Telltale Signs of Poor Circulation in Your Legs

Did you know that your heart beats about 35 million times per year? Or that your cardiovascular system circulates the entirety of your blood three times every minute? 

As if this workload wasn't enough, your cardiovascular system faces additional challenges when it comes to circulating blood to your lower extremities, namely distance and gravity. As a result, many circulation issues first develop in your legs.

As foot, ankle, and leg wound specialists, double board-certified provider Dr. Thomas Rambacher and the team at Foot Ankle Leg Wound Care Orange County are particularly concerned with leg circulation since it’s critical to the healing process.

So, we thought it would be a good idea to review some signs of circulation issues in your legs so that you can be on higher alert for lower limb wounds.

Issues that affect circulation to your legs

There are several cardiovascular conditions that can affect the circulation in your legs, including:

Peripheral artery disease (PAD)

This issue, which affects up to 12 million Americans, develops when the arteries that deliver oxygenated blood to your legs narrow due to fatty plaque buildup and atherosclerosis.

Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI)

To help blood make its way back up the veins in your legs, they’re equipped with tiny, one-way valves that close as blood passes through. With CVI, these valves can weaken and fail, which allows blood to pool in your legs.

Heart failure

When you have heart failure, your heart struggles to pump blood efficiently, which can lead to poor circulation everywhere in your body, but your lower limbs can feel the effect hardest thanks to the aforementioned distance and gravity issues.

Signs of poor leg circulation

Now that we’ve reviewed some of the more common culprits behind poor leg circulation, let’s get into signs of a potential problem, such as:

Leg swelling

If your feet and ankles swell up for no obvious reason, such as an injury, it’s likely edema. This is a side effect of fluid buildup in your tissues due to poor circulation. The conditions that lead to leg swelling include heart failure and CVI.

Leg pain

Another common side effect of poor leg circulation is achiness, fatigue, or cramping in your leg, often during activity. This is common with PAD, and it can also occur with heart failure and CVI.

Varicose veins

A telltale sign of CVI are varicose veins in your lower legs.

Changes in your skin

If the skin in your lower legs starts to change in texture, color, or tone, this may be a sign of poor leg circulation.

Cold feet

If your feet always feel cold, despite what the weather outside is doing, this can signal bad circulation to your lower extremities.

Slow-healing wounds

Again, the reason why we’re concerned about poor circulation is that any cut or opening in your lower legs might not heal readily, which can leave you more prone to infection. So, if you notice that minor injuries are healing more slowly or that you’ve developed ulcers in your skin for no reason, these are serious signs of blood flow issues and ones you shouldn’t ignore.

In fact, at the first signs of a slow-healing wound in your lower legs, we want you to come see us straight away. To set that in motion, please call our office in Mission Viejo, California, at 949-832-6018 or request an appointment online today.