The narrowing of the arteries, veins, lymph vessels affect the blood circulation in the body leading to blood disorders, causing vascular diseases. The initial symptoms of these diseases are pain in the legs, arms and hands. The blockage of blood in the veins and arteries often leads to tingling sensation at the tips of the fingers and toes which is one of the early signs that the blood circulation to the far ends of the body is being affected.
Q. There are continuous complains of constant pain in the legs and arms. Despite several medications and steroids patients experience recurring pain. Could narrowing of the veins or the arteries be a prime reason for it?
A. Pain in the legs and arms occur due to different causes in different age group of people. Pain may occur in bones, joints, muscles etc.
Young patients: Majority of young ladies suffer from arthritic pain. Sometimes this is also associated with hypothyroidism and vasculitis of large and small arteries causing narrowing of arteries.
Middle age patients: Pain in the legs and arms in patients of this age group could be due to stress. Also, standing for long hours could damage the venous valves of the veins. Some can also experience pain due to inadequate sleep. It is found that if someone doesn’t get adequate sleep, their muscles do not get relaxed and hence the person suffers from body ache. Low hemoglobin is another reason for body aches.
Elderly patients: Leg pain in this age may occur due to osteoarthritis, peripheral neuropathy, diabetes, smoking and age related atherosclerotic occlusion of leg and upper limb arteries, causing claudication pain (called peripheral arterial disease).
Why is this not diagnosed easily?
There are many reasons why a patient suffers from pain in the legs and arms. For example, bulging of the varicose veins could be due to standing for long hours or obesity. Blood clots can happen either because of infection, no mobility for long time or hormonal changes in women. Hence, only after doing a detailed clinical examination the physician gets to know the cause of the symptoms. If the physician finds that these symptoms are related to vascular problem, then the patient is sent to a specialist for further treatment.
What are the preventive and treatment options for blocked veins and arteries?
For obese people the first suggestion is to lose weight so that the blood flow improves. It also eases the pressure on the veins. Physical activities like walking, swimming, cycling, yoga and aerobics are helpful for such patients.
They should avoid standing or sitting for long hours. It is also important that while sitting, resting or sleeping the legs must be raised above the level of the heart.
People identified with varicose veins and peripheral artery disease must not wear tight clothes around the waist, groin and legs as it aggravates the problems.
Do not wear high heels for long time. Low heeled shoes help to tone the calf muscles. Toned muscles help to move the blood easily through the veins.
If the problem persists despite medication and if found that one portion of the artery is completely blocked, then surgery is necessary. A vein from another part of the body can be used to bypass and reroute blood around the closed artery.
