Learn why you experience severe muscle soreness after a workout and how to speed up your recovery. Most often, people do not attach much importance to painful sensations in the legs, believing that their cause lies in strong physical exertion, uncomfortable shoes, etc. It is possible that these causes of pain in the legs are taking place. If the painful sensations are not strong and after rest quickly enough disappear, then there is no cause for concern. However, if you experience pain often, then you should think about other, more serious causes of pain. Let's figure out together why the leg muscles hurt.
Which leg muscles hurt the most?
It must be said right away that the muscles of the lower leg and thigh can hurt not only due to high physical exertion after training, but also during the development of degenerative processes in the knee joints, bones, with problems with blood vessels or nerve endings. There can be a lot of reasons for the appearance of pain.
In medicine, pain in the muscles is called myalgia. The leg muscles can be divided into four groups:
- The pelvic muscles are gluteal.
- The muscles of the back and front of the thigh are the quadriceps and hamstrings.
- Calf muscles - calf and triceps.
- The muscles of the foot.
In addition, you should understand not only why the leg muscles hurt, but also where the pain occurs. It can be not only muscles, but also bones or joints.
Why leg muscles hurt - the main reasons
Since there can be many reasons for the appearance of pain in the muscles of the legs, your main task is to understand exactly why the muscles of the legs hurt. This is of great importance for subsequent treatment.
The physiological reasons for this phenomenon should be considered first. First of all, this is muscle overwork in an insufficiently trained person. The reason for this pain is lactic acid. This substance has the ability to accumulate in muscle tissues under the influence of strong physical exertion. Among athletes, such pains are usually called dizziness.
More often than not, they are not strong and occur in the muscles that you have been training. For example, after doing squats, soreness most often manifests itself in the muscles of the thigh, which are maximally involved in performing this movement.
The second cause of pain in the muscles of the legs can be prolonged inactivity of the lower extremities. This is possible, say, after a long trip or flight or during sedentary work. The cause of these pains lies in the stagnation of blood in the veins due to the lack of work of the muscular pump of the legs, which is designed to accelerate the flow of blood from the lower extremities to the heart. As a result, the nerve endings of the veins are activated, which causes pain.
In this regard, it should be noted that stagnation of venous blood is one of the main reasons for the development of varicose veins. To prevent this disease, after returning home from work, rest your feet on a pillow, thereby accelerating blood flow in the lower extremities. If none of the reasons described above suits you, and the pain is acute and prolonged, then the possibility of the appearance of pathology should be considered.
Muscle damage
Myalgias can occur as a result of inflammatory processes occurring in muscle tissues, which are called myositis. Myositis affects the fibers of muscle tissue themselves, and they can occur in any skeletal muscle. If the cause is myositis, then the pain is long lasting and increases with movement. If the inflammatory process was caused by an infection, then the body temperature also rises.
Pathologies of the spinal column and articular-ligamentous apparatus
Often, pain in a joint is regarded by a person as muscle pain. Independently in this situation, you will not be able to answer the question - why the leg muscles hurt. To do this, you need to seek medical advice and conduct a diagnostic examination.
Various pathological processes of the spinal column and especially the lumbar spine can also be perceived as muscle pain. In this situation, one of two types of painful sensations may appear:
- Chronic pain caused by. Let's say, a herniated disc.
- Sharp pains in the back of the leg, characterized as a lumbago and resembling an electric shock.
Diseases of the vascular system
If we talk about why the muscles of the legs hurt, then we cannot fail to mention the possibility of damage to blood vessels (arteries and veins). Most often this is due to a narrowing of the lumen of blood vessels, which disrupts blood flow. Most often, pain associated with vascular disease occurs in the calf muscles. Symptoms of leg vascular disease can be a decrease in the temperature of the feet and a weakening of the pulse in this area of the legs, muscle atrophy or hair loss on the lower extremities.
If your pain in your legs is permanent and continues for a long time, then you need to seek help from a doctor who can determine exactly why the leg muscles hurt.
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