Lim Vladimir Grigorievich Head of the reflexology department - reflexologist, neurologist
✓ Article verified by a medical expert
The legs perform the most important motor function and are subjected to intense physical activity every day. The anatomical structure of the leg includes three main parts - the foot, lower leg and thigh, and each of these parts of the leg can cause severe pain.
Many people are unable to perform normal activities when their feet hurt too much. Pain can be of varying intensity, location and nature, occur during movement or appear at rest. The reasons why legs hurt are varied and depend on the location of the pain.
Pain in the legs is often not an alarming symptom and indicates physical fatigue resulting from prolonged standing, sitting or intense sports activity.
“However, in some cases you need to see a doctor immediately.”
Why are joint diseases so common?
According to WHO statistics, about 20% of the world's population suffers from joint diseases. In Russia this is every fourth. And among people over 60 years old - almost everyone is the first. The situation has the character of an epidemic, albeit a hidden one, because they don’t talk about it as often as cardiovascular diseases. Why did the problem with joint diseases get out of control?
The reason is that many people refuse medical help and self-medicate. Few people go for diagnostics when symptoms appear. Most people simply turn a blind eye to periodic pain and miss the “therapeutic window” period when the treatment of osteoarthritis and other diseases would be most effective.
Diagnostics
Initially, you should consult a therapist, since it is difficult to immediately determine the cause of muscle pain. Your doctor may order a laboratory blood test. When myocytes are destroyed, they partially enter the blood, thus, when the level of protein in the blood increases, a conclusion is drawn about problems with muscle tissue. Another effective diagnostic method is an electromyogram, which shows the nature of the muscle tissue disease. If microscopic examination is necessary, a biopsy is performed. Instrumental methods also include ultrasound, computed tomography and MRI.
Who is a rheumatologist and why is he needed?
Along with an orthopedist, a rheumatologist also deals with joint problems. The specialist examines joints and connective tissues, refers for diagnostics and develops a treatment plan. The doctor helps eliminate acute or chronic inflammation, treats arthrosis and arthritis, synovitis and tenosynovitis, and other diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
The problem is that not all clinics have a specialist in this category. With complaints of joint pain, patients often turn to a therapist or surgeon, as well as a traumatologist. If pain is present in the back or cervical region, a person may be sent to a neurologist, but rarely to a rheumatologist, where he really should be.
Even the most experienced therapist is not able to correctly diagnose chronic or rheumatic joint diseases, or determine coxarthrosis by gait. Many of them are accompanied by ambiguous symptoms - skin rash, high fever, weight loss. Only a specialist with experience in managing such patients can comprehensively assess the clinical picture and make a diagnosis.
Only a rheumatologist or orthopedist can correctly diagnose joint disease.
If your legs swell
There may be several reasons for feeling unwell. And it is not always clear which doctor to contact with a particular ailment. Our expert will help you navigate. In order to get a complete answer, in the comments to this article you need to:
- briefly outline the main symptoms;
- make the question as specific as possible;
- write a question in the comments under this article.
You will find answers to your questions in the next issue of the section “What kind of doctor do I need?”
Question: I am suffering from swelling of the legs. I checked my kidneys, everything is fine. What else to check and who to go to is unclear. Some say it's due to age. Others: don’t drink a lot of water at night and don’t eat salty foods. I recently heard that swelling, on the contrary, occurs due to the fact that you drink little water. Help me figure this out and tell me which doctors can help.
Edema is the result of excessive accumulation of intercellular fluid in the tissues, which occurs when there is an imbalance between extravasation (exit through the capillary wall) and resorption (absorption) of plasma at the level of the capillary walls.
This may be caused by:
- discrepancy between the chemical pressure of tissue fluid and plasma (depending on the level of protein and electrolytes);
- decreased level of resistance in tissues;
- increased mechanical pressure in capillaries;
- an increase in intercellular spaces in blood vessels.
Thus, edema occurs when the oncotic pressure of plasma decreases, when capillary permeability increases, or due to impaired outflow of lymph or venous blood.
In healthy people, swelling of the legs can occur as a result of prolonged standing, after heavy physical exertion, when drinking large amounts of liquid, or changing diet. As a rule, they go away on their own after rest and normalization of lifestyle.
Swelling of the legs can also be a manifestation of pathological changes in the body:
- diseases of the cardiovascular system (stagnation of venous blood in the vessels of the systemic circulation);
- kidney diseases (with renal failure, as well as due to other chronic diseases, for example, diabetes);
- venous insufficiency (weakness of the vascular wall and valves of the veins of the lower extremities);
- lymphatic insufficiency (impaired lymph outflow);
- formation of blood clots in the vessels of the lower extremities.
The patient needs to contact a general practitioner - a general practitioner, who, based on an examination and general laboratory tests, will be able to make a preliminary diagnosis and refer the patient to specialized specialists: a cardiologist, phlebologist, angiosurgeon, nephrologist, endocrinologist, etc.
The patient should not self-medicate! But don’t forget about prevention: lead an active lifestyle, eat rationally, give up bad habits, etc.
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Question: I started to sweat a lot. This didn't happen before. An unpleasant odor has appeared that deodorants cannot remove. What could cause this and which doctor should I make an appointment with?
Sweating is a natural physiological process necessary for heat exchange and maintaining optimal water-salt balance. Excessive sweating – hyperhidrosis.
Sweat is secreted by two types of sweat glands: eccrine (excretory ducts open into sweat pores on the surface of the skin) and apocrine (excretory ducts open into the hair follicles). Increased sweating is not always a pathological process: men sweat twice as much as women, overweight people and teenagers suffer from sweating; in hot weather, sweating increases regardless of gender and age.
The unpleasant odor of sweat occurs as a result of the activity of bacteria that live on the surface of the skin and feed on the protein and fat components of sweat, decomposing them into ammonia and fatty acids. Ammonia and fatty acids are felt as an unpleasant odor of sweat.
The intensity of sweating is also affected by: diet (seasonings, legumes, fatty meats, caffeine-containing products, etc.), alcoholic drinks, nicotine, clothing made from fabrics with low breathability, hygiene (the presence of hair, for example in the armpits, prevents the evaporation of sweat from the surface of the skin and leads to the persistence of an unpleasant odor), physical activity.
A change in the smell of sweat may also indicate the presence of pathological changes in the body, such as:
- endocrine disorders (thyroid disease, diabetes mellitus, adrenal dysfunction);
- gynecological diseases (ovarian dysfunction);
- menopausal changes in a woman’s body;
- diseases of the cardiovascular system (hypertension, coronary heart disease);
- systemic autoimmune diseases;
- malignant and benign neoplasms;
- damage to the central nervous system.
The patient should consult a general practitioner or endocrinologist. The specialist will give directions for the necessary laboratory and functional tests (general blood test, general urinalysis, biochemical blood test, ECG, etc.) and, depending on their results, for additional examination methods.
occupational therapist, head of the hospital “Clinics for the whole family 1 + 1”
answered your questions Photo depositphotos.com The author’s opinion may not coincide with the opinion of the editors
Are joint problems always arthrosis?
Very often, joint pain is associated in patients with arthrosis. The diagnosis is considered universal: if the joints hurt, it means that the cartilage has worn out. In fact, other diseases have similar symptoms. It manifests itself in pathologies of ligaments and tendons, and in injuries to periarticular tissues, for example due to a meniscus tear.
Almost all people over 40 have degenerative changes in cartilage tissue to one degree or another. They do not always lead to arthrosis in full. Therefore, symptoms can indicate anything, even serious systemic diseases. Only an experienced specialist - a rheumatologist or orthopedist - can determine the cause based on the diagnostic results.
Arthrosis is not the only cause of joint pain
The dangers of visiting a rheumatologist late
If there is no rheumatologist in the clinic, a person complaining of joint pain often has no choice but to treat himself. Few people make additional attempts to find a specialist and simply trust either the Internet, or a neighbor, or, at best, a family doctor. Moreover, it is very difficult to independently assess the degree of such need, especially in the initial stages.
What does this mean? A person misses the period when treatment would be most effective, and the “therapeutic window” closes. With age, the processes get worse, and the patient is suddenly unexpectedly informed that it is too late, that old age has set in, and at this age problems with the joints cannot be treated.
In fact, the level of modern medicine makes it possible to improve the quality of life in case of joint diseases at any age. All you need to do is ask for help in time. The sooner a person shows up to a rheumatologist with a complaint of joint pain, the higher his chances of resisting the disease.
Rheumatologists are able to treat a wide variety of joint diseases
Treatment methods
Doctors at the Sanmedexpert clinic prescribe treatment for leg pain only after a complete examination of the patient and identification of pathological processes. Therapeutic therapy can be either medication or surgery.
If the legs hurt due to neurological diseases, the patient is prescribed physiotherapeutic procedures, physical therapy, massage, wearing bandages and corsets. When identifying vascular diseases, the use of special medications is required, the action of which is aimed at increasing vascular tone and improving blood circulation, as well as therapeutic exercises and reducing physical activity.
The treatment technique for leg pain is determined individually depending on the nature of its origin. But in any case, you should not delay treatment, because the disease is easier to treat at an early stage.
A little about drug blockades
There is a period when basic therapy for the disease is most effective. It is called the “therapeutic window”. With arthritis, for example, it lasts about three months. The inflammatory process is in the primary phase. Sometimes at this stage it is enough to make one blockade and the pain syndrome will disappear forever.
Unfortunately, there is a strong opinion that the body gets used to drug blockades. There are doctors who convey a biased attitude towards this treatment method. The argument is that once you get used to it, the medications won't help anymore. Guided by this opinion, many people who have shoulder or knee pain refuse joint therapy at the initial stage and miss a very important period. The disease is progressing.
In fact, a timely and correctly performed blockade gives positive results. The technique is successfully used in Europe and Israel, and you should not be afraid of it if you trust your specialist. But only a few people trust it, because there are not many specialists in joint diseases.
In what cases should you consult a rheumatologist? We present the TOP 10 reasons in the video below:
How to reduce leg pain on your own?
You can cope with painful sensations in the legs at home with the help of:
- contrast shower,
- recreation,
- wearing compression garments,
- massage,
- analgesic tonic ointments and gels.
In order to properly learn how to cope with leg pain, you must first establish the exact cause of their occurrence. To do this, you will need to see a doctor and undergo a comprehensive examination, which will help identify the nature of the origin of the pain syndrome.
So when should you go to a rheumatologist?
A rheumatologist treats several dozen diseases. At any age, the reason to visit this specialist is pain, discomfort in the joint, changes in its shape and structure. Especially if these symptoms are accompanied by fever, weight loss for no reason, and changes in test results.
If you are predisposed to viral diseases and often have a sore throat, think about it: the problem may have a rheumatological cause. The sooner you get to a rheumatologist, the higher the chance of getting into the “therapeutic window” and stopping the disease before it deals a crushing blow to your body.
