Why do elderly people have leg pain?

Leg pain in the elderly should certainly not be ignored, because the older they are, the more susceptible they are to illnesses such as osteoporosis, lower limb arteriosclerosis, or osteoarthritis, which can easily affect their quality of life and health, so they must focus on conditioning and treatment.

1. Osteoporosis: Osteoporosis is a chronic disease caused by multiple factors, especially common in postmenopausal women and elderly men. Primary osteoporosis is a common disease among the elderly. Primary type I osteoporosis is caused by a decrease in estrogen after menopause, which increases bone resorption and leads to bone loss; the cause of primary type II osteoporosis is due to aging, which leads to an imbalance in hormone self-regulation and low bone formation.

2. Lower limb arteriosclerosis: Lower limb arteriosclerosis obliterans is caused by the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in the lower limb arteries, which causes stenosis and occlusion of the lower limb arteries, leading to chronic ischemia of the limbs. The main clinical manifestations are coldness, numbness, pain, intermittent claudication, disappearance of arterial pulsation, nutritional disorders of limb tissues, and ulcers or gangrene of the toes or feet.

3. Intermittent claudication: Intermittent claudication means that the patient does not feel obvious pain when not walking, but when walking, the affected lower limbs will feel sore and uncomfortable, and have to stop to rest. After resting for a period of time, the discomfort disappears and the patient can walk again. Intermittent claudication may be caused by compression of the nerves in the lumbar spinal canal or by vascular disease in the lower limbs.

4. Osteoarthritis: Osteoarthritis is a joint disease characterized by degeneration, degradation and proliferation of articular cartilage. Most of the diseases have an insidious onset and slow progression, and the most prominent symptom is joint pain. The pain is more severe when getting up in the morning, and it will be relieved after a little exercise. The pain will recur if you exercise too frequently, and will be relieved again after rest. Leg pain caused by osteoarthritis of the knee is related to climate change. Leg pain worsens when it is cold and relieved when it is warm. At the same time, the patient's knees become tired when walking, and the pain is significantly aggravated when going up and down stairs.