours.
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Diagnosis of heavy legs
If your legs feel heavy, you need to do at least two things. First, reduce swelling and inflammation (for this, take a diuretic and anti-inflammatory medication) and help the blood circulate properly through the veins - saturate it with nutrients using vitamin complexes.
If this is not done at the initial stages of the disease, then the leg will have to be treated much longer and more difficultly. Unfortunately, almost always a person does not seek medical help in a timely manner, and in 90% of cases of heaviness in the legs, the moment to prevent the disease is missed. Therefore, do not hesitate to contact a doctor in the first days, as you will be bothered by the following symptoms:
- Heaviness in the legs
- Increased sweating, cold sweat
- Pain in the legs
- Goosebumps on the skin
- Cramps, especially at night
- Feeling of numbness in the lower limbs
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Precautionary measures
Do not hesitate to consult a doctor before you want to use any means to relieve heaviness in the legs. They can be harmful if you have concomitant diseases, and creams contain substances that are unacceptable for these diseases.
You will also need examinations of internal organs, in particular, ultrasound (ultrasound diagnostics). You will need laboratory tests of blood and urine, as well as ultrasound scanning of the veins and arteries of the legs.
These examinations will help to identify possible changes in the structure of vessels, veins and other tissues. It is necessary to understand the degree of narrowing of the vascular lumen, whether the arteries are blocked. If such areas exist, the doctor will identify them and suggest what treatment methods can be applied.
Angioscanning
This scanning method will allow you to see the condition of the veins - both deep and superficial along their entire length. Doctors call this "visualizing the veins." Doctors will be able to determine the degree of blockage of the vein by a thrombus, if any. Whether there are complications - angioscanning will also help determine.
A complication in the form of floating thrombosis is a serious consequence of phlebitis. There is a risk that the thrombus can break away from the arterial wall and affect the pulmonary artery, blocking it. This term sounds like embolism.
Research of endocrine organs
These organs, in particular the thyroid gland, are responsible for how calcium is regulated in the body, how much of it remains in the blood, and how much goes into the muscles and bones. If there is not enough calcium in the body, its role is played by teeth, nails, hair, which begin to crumble, fall out and disintegrate. Then a person develops osteoporosis, cramps in the calf muscles or other parts of the legs, muscles and joints can hurt a lot.
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Ultrasound of the genitals
In women, the organs located in the pelvis are examined - these are the ovaries and uterus. In men - an ultrasound of the prostate gland. These studies will help determine whether a person has diseases of the genitourinary system, due to which there is heaviness and pain in the legs, since the pelvic bones and leg bones are connected.
If there are problems with the bones or joints of the pelvis, they are deformed or bear too much load, they can compress the large vessels of the legs. Then the blood circulation in the compressed vessels is disrupted, the legs become heavy and painful. In this case, you should immediately consult a doctor.
Blood test to detect inflammation
There are blood tests that can detect inflammation in the veins or small vessels of the legs, as well as in the arteries. This will make it possible to detect phlebitis (inflammation in the veins) or arteritis (inflammation of the arteries) at an early stage and begin treating them in time. If these diseases are detected at an early stage, they will be much easier to cope with than if the process has become chronic and acute.
What to do with venous congestion?
To prevent this, a person must help the muscles contract and the veins unload. A sedentary lifestyle or "life on our feet" prevents us from doing this, as well as tight shoes, unnatural socks, high heels. And, of course, increased weight, which presses on the legs when walking and does not allow them to rest. Legs can also suffer from cardiovascular diseases.
It takes a long time for the blood to reach them from the heart. And if the heart cannot cope with its functions, for example, with heart failure, then the legs suffer first. So heaviness in the legs can be a symptom of heart disease. The sooner it is diagnosed, the easier it will be to treat. Therefore, if you have heaviness in your legs and even minor pain in the heart, you should definitely see a doctor.
Treatment of "heavy legs"
To choose the best treatment for your legs, you need to know all the associated diseases. For example, if heaviness in the legs is caused by diabetes, you need to exclude foods and medications that can cause its exacerbation during treatment. If heaviness in the legs is caused by a sick heart, you need to choose a treatment that would not harm our main apparatus for pumping blood.
In other words, treatment is selected individually. Age characteristics and conditions associated with it also play a role in the selection of treatment. If a person has hypertension, then when treating legs, drugs that increase blood pressure should be excluded.
Daily routine for treating heaviness in the legs
In addition to the selection of medications, it is very important what kind of lifestyle the patient leads when he is being relieved of such a symptom as heaviness in the legs.
It is necessary to avoid overloads - both physical and mental. The load on the legs will cause an increased risk that they will hurt even more and more.
You should not sit with your legs crossed often to avoid compression of the veins. You should not choose low chairs and armchairs to avoid incorrect sitting postures.
It is very bad for the legs and the veins in them when a person uses hormonal contraceptives - they can increase inflammatory processes in the veins, especially if a person takes medications without a doctor's recommendation and does not take into account the doses and ratios of hormones.
If a person suffers from leg pain, it is better not to expose them to heat stress in the form of sitting on the beach for a long time in the heat, and to be very careful about saunas and baths. It is also necessary to avoid freezing.
It is important to wear the right shoes – leather or natural fabric, so that the foot can breathe. It is also worth giving up heels higher than 4 cm. If a woman goes to a party, she needs to take a change of shoes without a heel with her so that she can change them for the ones she came in, with a high heel. Shoes should have a wide enough toe and be stable.
Massage may not always be useful either, especially if it is a deep anti-cellulite massage and if it was performed on the legs. A massage performed incorrectly can slow down the blood flow in the veins, squeeze the veins or arteries, depriving them of oxygen, injure them, and provoke thrombophlebitis. Therefore, you cannot trust a massage to a non-specialist, especially a leg massage in the area under the knees - the veins here are the most vulnerable and located close to the surface of the skin.
You need to control your diet, add fresh vegetables and fruits to it to saturate the blood with useful substances. This is an excellent prevention of diseases associated with blockages of veins and arteries in the legs.
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It is imperative to monitor your weight
If the weight is above the norm, this can provoke increased stress on the legs, causing their diseases as a result of slow blood flow, blood stagnation and blood clots in the arteries.
Every evening you need to unload your legs, raising them above the level of your heart by 15-20 cm. To do this, you can put a pillow under your legs or rest them against the walls. A quarter of an hour in this position - and your legs will get tired much less, and look better. The load on the veins is reduced, which will not bulge from under the thin skin.
Since the legs bear the heaviest load of all organs – the legs have to bear the entire body – you need to take care of them and seek medical help in a timely manner if you feel a seemingly harmless symptom – heaviness in the legs.