Which Doctor Treats Leg Pain, Cramps, and Swelling?

If you’re experiencing leg pain, cramps, and swelling, they could all be unrelated problems, but more often than not, they derive from the same cause — venous insufficiency, or poor blood circulation.

Here at Heart Vascular & Leg Center in Bakersfield, California, our expert vascular providers are intimately familiar with this trifecta of symptoms and want you to understand why your best bet for accurate diagnosis and treatment lies with a vascular physician.

The basics of chronic venous insufficiency

Your circulatory system is a closed-loop designed to deliver oxygen and nutrients to your body’s tissues and return deoxygenated, nutrient-poor blood back to the lungs and heart. Your arteries perform the former function, while your veins perform the latter.

A major problem with the return trip is that gravity pulls the blood down towards your feet, so your body has to compensate. One way it does this is by contracting the calf muscles to push the blood forward. Another way is by using a series of one-way valves that snap closed once the blood passes. However, if the vein walls weaken — say, from high blood pressure — or if the valves become damaged, blood backtracks and stagnates around the damaged area.

When the problem isn’t treated, the condition becomes chronic — chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). Almost 40% of US adults suffer from it to some degree. While CVI can be a simple cosmetic issue, it can also lead to leg pain, cramps, and swelling (edema).

If CVI isn’t treated, it can progress in stages to a more serious disease. The progression is as follows:

1. Spider veins: widened reticular veins that appear in a web pattern as increased venous pressure strains the vein walls
2. Varicose veins: large, ropy, colored swellings on the legs; can produce pain, itchiness, and swelling
3. Deep vein thrombosis: with increased venous pressure, a blood clot can form in the deep veins; if it breaks off, it can travel to the lungs where it may be life-threatening
4. Swelling: the veins begin to leak, causing fluid build-up and swelling around the weakened vein
5. Venous stasis dermatitis: the skin over the damaged vein turns brown or red, and may appear shiny or scaly
6. Venous ulcers: slow-to-heal open sores surrounded by discolored and/or hardened skin that can produce a large amount of pus and pain if infected.

What else could cause leg pain?

Many other problems can cause leg pain, from spraining a limb to getting injured in a car accident to developing peripheral arterial disease (PAD). In the latter, the arteries carrying blood to your extremities become narrowed or blocked due to plaque build-up. Leg pain when you walk, known as claudication, is the disease’s most common symptom. None of these conditions, however, is also accompanied by cramps and swelling, making CVI the most obvious cause.

Treating venous disease

Since CVI is the most likely cause, it stands to reason that the best doctor to treat your problems is a vascular physician, like those at Heart Vascular & Leg Center. We develop individualized treatment plans for our patients based on the underlying cause and severity of their symptoms. Your treatment plan can include:

• Use of compression stockings
• Weight loss, if needed, or other lifestyle modifications
• Disease-specific drugs

Our doctors also specialize in performing minimally invasive, outpatient procedures that address poor blood flow and prevent tissue damage and limb amputation in the process. Procedures include stent placement, angioplasty, laser atherectomy, and bypass surgery.

If you’re struggling with leg pain, cramps, and swelling, it’s time you came into Heart Vascular & Leg Center for evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment. Give our office a call at 661-230-9659, or book online with us today.