Re: leg pain

Posted By CCF Neuro MD on April 28, 1997 at 11:17:46:

In Reply to: leg pain posted by jay szarka on April 20, 1997 at 19:16:51:







: i'm 55, 5'11", 160# and until i hurt my knee about
10 years ago used to run about 30 miles a week. now
i can't WALK 300' without real bad pain in my legs !
the pain feels like a cramp but it's not that i'm sure.
it feels like after the end of a very long run - the
legs ache !
any ideas ?
thanks, jay



=


Hello Jay,
Pain in the legs brought on by walking is called "claudication pain."  It usually is a sign of a blood vessel problem in the legs.  This occurs in elderly people who may have risk factors for atherosclerosis (cholsterol build up in blood vessels) which include smoking, hupertension, diabetes mellitus, high cholestrol level and family history of similar problems.  This can be detected by a careful clinical examination and some ultrasound tests of the blood vessels in the leg.  The other potential cause for your problem is called "pseudoclaudication."  So called because it can mimic the leg pain that is seen in cases with atherosclerosi involing the blood vessles of the the leg but is instead caused by a nerve problem.  This nerve problem is called spinal stenosis which is a condition usually caused by the wear and tear type of arthritis seen as a person ages.  There are clues in the history and examination that can be used to try and differentiate these two conditions.  There are potentially other causes
for your pain but they seem less likely.  I would suggest that you visit your Internal medicine doctor as a first step in sorting out this problem.  Good luck!