What are the causes of female calf pain?

If a woman experiences swollen and painful calves, she should pay attention to this. There are many reasons for this symptom, which are related to some bad living habits and may also be related to some diseases. For example, some women often need to stand for a long time due to work, then calf swelling may occur. There are also many other causes of this symptom, such as lower limb venous valve insufficiency, arteriosclerosis, etc.

What are the causes of female calf pain?

1. Swelling and fatigue of lower limbs:

One of the symptoms of deep vein thrombosis. It has the following characteristics: ① It is more common in young and middle-aged patients. ②Persistent lower limb swelling and fatigue. ③ As the symptoms worsen, severe varicose veins of the lower limbs will occur. ④Doppler ultrasound is helpful for diagnosis, and venography can confirm the diagnosis.

2. Primary lower extremity venous valvular insufficiency

Characteristics: ① Most of them are people who stand for a long time or do heavy physical labor, or their symptoms do not improve after great saphenous vein stripping or relapse in a short period of time. ② The affected limb is swollen, and severe expansive pain occurs when standing for a long time. Symptoms and signs of simple varicose veins of the lower limbs ③ Venous pressure measurement and directional Doppler ultrasound examination are helpful for diagnosis. Symptoms of radiating pain in the lower limbs: may extend along the lower back, buttocks, back of the thigh, front or posterolateral side of the calf to the heel. The pain is mainly radiating and stabbing. Radiating pain in the lower limbs may occur before low back pain, or it may occur after the onset of low back pain symptoms. These two situations vary from person to person.

3. Patients with sacroiliac joint lesions also have symptoms of lower back and leg pain. The pain is focused on the sacroiliac joint area, and there is pain in the lumbar region and one side of the buttocks. When the patient stands on one foot on the affected side, the pain worsens, and the patient cannot bend over due to waist pain when the waist is hyperextended or rotated rapidly. When sitting, the patient bears weight on the healthy buttocks. In severe cases, the patient cannot turn over in bed, and the pain may radiate to the lower limbs. There is pain when pressing the sacroiliac joint and the posterior superior iliac spine, and the pain worsens when tapping the local area. The lumbar muscles are tense, but a careful examination reveals that the pain is mainly in the sacroiliac joint when the lower limbs are raised, and there is no obvious radiating pain in the lower limbs.

4. Occlusive arteriosclerosis

: It is characterized by being more common in the elderly and more common in men than in women. Due to arterial stenosis or occlusion, the limbs are insufficiently supplied with blood and have poor blood circulation. The earliest symptoms are chillness, soreness, pain, fatigue, numbness, etc. in the limbs. People with high blood pressure or diabetes are more susceptible. ①Cold hands and feet, often accompanied by numbness. ② After moving or walking for a certain distance, lower limb muscle pain, cramps, and fatigue occur, and the patient needs to rest for a few minutes before continuing to move or walk. ③ Leg cramps. When arteries harden, blood circulation in the legs will be blocked, blood supply will be reduced, and muscle contraction will be stimulated, causing painful cramps. ④ Pain at rest, severe coldness and numbness in the lower limbs, and worsening pain at night. ⑤ Severe ischemia of the lower limbs, abnormal skin color of the toes, feet and calves, pale, purple, itchy, calf ulcers or black necrosis of the toes. The distal arterial pulses are weak and the body surface temperature is low.

5. Increased sympathetic nerve excitability

Pheochromocytoma, hyperthyroidism, functional hypoglycemia, lumbar sympathetic nerve dysfunction leading to persistent night pain in both legs, diabetic lower limb vascular disease, mainly manifested as lower limb pain, intermittent claudication, lower limb rest pain and foot gangrene. Early physical examinations can reveal insufficient blood supply to the lower limbs, such as pale skin on the feet when the lower limbs are raised, purple-red color when the lower limbs are lowered, cold feet, and weakened or even disappeared dorsalis pedis artery pulsation.