According to the CDC, more than a third of American adults have leg pain, perhaps partly because so many factors can cause or contribute to it. In fact, many people who have leg pain tend to assume it’s because of overexertion or just “getting older.” But chronic or recurrent leg pain can be a sign of a vein problem that can lead to serious complications.

At Vascular Care Specialists of Los Angeles, Dr. Mathew Cheung and Dr. Peter Lin discuss the link between leg pain and vein disease. In this post, you can learn your leg pain may be due to other vein related problems such as varicose veins, chronic venous insufficiency, or deep vein thrombosis.

Like every other part of your body, your legs depend on a steady supply of oxygen-rich blood to function normally. Without adequate blood supply, the muscles that “power” your legs struggle more, leaving your legs feeling tired and sore.

Several conditions can cause circulation problems in your legs — and other areas of your body, too. Three of the biggest culprits are varicose veins, deep vein thrombosis, and chronic venous insufficiency. Interestingly, in some ways, all three are interconnected.

Varicose veins are twisted, enlarged veins. Any vein that is close to the skin’s surface (superficial) can become varicosed. Varicose veins most commonly affect the veins in the legs. That’s because standing and walking increase the pressure in the veins of the lower body.

For many people, varicose veins and spider veins — a common, mild variation of varicose veins — are simply a cosmetic concern. For other people, varicose veins can cause aching pain and discomfort. Sometimes varicose veins lead to more-serious problems.

While most of varicose veins might not cause pain, common signs of varicose veins include:

• Veins that are dark purple or blue
• Veins that appear twisted and bulging, often appearing like cords on the legs

When painful signs and symptoms of varicose veins occur, they might include:

• •An achy or heavy feeling in the legs
• Burning, throbbing, muscle cramping and swelling in the lower legs
• •Worsened pain after sitting or standing for a long time
• •Itching around one or more of the veins
• Changes in skin color around a varicose vein

Your veins contain tiny valves that keep your blood flowing in one direction: back to your heart. Age, extra pounds, and lifestyle habits can cause those valves to malfunction, allowing blood to flow backward and creating veins that appear twisted, enlarged, and bulging. These are varicose veins, and they’re a fairly common cause of vein-related leg pain.

Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is a form of venous disease that occurs when veins in your legs are damaged. As a result, these veins can’t manage blood flow as well as they should, and it’s harder for blood in your legs to return to your heart. CVI causes blood to pool in your leg veins, leading to high pressure in those veins. Venous disease in general is very common. For example, varicose veins affect about 1 in 3 adults. Each year, about 1 in 50 adults with varicose veins go on to develop chronic venous insufficiency. Chronic venous insufficiency usually affects people over age 50. The risk goes up the older you get. Overall, chronic venous insufficiency affects about 1 in 20 adults.

Common signs and symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency include:

• Achy or tired legs.
• Burning, tingling or “pins and needles” sensation in your legs.
• Cramping in your legs at night.
• Discolored skin that looks reddish-brown.
• Edema (swelling) in your lower legs and ankles, especially after standing a while or at the end of the day.
• Flaking or itching skin on your legs or feet.
• Full or heavy feeling in your legs.
• Leathery-looking skin on your legs.
• Ulcers (open sores), usually near your ankles. If they’re very painful, they may be infected.
• Varicose veins.

Severe edema in your lower leg can cause scar tissue to develop. This scar tissue traps fluid in your tissues. Your calf may feel large and hard to the touch. When this happens, your skin is more vulnerable to persistent ulcers.

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) occurs when a blood clot (thrombus) forms in one or more of the deep veins in the body, usually in the legs. Deep vein thrombosis can cause leg pain or swelling. Sometimes there are no noticeable symptoms.

You can get deep vein thrombosis (DVT) if you have certain medical conditions that affect how the blood clots. A blood clot in the legs can also develop if you don’t move for a long time. For example, you might not move a lot when traveling a long distance or when you’re on bed rest due to surgery, an illness or an accident.

Deep vein thrombosis can be serious because blood clots in the veins can break loose. The clots can then travel through the bloodstream and get stuck in the lungs, blocking blood flow (pulmonary embolism). When DVT and pulmonary embolism occur together, it’s called venous thromboembolism (VTE).

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) symptoms can include:

• Leg swelling
• Leg pain, cramping or soreness that often starts in the calf
• Change in skin color on the leg — such as red or purple, depending on the color of your skin
• A feeling of warmth on the affected leg

Deep vein thrombosis can occur without noticeable symptoms.

Since vein-related leg pain is related to poor blood flow in your leg veins, treatments focus on restoring normal circulation in the affected part of your leg. Some treatments involve using techniques to close off the diseased vein so that blood can reroute to neighboring vessels, while others remove the vein entirely. Afterward, lifestyle changes and, sometimes, compression socks or stockings are recommended to help maintain vein health and decrease the risk of future problems.

At Vascular Care Specialists of Los Angeles, we strive to provide the best service, care, and results possible. If you are interested in varicose vein treatment, give us a call at 626-275-9566 to schedule an appointment. You can also visit us at www.vcsla.com for more information.