Leg heaviness has several possible causes, including muscle fatigue, overtraining syndrome, and lymphedema. But if the sensation occurs at the end of the day, it’s likely to be caused by a problem you may not suspect: blood vessel disease.
Vascular medicine specialist Kishore K. Arcot, MD, FACC, and our team at Memphis Vein Center offer personalized care, accurate diagnostics, and advanced treatments to relieve your leg symptoms and restore healthy circulation.
Here, we explain two vascular conditions that commonly cause leg heaviness and the other symptoms they typically cause.
Chronic venous insufficiency is the top cause of leg heaviness. This condition occurs when damaged valves in the leg veins allow blood to flow in the wrong direction.
As your leg muscles push blood up the veins, valves open and close, ensuring the blood only moves up toward the heart and can’t flow back down the veins. If the veins weaken, some blood refluxes and flows backward.
The refluxing blood stops at the next healthy valve. Then it starts accumulating in that vein segment, causing enlarged varicose veins. Chronic venous insufficiency also raises blood pressure in the lower leg.
The engorged blood and increased pressure can cause leg heaviness at any time. But the pressure builds the more time you spend walking, sitting, and standing, causing symptoms that appear or worsen at the end of the day.
In addition to leg heaviness, chronic venous insufficiency may cause:
Venous ulcers are signs of advanced vascular disease. They’re also dangerous. Venous ulcers don’t heal without intensive wound care. Instead, they keep enlarging and can easily develop infections.
Peripheral artery disease is caused by atherosclerosis, the buildup of cholesterol in the leg arteries. The fatty plaque develops in the artery wall and collects additional fats and other substances like calcium.
Without treatment, the plaque keeps enlarging, increasingly blocking blood flow. Eventually, the blockage restricts so much blood that tissues don’t get enough oxygen or nutrients. That’s when symptoms develop.
The diminished blood supply can cause muscle fatigue and leg heaviness. These symptoms may appear at the end of the day as your ongoing activity stresses the limited blood supply.
But peripheral artery disease is best known for claudication: leg pain and cramping that begins when walking and improves when you rest.
Claudication occurs because increased muscle activity demands more blood than the blocked artery can supply. Without enough oxygen, the muscles develop painful cramps. The blood supply is sufficient when resting the muscles, so your pain improves.
As the blockage progresses and the disease reaches an advanced stage, you may have leg pain when resting.
In addition to leg pain, heaviness, and claudication, peripheral artery disease may cause hair loss and shiny skin on the affected leg. Restricted blood flow also causes tissue death, leading to arterial ulcers.
Like venous ulcers, arterial ulcers don’t heal. Without medical care, they enlarge and lead to skin and bone infections.
After evaluating your health and diagnosing the vascular condition causing your leg heaviness, we create a customized treatment plan that restores healthy blood flow and eases your symptoms.
Schedule a consultation by calling us at Memphis Vein Center in Memphis, Tennessee, or request an appointment through our online system.
