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LEG PAIN
Intermittent claudication
(Keywords: leg pain, chiropractic help, Slipped Disc Symptoms, Slipped Disk, lumbar spinal stenosis, intermittent claudication, iliotibial band stretch, meralgia paresthetica)
Leg pain is a common affliction in the chiropractic clinic. There are a host of causes. One of them is Intermittent Claudication .
This nasty condition relates to a muscle starved of oxygen, usually in the calf or thigh, with exercise. In this sense it is closely related to its first cousin, angina pectoris, which is a heart muscle starved of oxygen: Chest pain when you exercise.
Chest pain ...
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Typically you will find that whilst walking you develop calf pain, and while cycling in the thigh, which almost immediately ceases when you stop the activity. During exercise the muscle demands more oxygen. If none is available, then it starts complaining. When you stop exercising, the muscle no longer needs the extra oxygen and the pain stops.
Patients typically describe the pain as an ache, cramp, numbness or a sense of fatigue. As in much of medicine the word is derived from Latin: claudicare "to limp."
Your chiropractor will look for decreased pulses in the ankle and foot, and for other signs like loss of hair and shiny skin in the lower leg.
The cause? You guessed it, usually smoking , particularly if it is accompanied by a poor diet, high in unhealthy fats. This fatal combination causes a blockage in the artery that runs to the leg.
Since smoking reduces the blood oxygen by about 20%, stopping smoking immediately makes significantly more oxygen available. As a result the pain only begins after a greater distance.
A careful assessment of your blood fats is immediately important. A radical change of diet may be in the offing, and that doesn't include taking Statins unless your cholesterol is dangerously high. Consider, for example, this novel idea: CHOLESTEROL CREDIT - have your cake and eat it …
An assessment of diabetes and high blood pressure, which may contribute and must be appropriately treated.
Regular exercise (within the limit of the pain) promotes alternative blood pathways.
If all the above fail, a vascular surgeon will either stretch the offending artery with a balloon, fit a stent or perform a bypass to reduce the pain during exercise.
Male smokers over 50 are the most common victims. It’s because of conditions like this that smokers typically lose the last ten years of their lives. Just about the time they retire! Hint, hint! For some reason, with women it's even worse. Smoking women hearts stop fifteen years sooner.
Enjoy this short story from chiropractor Bernard Preston about a blocked artery in the groin causing pain in the leg.
INTERMITTENT CLAUDICATION ...
Slipped Disc Symptoms
Trying to diagnose your own condition can be dangerous, but sometimes it helps to know what may be happening, how seriously you should be taking your back and leg pain. Is the pain in your leg coming from your smoking, or from a slipped disc? At Slipped disc symptoms Case File you'll find some of the more common presentations of what in Chiropractic lingo we call a Disk protrusion or prolapse.
In a benchmark study reported in the British Medical Journal, after a two year study:
"For patients with low back pain in whom spinal adjustments are not contradindicated (cancer, new fracture...) chiropractic almost certainly confers worthwhile, long-term benefit in comparison with hospital outpatient management."
Dr TW Meade, MD
Iliotibial band stretch
The ITB is a broad band of muscle / tendon / fascia that stretches from the hip down to the knee, causing pain in all age groups from the hip and groin, down to the outer side of the knee and even into the side of the lower leg. For more information about the ITB syndrome, and how it can cause leg pain,
click here. ILIOTIBIAL BAND STRETCH >>>
Pinched nerve in the groin
Meralgia Paresthetica is a condition where a sensory nerve to the side (and sometimes the front) of the thigh is pinched in the groin causing leg pain. Traditionally it is believed that it can only be corrected surgically, however this is not the case. It's a condition that Chiropractic treat every day, but the treatment in the groin is horribly painful. Better than surgery though.
Read more about MERALGIA PARESTHETICA …
Have A Question about your lower back?
I receive many questions about Chiropractic. It might be help with a spinal condition, but it might also be from a person who can't walk after a hip operation, or some such thing.
I will do that by answering your questions personally, but it will be converted to a Web Page so others can benefit from your questions. Omit your name if you like...
However, do understand that, in the main, I'm going to be directing you (should it be pertinent) to a Chiropractor in your neck of the woods. I'll respond to all reasonable inquiries, but please be specific, and give some details.
There is no charge for this service, however if you find my answer useful, you might like to consider purchasing my latest book, Stones in my Clog. Gems, both funny and healthful, from the life and work of a Chiropractor. It's only $2.99. (http://www.bernard-preston.com/Stones-in-my-Clog.html)
Pose Me A Question! Pretty please, in decent grammar and spelling.
I will never give or sell your e-mail address to anyone.
Do understand that lower back pain is extremely complex, so I can only give general guidelines. There's no substitute for a careful thorough chiropractic examination.
What Other Visitors Have Said
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Hello, I have a spinal fusion in 1981, aged 15, in my upper thorax and since then have ...
Sciatica
Sciatica causes a particularly mean leg pain, a condition that chiropractors face on a daily basis. It can cause tingling legs, pain and weakness. It may be caused by many different conditions. Here are a few of the more common causes of pain and tingling in feet and legs.
"283 patients, who had not responded to previous conservative or operative medical treatment, and were classified as 'totally disabled', were treated with spinal adjustments. 81% became symptom free or achieved a state of mild intermittent pain with no work restrictions."
Sometimes the spinal canal and the apertures where the nerves emerge become so narrowed that the spinal cord and spinal nerves becomes seriously threatened. It is mostly caused by arthritis in the spine, but there are other causes. The result is leg pain and sometimes weakness and numbness in the legs.
Lumbar stenosis is a condition faced on a daily basis at the Chiropractic Coalface. Ususally, but not always, patients respond reasonably well to Chiropractic care. As you will see from this lumbar stenosis casefile Chiropractic should certainly be considered before surgery.
Key signs of LSS are relief of pain when bending forwards, increase of pain when bending backwards, relief when sitting, and increased pain when walking.
LUMBAR STENOSIS CaseFile
"AV MED, a large American HMO did research to find if they could save money by having patients with lower back pain treated by chiropractors. They chose 100 patients with severe low back pain, 80 of whom had already been medically treated without satisfactory results.
Not one of the 100 ended up under the knife, and 86% responded very favourably to Chiropractic help, and what's more none got worse."
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