Pain in Your Legs? It Could Be Peripheral Artery Disease

You head out on a walk, but all too soon, you’re struggling with leg pain, cramping, or a feeling of unexplained heaviness in your legs that makes it hard to keep going. You don’t see what could be causing the problem, and fatigue isn’t an issue.

This type of leg discomfort is a leading symptom of peripheral artery disease (PAD), a common cardiovascular condition that affects approximately 200 million people around the world, including 12 million Americans. 

Because February is American Heart Month, Dr. Scott Lafferty and our team at Lafferty Family Care want to focus on PAD. With an eye toward heart attack prevention, we get into the basics of the disease, some of the signs of this common problem, possible complications, and next steps.

Peripheral artery disease 101

Your cardiovascular system includes a vast network of blood vessels (about 60,000 miles of them!) that delivers oxygenated blood throughout your body. Overseeing this effort is your heart, which acts as command central for your circulation, making sure the blood receives oxygen and gets to where it needs to go.

With peripheral artery disease, the main arteries that deliver blood to your legs become narrowed due to fatty plaque buildup in the blood vessels (a condition called atherosclerosis). When blood doesn’t easily circulate down into your legs, it can lead to the symptoms and complications that we dive into next.

Signs of peripheral artery disease

We mention leg pain in the title of this post, and it is one of the most common and hard-to-ignore signs of PAD. That said, please bear in mind that about 40% of people with PAD don’t experience any leg pain, cramping, or heaviness.

When it does occur, it’s usually when you’re on your feet, and the pain typically subsides fairly quickly when you’re at rest. As the PAD progresses, however, the discomfort in your legs can become more constant.

Outside of leg pain, other symptoms to watch out for include:

• Less hair growth on your legs
• Temperature changes in your feet (they’re colder)
• Erectile dysfunction
• Slow-healing wounds in your lower limbs

This last item on our list — chronic wounds — is a serious one, as slow-healing wounds can lead to infection and, ultimately, gangrene and the need for amputation.

Complications of PAD

While leg pain and chronic wounds are obvious side effects of PAD, the disease can also set the stage for far more serious problems, such as heart attack, stroke, and, as we mentioned, amputation risk. 

Given that heart disease has remained the leading cause of death in the United States for at least 100 years running, it’s important to stay on top of cardiovascular conditions that can increase your risk for heart disease, including PAD.

Next steps for diagnosis and treatment

If you're experiencing unexplained changes in your lower limbs for no obvious reason, come see us so we can evaluate your cardiovascular health. This evaluation can be life-saving because we can do a lot to slow and manage PAD and its complications.

For expert care of your heart health, look no further than Lafferty Family Care. To get your cardiac assessment, schedule an appointment at our office in Rogers, Arkansas.