Leg Pain: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Leg pain is a common problem in old people. However, owing to the stressful and fast paced life, even youngsters suffer from leg pain. Lack of daily exercise indirectly leads to the development of many symptoms of leg pain. Sportsmen suffer from leg pains which are mostly traumatic in origin. Trauma is any kind of physical damage inflicted on the body. Traumatic leg pains include bleeding, fractures and sprains. The other type of leg pain is non-traumatic leg pain, which is caused by numerous reasons such as blood clot, joint pain, neuropathy, peripheral artery disease, etc.

Causes
The traumatic leg pains include injuries caused by fractures, sprains and bleeding. In fractures, bones get cracked and the pain originates from the nerve endings present in them. When a person suffers from sprains, his ligaments either stretch or they are completely torn. This might lead to inflammation or swelling. Bleeding cause swelling of the tissues, as a result of increase in pressure.

Peripheral artery disease is one of the causes of non-traumatic leg pain. In this disease, narrowing of the blood vessels take place. The cause behind the blood vessels becoming narrow is the decrease in blood supply, from the arteries to legs. Blood clots obstruct the flow of blood to the legs, which results into leg pain. Sciatica, the inflammation of sciatic nerve, is one of the many leg pain causes. Peripheral neuropathy cause leg pain, which results the inflammation of peripheral nerves. Besides the above discussed causes, different illnesses such as diabetes, vitamin deficiencies and alcoholism too cause leg pain. Arthritis and arthralgia cause pain in the joints. The joints exhibit swelling in case of arthritis.

Symptoms
The person may feel leg pain in the form of aching or burning. The degree of pain varies, from dull to sharp. Sometimes the pain is felt only if the particular body part is touched. The muscle pains may sometime originate from a part of the body and transmit to other parts. This creates confusion in diagnosing the root cause.

Treatment
Even though remedies are available for this problem, one should try to prevent leg pain. Regular exercise and enough rest can resolve many of the leg pain causes. Home remedies used for curing leg pains are enlisted below.

• Lobelia paste when applied, provides relief from most of the leg pains.
• Vinegar is also used to stop pains in the legs.
• For quick relief from pains, the leg is massaged with coconut or mustard oil.
• Stretching the leg followed by a massage, with warm oil, helps in providing relief from different problems like joint pains, pain in hips, knee pains, etc.
• Rubbing with ice relaxes the leg muscles and creates a soothing effect.
• Methi (fenugreek) leaves are also used in the treatment of leg pains. The leaves are dried for 4-5 days (under the sun). The mixture of water and dried methi leaves is consumed early in the morning. It is one of the commonly used treatment for leg pains.

The person suffering from leg pain should avoid smoking, alcohol intake and consumption of sugar in excess.

Exercises play an important role in the prevention of many diseases. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance, helps in preventing problems such as leg pain and also in living a healthy life altogether.