The legs below are swollen: causes, treatment. Causes and types of swelling of the legs

Every evening you "buzz" and swollen legs? How many people who face this problem every day! Of course, most often it worries those who are forced to stand or walk a lot, but also to office workers who lead a "sedentary" lifestyle, too, can greatly pester the swelling of the legs. Causes and treatment of this condition, we will discuss in this article, hoping that the information will be useful.

Why there is edema on the legs

Usually, swelling is a rather innocuous consequence of a person's continued standing in an upright position.

Long trips and air travel, assuming the same pose for a long time, can lead to swelling (most often in such cases they appear on the ankles or feet). This also includes wearing high heels. The fact is that both blood and lymph largely help to smoothly move the calf muscles back in the opposite direction, and in the listed situations this does not happen.

With an increase in body weight, circulatory disorders or varicose veins, too, you can often see how the legs swell down. The causes of such phenomena are no longer harmless physiological processes, but signals of existing problems with the state of health.

Causes of edema (trauma)

If the blood plasma for some reason falls outside the walls of the blood vessels, it causes the formation of edema. In particular, often the causes of swelling of the legs in men and women are trauma to the limbs.

In normal situations, edema decreases and disappears as the injured areas are restored. But in the case when the soft tissues that are necessary for free lymph flow or blood flow in the veins of the lower limbs are damaged, the patient may develop a chronic type of swelling on the injured leg.

By the way, the traumas themselves, and their treatment, increase the risk of thrombosis in deep veins, as well as venous insufficiency.

Edema in cases of venous outflow

In addition to fatigue and trauma, you can also name other causes of edema on the legs. And the most common, unfortunately, is varicose veins.

Edema in these cases progresses slowly. At the beginning of the development of the disease, he is generally unobtrusive. By morning or after a long rest, as a rule, the edema disappears, and appears again only in the evening. Over time, it becomes permanent, and the skin changes color, and it may appear sores. By the way, edema in varicose is mostly asymmetric, since they are located on one leg.

Another reason for the described problem may be deep vein thrombosis. In this case, edema appears on both one and both legs and lasts from several hours to several days. With thrombophlebitis, edema is accompanied by a rise in temperature, redness and painful sensations around the vein.

Other causes of swelling of the legs

If the legs swell below, the causes can be covered in other pathological processes occurring in the body.

• Heart diseases, for example, heart failure. Edema is symmetrical with it, their sizes increase with the course of the disease and cover even the thighs. They are joined with time with shortness of breath and fatigue.
• Renal pathology. Edema appears on both legs on the back of the foot. As additional symptoms, dark circles appear under the eyes, the eyelids swirl and the color of urine changes.
• Impaired lymph flow. Edema on one or both legs, soft and painless to the touch.
• Diseases of the thyroid gland. Swelling is elastic, they are joined by swelling of the tongue, disruption of the bowels, drowsiness.

As you can see, the causes and types of puffiness are very diverse and quite serious. So if you have swelling become a permanent phenomenon, increase in size and they are accompanied by other alarming symptoms, be sure to see a doctor! Do not try to fight the problem yourself - you will lose time.

Why swollen legs and how to treat it

Probably, there is no need to specify that the treatment of leg edema should begin with an examination of the body and the establishment of the disease that caused this phenomenon. His treatment will be the main way to combat swelling.

As an additional therapy can be used diuretics, which reduce the amount of fluid in the body. By the way, a good diuretic effect is also possessed by fruit cocktails from cranberries or cranberries, watermelons and herbal decoctions, which will be discussed later.

In addition, patients, regardless of the cause of edema in the legs, are recommended to reduce the amount of salt and sharp condiments that cause fluid retention.

Several recipes for swollen legs

In folk medicine has accumulated considerable experience of using natural remedies for the removal of edema. Some of them simply eliminate a very unpleasant symptom, in which the legs swell below (the reasons for this phenomenon we have already considered in the article) after physical exertion, while others normalize the water-salt metabolism.

So, for example, if you are tired and your legs swell, then warm foot baths come out of the flowers of chamomile, horsetail and sage. The mixture (100 g) is poured with hot water (1 L), boiled for 15 minutes over a small heat and then insisted for 45 minutes. A strained broth is diluted with 3 liters of water.

Burning from the fatigue of the foot will bring to normal the foot bath, which will be added infusion of the flowers of elderberry black. You can grind them with a mixture of a glass of olive oil and a teaspoon of salt, which is stirred in oil until completely dissolved. In this case, also successfully apply and juice of one lemon, mixed with the same volume of vegetable oil.

But remember that when thrombophlebitis soar and massage your feet can not!

How to relieve swelling in venous insufficiency, heart disease

If you have thrombophlebitis or varicose veins, folk doctors advise making warm foot baths to the knees, adding a mixture of willow and oak roots to the water (in the calculation of 50 g for 10 liters of water).

From the pain and swelling, inevitable in thrombophlebitis, it is very useful mummy, which is added to the mixture of milk and honey (in a ratio of 20: 1) and taken inside a tablespoon twice a day for 25 days. After 10 days, the course is repeated if desired.

If in the reason why the legs swell, the main causes are cardiovascular insufficiency, then it is useful as a diuretic to take a collection of birch leaves (take 50 g), cinnamon rose (about 25 g) and the root of the field box (about 25 grams ). From this collection is prepared infusion. Two tablespoons of this mixture are poured into a glass of boiling water and put for 15 minutes in hot water, where they are cooled for 45 minutes. After that, all the ingredients are squeezed, the infusion is filtered and brought to a volume of 200 ml with boiled water. Take it should be a quarter cup of 3 r. in a day.

The pumpkin is also good in such cases, as its pulp increases the excretion of chlorine salts from the body and, without irritating the kidneys, increases diuresis.

What can be done to prevent edema

Unfortunately, the methods for preventing the onset of swelling on the feet are very commonplace, nothing new and magical has been invented yet. But, despite the fact that these tips are regularly repeated, for some reason they do not like to perform them. Although it would seem that it could be easier - do not abuse salt, avoid overfatigue and pick up comfortable shoes that do not have high heels (they can only be used "on the way out") or absolutely flat soles. And in the evenings, do a light foot massage and put under the ankles a cushion or pillow to help drain the fluid in the lower limbs.

But, probably, the person is arranged in such a way that he does not seek easy ways: smoking, alcohol (it increases the fluid retention in the tissues), excess weight, which puts stress on the legs and the cardiovascular system - from all this, of course, Feet below. The reasons for this are not taken into account and result in sad consequences, with which the patient begins self-sacrificing struggle! Maybe you should not go that far?