The main function of your legs is to keep you mobile and upright. What most people fail to realize is that our legs can also indicate the state of our overall health so knowing how to improve your leg health is essential. Knowing the possible underlying health issues that could be causing the leg problem is also important.
Possible health issues and symptoms
Kidney Problems
Symptoms:
Sharp, intense “ëlectric” pain, and swollen legs
When there’s an issue with the kidneys and it fails to do its job properly, the levels of albumin in the blood decreases. This can lead to the accumulation of fluids and swelling. People with kidney problems may also experience swelling around the eyes and electric shock-like pain in their limbs.
Venous Insufficiency
Symptoms:
Leg swelling, skin discoloration, and heavy legs
When a person is suffering from venous insufficiency, it becomes difficult for the blood to move freely from the limbs to the heart. This is due to the weakened or damaged venous valves. This causes swelling of the legs, especially around the ankle area. After that, skin discoloration will occur followed by a feeling of having heavy legs.
Cardiac Insufficiency
Symptoms:
Leg swelling and lingering pain
Better known as heart failure, cardiac insufficiency happens when one or two of the heart chambers are unable to pump out blood efficiently. This causes the legs to swell and become painful.
Thrombosis
Symptoms:
Leg swelling, extreme heat in the legs, skin discoloration, pain, and fatigue.
DVT or deep vein thrombosis is a serious disorder that shouldn’t be taken lightly. This happens when a blood clot develops in a vein deep inside the body. It usually occurs in the legs and causes swelling, pain, discoloration, high temperature, and tiredness.
Liver Issues
Symptoms:
Leg swelling, vascular spiders, and fatigue.
The health of your legs can show early signs of liver problems. If the liver is not functioning well, the limbs become swollen and vascular spiders will start to show. This is due to blood flow problems between the liver, intestines, pancreas, and spleen.
Thyroid Gland Issues
Leg swelling, muscle cramps, and cold feeling.
Hypothyroidism is a thyroid disorder that causes the legs to swell, makes the legs feel cold, and have muscle spasms.
Atherosclerosis
Symptoms:
Dull skin, muscle weakness, and pain.
In atherosclerosis, very little blood is received by the feet. This causes pain, muscular weakness, and pale skin.
Diabetes
Sharp prickly feeling and wounds that take longer to heal.
Nerve damaged often occurs in people with diabetes. This causes a needle-pricking feeling and wounds don’t heal due to poor blood circulation.
Dehydration
Symptoms: Leg cramps, pain, fatigue, and dizziness.
Dehydration is a serious problem, it keeps cells from using energy efficiently, carry nutrients, and multiply. Watch out for signs such as muscle spasms, pain, tiredness, and dizziness. If not treated immediately, dehydration can be life-threatening.
Ways to improve leg health
Walking
Walking is a great, low-impact exercise that people from any fitness level can do to improve their blood circulation. There are other exercises that can help boost blood flow but walking is the most simple and easiest to do.
Stretching
If walking is not possible due to weather or health conditions, you can still improve your blood flow by stretching your leg muscles. You can also try these Yamuna Leg Routines that you can do at home or follow the routines featured in the Yamuna Leg Routine DVD.
Sit Properly
Not sitting properly can prevent blood to flow freely, most especially if you sit with your legs crossed.
Leg Elevation
Raising your legs higher than your heart’s level helps blood to return freely to the heart. This lessens the risk of swelling and the occurrence of blood clots.
Eat Healthy Foods
Eating healthy foods that contains specific nutrients that boost heart health and blood circulation will help in improving your leg health.
Drink Lots of Water
Drinking an adequate amount of water helps in keeping your blood to circulate freely.
Use Health Devices
Using health devices can also help improve your leg health. You can try the Shiatsu Leg Massager and the Chi Vitalizer Machine. Just a few minutes daily on these health devices can boost your leg health.
From walking to using health devices, these methods can help enhance your blood circulation, promote leg health, and lead you to a healthy happy long life!
You might also be interested to read Shoulder Health | Improve Your Shoulder Function and What Is Yamuna Body Rolling?