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Swollen Legs, Painful To Walk. What Could This Be? Travelled For Long Time
I just returned from a trip which took almost 12 hours to drive. On the way down I noticed my legs were swollen when I reached my destination. When I made the trip back home a week later, my legs were swollen again but they also began hurting especially the right one around the 8th or 9th hour of the trip. When I stopped to fill up with gas I noticed they were not only swollen but something in the back of my legs felt very tight and it hurt to walk. This morning my legs are not swollen but both have what feels like a sore muscle running down them making it very painful to walk. What could this be? I travel regularly but the trips are not normally this long. They are usually 5-6 hours. I have to travel again in a few days 5-6 hours and then back in 3 days. I'm worried since my legs are hurting now that this next trip will do the same thing. this has never happened before. How can I prevent this from happening again?
Thu, 4 Jul 2013
Hi, thanks for writing to HCM.
Based on the description, I dont think you have any serious issues and the swollen legs and feeling of sore muscles could be "Physiological".
Generally, development of swellings in legs after prolonged immobile periods is called dependent oedema which usually develops due to inactivity of the calf muscles in pumping the venous blood back to heart.
The only way to prevent this is by moving all the joints in the lower limb atleast once in a hour and make the muscles to work.
Hope this helps
Based on the description, I dont think you have any serious issues and the swollen legs and feeling of sore muscles could be "Physiological".
Generally, development of swellings in legs after prolonged immobile periods is called dependent oedema which usually develops due to inactivity of the calf muscles in pumping the venous blood back to heart.
The only way to prevent this is by moving all the joints in the lower limb atleast once in a hour and make the muscles to work.
Hope this helps
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