Muscle Pain in Legs – Treatments and Prevention

Muscle pain in legs can prevent you from enjoying the activities you normally enjoyed and also cause you to feel a sense of fatigue from constantly having to focus on your leg pain while you’re trying to enjoy leisure activities like watching TV.

Muscle Pain in Legs – Overview

• Some of the causes of muscle pain in legs include dehydration of the common electrolytes like potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium because this help modulates electrical impulses in the leg and can cause cramps if they’re lacking or exist in the wrong proportions.
• Other kinds of medications can also interfere with legs from functioning normally and cause leg pain like diuretics which can cause you to expel too many fluids or minerals like the electrolytes above mentioned. Statins can also lower cholesterol and can cause muscle injuries through that indirect route.
• Muscle fatigue or strain from overusing your muscles, such as too much exercise or working out, can cause you to have muscle pain for days on end. Holding a muscle in a certain position for a long period of time can have the same effect.
• Injuries are the most common causes of leg pain in a country where a lot of sports are being played out on the football field each day. Torn or overstretched muscles are sprains. Inflamed tendons are a related condition called tendinitis. You can also get shin splints which is a pain in the front of your leg through overuse and repetitive pounding on the front of the leg.
• There are a variety of conditions that also create leg pain via indirect routes like atherosclerosis, blood clot, infection of the bone, inflammation of the leg joints, nerve damage, numbness, and varicose veins. There are some lesser known causes, and generally, these conditions are such big problems in themselves that the leg pain is a minor consideration.
• Benign tumors, Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, malignant tumors, and slipped capital femoral epiphysis are all dangerous conditions that sometimes cause muscle pain in legs.
• Muscle pain in legs can be a condition that drives you a little crazy with irritation because a dull pain that is persistent can distract you from ever fully relaxing.
• Leg pain may occur even when you’re not moving your leg and cause you to not devote your full attention to whatever you’re doing.

There are some home care techniques you can use to alleviate the pain, but you should see a muscular specialist so he can help determine the causes of your leg pain and root out the problem once and for all.

Home Care

Muscle pain in legs can be debilitating and wrench you away from fully enjoying any of the activities you did before, whether they were active activities where you were outside exercising or more docile activities like hanging around the house and reading a book. The leg pain can be distracting, and it may not shut off no matter what you do.

Rest

The first thing you should do when the onset of leg pain rears its ugly head is rest as much as possible. Don’t try to push through it and get through it through sheer force of will.

You’ll only make the pain worse by trying to walk through it or stretch it out. Just rest your legs and let your muscles reenergize themselves.

Elevate both legs and apply ice throughout the ice and take over-the-counter pain medications so you can focus on resting.

Magnesium Supplements

It can also help with muscle pain and are a cure for restless leg syndrome in some instances. Heavy doses of vitamins and minerals that people are lacking in cases of restless leg syndrome can sometimes settle down the condition.

There is often an overlap for what works between restless leg syndrome and muscle pain in legs in general. You should try treatment modalities for both if you have either condition and cover all your bases.

Visit a Doctor

If your leg pain does not go away with home treatment or simple rest, then make a visit to a doctor and have a list prepared of what you’re going to say to him along the lines of where your pain is, if it is in both your legs, whether it is dull or sharp or aching or stabbing, if it is worse at any particular time of the day, and does anything help the leg that you have been doing at home.

Be prepared to give him as much detailed information as possible. He can perform a variety of diagnostic tests that may ascertain the cause of your leg pain like an arteriogram, blood tests for various diseases, bone biopsies, bone scans, duplex dopplers, ultrasound exams, MRIs, or X-rays. These can help pinpoint the cause of the leg pain and not leave it so open to chance.

Undergoing a lot of tests can put you at ease and help you relax about the causes of your disease. You never know until you go. Don’t sit there and wonder about the causes. Get a doctor to check it out and help you feel right about it.

Prevention and Treatment

Muscle pain in legs can prevent you from walking around and enjoying yourself throughout the day. You can feel bogged down with irritation and annoyance and not be able to get on with your life. Every time you take a step, you may feel a jolt of pain. Or, you may feel a throbbing pain throughout the back of your legs that doesn’t seem to go away no matter what you do. These situations can be unbearable impediments to you enjoying your workday.

There are some common prevention measures that can stop you from ever encountering leg pain. These include the exclusion of alcohol and tobacco, limiting alcohol intake, keeping your blood sugar under control, and reducing all the potential risk factors for heart disease. You should always warm up before physical activity and do a lot of stretching to make sure you don’t encounter any unexpected leg pain. Drink a lot of fluids throughout the day and drink more before and after a leg workout.

Some common preventive measures that everyone should know, whether they’re an athlete or not, is not to sit or stand with your legs in a crossed position for an extended period of time, stretch your calf and leg muscles throughout the day and not just before a workout, rotate your ankles and wiggle all your toes so that they’re more fluid and flexible, lie on your side to get the circulation going again, and rest and elevate your legs when you’re tired. Drink plenty of water to get the fluids in your legs moving the chemicals out like lactic acid which can build up.

You can also prevent leg pain by not over-working out your muscles and ceasing from all workout activity after a certain period of time if you’re new to the sport or activity you’re engaged in. One of the most common causes of muscle pain in legs is from neophytes trying to overextend themselves at the first sight of working out. Jump into the game slowly and don’t try to wear yourself out just for fast results. Such inexpert practices can give you lasting leg pain and prevent you from working out at all in the future. So it actually ends up hurting you more than helping you. Don’t work out unless you’re prepared for it on a muscular level.