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Causes of Leg Pain

• Muscle Overuse(strained muscles). Leg pains are often from hard muscle work or sports. Examples are too much walking or running. This type of pain can last from hours up to 7 days.
• Muscle Cramps. Brief pains that last 1 to 15 minutes are often due to muscle cramps. These often occur in the calf or feet at night.
• Trapped Nerves. The nerves in the lower leg can become trapped or squeezed where they pass through narrow spaces as they leave the spine. Sciatica is from pressure on a nerve in the back. It causes tingling, weakness or pain in the leg which may go right down to the toes. If symptoms do not go away with rest or treatment, surgery may be needed to release the nerve.
• Viral Illness. Mild muscle aches in both legs also occur with many viral illnesses, such as flu.
• Shingles. The zoster virus can cause leg pain, making the skin painful before a rash (shingles rash) appears.
• Septic Arthritis (serious). This is a bacterial infection of a joint space. Main symptoms are fever and severe pain when you move the joint. You may not be able to move the joint at all. This needs care right away.
• Cellulitis (serious) is a skin and soft tissue infection, often caused by a small wound or a bite. The infection can spread quickly to a large area and can become life threatening (sepsis) if not treated quickly. The area will be painful and look red. You may also have a fever and red streaks running out from the area. Urgent treatment (often in hospital) is needed.
• Tendinitis is inflammation of tendons where they attach to the bone, caused by overuse. This causes tenderness in the area and pain when the limb is used. An example is Achilles tendinitis which causes pain at the back of the heel. Often needs a long period of rest from the activity that caused it. Physical therapy (PT) and/or a steroid shot may be needed to reduce the pain.
• Joint Inflammation. Examples are rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and gout. Some, like gout, may affect just one joint. Others affect many joints at the same time. Osteoarthritis is due to wear and tear on the joints. It can cause pain, stiffness and loss of movement. Rheumatoid arthritis usually affects the same joint(s) on both sides of the body. Early treatment may help prevent long-term damage to the joints involved.
• More Serious Causes of Leg Pain:
  • Heart Failure. If the heart is not pumping the blood around the body as it should, there can be swelling of the feet, ankles and legs. In severe cases, swelling can extend up the legs. There can also be fluid build-up in the lungs causing you to feel out of breath, tired and have a cough with pink frothy sputum.
  • Clots in the Veins of the leg can cause pain and itching if they occur in veins near the surface of the skin. If clots occur in the deeper, bigger veins in the legs, it can be life-threatening. Pieces of the clot can break off and travel to the heart and lungs. If this happens, it can cause you to feel out of breath, have chest pain and cough up blood.
  • Bone Cancer or Bone Infection(osteomyelitis).
  • Fractures can happen during normal activity without there being an injury. Do not ignore ongoing leg pain.
  • Blocked Artery. Arteries carry oxygen from your heart to the leg tissues. Symptoms of blockage are cold, pale, numb and/or painful leg. The blockage will need to be cleared as an emergency when this happens. Partial blockage can cause pain, often in the calf, when walking. The pain will usually go away when at rest but may need treatment before the artery becomes completely blocked.

Pain Scale

• Mild: you feel some pain, but it does not keep you from any normal activities. Work, activities and sleep are not changed.
• Moderate: the pain keeps you from doing some normal activities. It may wake you up from sleep.
• Severe: the pain is very bad. It keeps you from doing all normal activities.