What to do if your leg hurts?

Causes of pain

Possible diseases

Injuries to any structures of the lower leg will lead to pain. Its intensity depends on the severity of the damage and the nature of the injury. Major ankle injuries:

• Fractures. The pain is sharp, intense.

• Bruise of the lower leg (tissue damage with a blunt object). A person experiences maximum pain at the time of injury, after which its intensity decreases.

• Stretching of the muscles of the lower leg with or without rupture. The pain is sharp, intense, stabbing, tends to increase during an attempt to bend or straighten the leg.

• Sprain of the knee ligaments. At the time of injury, the pain is acute, often accompanied by swelling and the rapid development of inflammation.

• Dislocation of the ankle joint. During the injury, the pain is acute, in the future it only intensifies.

Pathology of the bone apparatus of the leg

Diseases that can affect the bones of the lower leg:

• Osgood-Schlatter disease in which aseptic destruction of the tibia occurs. It develops during the period of active growth of the skeleton. Most often, children who are engaged in active sports suffer, which leads to permanent microtraumas of the tibial tuberosity. The pain is aching, weak, intensifies during leg extension, and disappears during the rest period. As the disease progresses, the pain becomes more intense.

• Deforming osteitis, which is expressed by a decrease in the strength of bone tissue, which leads to its frequent fractures, even with minor physical exertion. Pain can occur due to deformation of the leg bone, it is aching, dull, constantly haunts a person and intensifies at rest.

Diseases of the muscular structures of the lower leg

Pathologies of the muscles that can lead to pain in the lower leg:

• Krepatura, which are characterized by damage to muscle structures with the formation of microfractures on them. Krepatura are formed after intense physical training. The pain is intense, does not allow to completely reduce the damaged muscle. It lasts no more than a few days. The inflammation gradually subsides, the pain goes away and the muscle recovers.

• Seizures. Intense physical activity or sudden hypothermia can provoke involuntary contraction of the muscles of the lower leg. They spasm painfully, but after a few seconds the cramp passes. In rare cases, it lasts more than a minute.

• Broken leg syndrome. Most often, people who, without prior preparation, begin to engage in active sports and exhaust their body suffer from it. First of all, this applies to runners and athletes. The pain is aching, most often moderate, occurs during training, and after its completion it stops.

• Tunnel syndrome, which may include anterior sheath syndrome (pain worsens with leg flexion) or posterior sheath syndrome (pain worsens with leg extension). The reasons for the development of this syndrome are varied: fractures, vascular pathologies, bruises, intense training. However, all of them lead to the formation of edema and increased pressure inside the case, which compresses the muscles, disrupts their nutrition, compresses the nerve fibers and provokes pain.

Vascular pathologies

Vascular pathologies that can lead to pain in the lower leg:

• Atherosclerosis of the vessels supplying the lower leg. With this disease, cholesterol is deposited on the vascular walls of large and medium-sized arteries. In the early stages of the development of the disease, until the lumen of the vessel is completely blocked by a plaque, pain can disturb a person only during physical exertion. As the artery narrows, the pain increases in intensity, begins to bother a person even at rest.

• Obliterating endarteritis. With this pathology, the small arteries of the leg are clogged, which causes a deterioration in the blood supply to the tissues and their further necrosis. There are many risk factors for endarteritis, these include: smoking, hypothermia, rheumatic diseases, vascular pathologies, etc. The disease is dangerous only with pain in the lower leg, but also with the formation of blood clots.

• Varicose veins are considered a multifactorial pathology. It can develop due to hereditary predisposition, sedentary work, sedentary lifestyle, etc. Stagnation of blood in the lower extremities leads to deformation of the veins, their pathological expansion and aching pain. They intensify after a long load on the legs, when a person is in an upright position.

• Thrombophlebitis leads to stagnation of blood in the veins of the lower leg due to the fact that they are blocked by a thrombus, which provokes pain. Risk factors for thrombophlebitis: systemic infectious pathologies, vascular injuries, varicose veins, etc.

Diseases of the spine

The lower leg is permeated with nerve fibers that extend from the sacral plexus. It, in turn, comes out of the spinal nerves extending from the spinal cord. Therefore, diseases of the spine, concentrated in the lumbosacral region, can lead to pain in the lower leg.

These pathologies include:

• Osteochondrosis, accompanied by a violation of metabolic processes and blood supply to the intervertebral discs. This leads to the fact that they deform, compress nerve fibers and cause pain in the lower back, which can radiate to the leg.

• Protrusion of the intervertebral disc. This pathology is characterized by the exit of part of the disc into the spinal canal and compression of the spinal cord. The pains are localized in the back, give to the leg. They are most often pulling, although they can be sharp.

• Herniated disc. In this case, the fibrous ring breaks, which holds the intervertebral disc and its contents begin to strongly press on the spinal cord. The pains become intense and haunt the person on an ongoing basis.

Инфекции

Infections that can lead to pain in the lower leg:

• Formation of a furuncle on the lower leg.

• Erysipelatous inflammation, causing sharp burning pains in the area of ​​​​its formation.

• Phlegmon of the leg.

• Gangrene of the leg.

• Trophic ulcers on the lower leg, which are formed due to impaired blood supply to the tissues of the lower limb. Often a similar problem occurs in people with diabetes, with varicose veins, with obliterating endarteritis.

• Osteomyelitis, in which the infection affects the bone tissue and provokes its destruction. The pain is oppressive, excruciating, sharp. Any movement becomes painful.

Tumor neoplasms

If a person develops a tumor, then the initial stages of its formation are most often not accompanied by painful sensations. They occur as the tumor grows in size.

The lower leg can suffer from the following tumors of a benign nature:

• Fibroids.

• Lipomas.

• Leiomyomas.

• Rhabdomyomas.

• Chondromas.

• Osteomas.

• Neurinomas.

• Angiomas.

However, tumors are not always benign. Sometimes they may contain cancer cells. Such tumors include: sarcoma, melanoma and squamous cell skin cancer. All malignant tumors tend to grow rapidly and spread metastases.

Type of disease

Methods of diagnosis

Diseases of the bone tissue of the leg

To detect Osgood-Schlatter disease, you will need to undergo an x-ray examination, but it reveals pathological changes only in the later stages of the development of the disease. CT is indicated for early diagnosis.

Symptoms that are characteristic of this disease:

• Pain and swelling in the soft tissues of the leg. To be more precise, the edema is localized just below the knee joint.

• The pain intensifies during physical activity on the leg.

To detect deforming osteitis, you need to donate blood for biochemical analysis. In this case, the patient will have a high level of alkaline phosphatase. X-ray of the bone allows you to reveal its curvature and deformation, and scintigraphy makes it possible to clarify in which particular parts of the bone excessively active metabolic processes occur.

Osteitis symptoms:

• Distortion of the bones of the leg.

• Involvement in the pathological process of the ankle and knee joint, which causes restrictions in its mobility.

• Frequent fractures, which are explained by the increased fragility of the bone tissue.

Diseases of the muscles of the leg

If the pain in the lower leg is provoked by rare muscle spasms and does not bother a person on an ongoing basis, then you can not show any concern. However, when painful sensations haunt a person for a long time, you need to see a doctor:

• With frequent convulsions, it is necessary to donate blood for a general analysis and to determine the level of vitamins and microelements in it, for example, B vitamins, calcium, iron, etc. Genetic testing may be required to detect hereditary pathologies. An auxiliary diagnostic method is electromyography.

• To detect carpal tunnel syndrome, an x-ray examination, ultrasound of the soft tissues of the lower leg is required. MRI allows you to assess the condition of all structures of the lower leg. In addition to pain in carpal tunnel syndrome, the patient will experience leg swelling, numbness, and muscle weakness.

Vascular pathologies of the leg

Vascular damage is always serious, so you need to see a doctor as soon as possible:

• Atherosclerosis is accompanied by complaints of patients on numbness of the legs during physical activity, on their coldness and soreness. With an advanced form of the disease, trophic ulcers can form, there is no pulsation in the region of the posterior tibial artery. Diagnosis comes down to blood donation for biochemical analysis (high levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL, as well as a decrease in HDL, will be detected). To clarify the diagnosis, dopplerography of the vessels with or without a contrast agent is required. Since atherosclerosis affects the state of the heart, patients are prescribed an ECG.

• With obliterating endarteritis, patients complain of pain in the lower leg, fatigue during hiking, cold extremities, and their numbness. An obvious sign of the disease is intermittent claudication, which is accompanied by cyanosis of the skin. With an advanced form of the disease, people form trophic ulcers on the lower leg, which are complicated by the addition of an infection. Diagnostic methods: rheovasography, capillarography, dopplerography, angiography, thermography. All these research methods provide information about the state of the vessels.

• Varicose disease. This pathology, in addition to pain, is accompanied by symptoms such as heaviness in the legs, their swelling, cramps and cyanosis of the skin. Diseased veins will be clearly visible under the skin. With the advanced form of varicose veins, the patient develops trophic ulcers. To detect pathology, ultrasound and dopplerography of the veins are performed. You can supplement the picture of the disease with the help of CT or MRI. If there is a threat of thrombosis, blood must be donated to assess its coagulation capabilities.

• Thrombophlebitis is accompanied by thickening and redness of the skin of the lower leg in the area where the thrombus formed. The leg becomes hot to the touch, swells. Perhaps a general increase in body temperature. To detect pathology, you need to donate blood for a general analysis (the level of leukocytes and ESR will be increased), blood for a biochemical analysis (an increase in the level of D-dimer), blood for an assessment of the work of its coagulation system. To clarify the location of the thrombus, dopplerography or MRI is performed.

Diseases of the spine

The earlier the pathology is detected, the higher the likelihood of successful therapy. To identify osteochondrosis of the lumbosacral region, you need to focus on the patient’s complaints:

• Lumbar pain radiating to the thigh and lower leg.

• Limited range of motion in the lumbar spine.

• Deterioration of the sensation of the legs with their frequent numbness.

• Muscle weakness and deterioration of the functioning of the organs located in the small pelvis.

Instrumental methods of examination include X-ray and CT of the affected area. For the diagnosis of a herniated disc or its protrusion, similar symptoms are characteristic. Diagnostic methods: CT and X-ray. 

Инфекции

Infections that affect soft tissues with the formation of boils, phlegmon, gangrene, erysipelas or trophic ulcers do not cause diagnostic difficulties. Most often, an external examination of the lower leg is enough for a doctor to make a diagnosis. To clarify the nature of the disease, studies such as:

• General blood analysis.

• LHC sowing from the affected area.

• Serological research methods.

When forming a trophic ulcer, blood is necessarily taken to determine the level of glucose in it. If vascular pathologies are suspected, angiography and dopplerography are performed. Osteomyelitis requires an MRI or CT scan, which allows you to examine in detail the condition of the bones of the lower leg.

Tumor neoplasms

Tumor neoplasms may not show themselves in any way for a long time. Therefore, you should always pay attention to indirect signs that can indicate developing cancer. Early symptoms include:

• General fatigue and weakness.

• Weight loss.

• Decreased appetite.

• Mood swings.

• An increase in body temperature to subfebrile marks. It lasts for several weeks or even months.

To detect a tumor, you will need to undergo a CT or MRI, scintigraphy or angiography. When a neoplasm is formed on the bone tissue, it can be detected using an X-ray examination. Histology of tumor tissues is carried out to determine the presence of malignant cells in it, as well as to clarify the type of neoplasm.