PAD is a blood-flow blockage or narrowing of vessels due to plaque buildup, the muscles don’t get enough blood during exercise that meets the extremities needs. This results in a pain, which is called intermittent claudication. This pain is the body’s way of warning the individual that it’s not receiving enough blood during exercise or exerted activities to meet the increased demand made by the muscles.
Risk factors for PAD:
- Smoking
- High Blood Pressure
- Atherosclerosis
- Diabetes
- High Cholesterol
- Older than Age 60
Many individuals dismiss symptoms of PAD and attribute it to the normal signs of aging. Many think that they are experiencing arthritis because of stiffness, but PAD leg pain occurs in the muscles, not the joints.
The most common symptoms of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) in the lower extremities is painful cramping in the hips, thighs, or calves when walking, climbing stairs, exercising, or sleeping.
PAD often goes away when a person stops exercising. This is because working muscles require more blood during activity than when they are at rest.
Other symptoms of PAD include:
- Leg pain that does not go away after exercise or heavy activity
- Foot or toe wounds that do not heal or are very slow to heal
- Gangrene or dead tissue to extremities
- A decrease in the temperature to extremities compared to the other side of your body
- Poor nail or hair growth
If you’re having any kind of recurring pain, talk to your healthcare professional, and describe the pain as accurately as you can.
If you have any of the risk factors for PAD, you should ask your healthcare professional about PAD even if you aren’t having symptoms.
FloChec® Could Save Your Life
FloChec® is a fast and easy way to detect if you have Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), which is the most common and deadly cardiovascular disease.
Though this is a serious disease you could save your own life by simply taking the first step to getting an examination.
- A FloChec examination is easy and painless.
- FloChec is an electronic device of infrared lights transmitting into the finger or toe through the electronic sensor.
- The device measures how much blood is pumping through each arm and each leg.
- It calculates blood flow in each limb by measuring the reflected light, which is proportional to blood volume.
- Those results are then compared against a range of health.
Approximately 8.5 million people in the United States have PAD, including 12–20% of individuals older than age 60.
