Heavy Leg Syndrome
What Is Heavy Leg Syndrome, and How Can It Be Treated?
Have you been experiencing an uncomfortable feeling of heaviness in your legs? Don’t write it off as a simple annoyance that you have to get used to. There could be a very valid reason for you experiencing this feeling – you could have a case of heavy leg syndrome. The good news is that, depending on the cause of this condition, there is also treatment available that can help to relieve this discomfort that you have been experiencing.
What is heavy leg syndrome?
Instead of describing one specific health condition, this term is commonly used to describe a subjective symptom – meaning a symptom that is experienced by the patient, rather than a measurable or visible symptom – where the patient experiences a degree of heaviness, stiffness or tiredness in the legs. Certain patients have compared the feeling to dragging weights around with their legs. Moving their legs requires great effort and causes excessive exhaustion.
These symptoms can also be accompanied by swelling of the legs, the appearance of varicose veins, throbbing pain or a feeling of numbness, coldness or tingling in the legs, and even possible discoloration of the skin of the affected leg.
Causes of heavy leg syndrome
There are a number of factors that can contribute to this condition. One of the most common causes is vein damage in the legs.This usually results in weakened or damaged valves, which leads to ineffective transport of blood from the legs back to the heart. Again, vein damage can be the result of a variety of factors, illnesses or events, including but not limited to:
- Family history of vein damage
- Obesity
- Injuries and accidents
- Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
- Deep Venous Insufficiency (DVI)
- Superficial Venous Insufficiency (SVI)
- Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD)
- Standing for long periods at a time
Possible treatments for heavy leg syndrome
The first step is for the doctor to determine the cause. If vein damage is identified as the cause, the doctor should next identify whether there is another underlying condition that causes this damage and needs to be addressed. If the doctor sees fit to treat the damaged veins, there are a number of possible procedures, depending on the severity of the vein damage. These include:
- Sonar-guided treatment
- Phlebectomy
- The button ligation method
- Sclerotherapy
- Endovenous laser treatment
If you are experiencing heavy leg syndrome and would like a professional medical opinion to help identify the cause and best treatment, get in touch with The Gibson Vein Practice. Dr Stewart Gibson specialises in the most advanced treatment of all types of varicose veins and has over 20 years of experience in this field.
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Sources:
https://www.cvmus.com/vascular-treatment/heavy-legs-treatment-and-causes
