Common accompanying symptoms

Swelling of the lower leg in combination with pain can have several causes. Water retention in the lower leg, so-called edema, can cause severe swelling. If, for example, stockings that are too tight are worn, they can constrict and cause minor and precisely localizable pain.

However, another and more likely cause of swelling is inflammation, which can cause pain as well as overheating and redness in the painful area. The inflammation can be caused locally by the penetration of microorganisms – as a result of an injury, for example, or as a consequence of a thrombosis of the leg. This is known as thrombophlebitis, in which the blood vessel in which a clot is lodged becomes inflamed.

The entire lower leg is often reddened, overheated and painfully swollen.

A numbness or tingling sensation in the lower leg can be a sign of a latent undersupply of blood to the lower leg, i.e. a harbinger of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAD), provided the sensation occurs primarily after walking or running.
Another possibility that could trigger a tingling or numbness is spinal stenosis. This is a narrowing of a nerve in the immediate vicinity of the spinal cord.
Typical for this, however, would be that the numb or tingling area can be clearly defined and the symptoms usually occur on one side only. Also in spinal canal stenosis, the symptoms occur mainly after physical activity.
However, if the symptoms are also present at rest, a herniated disc must be assumed, which affects the same nerves as in spinal stenosis. Here, too, the affected area can be clearly defined and the symptoms usually occur only on one side.
Furthermore, in the absolute majority of cases the herniated disc is still accompanied by pain in the area affected by numbness.

A burning sensation in the lower leg is usually the symptom of a reduced blood supply to the lower leg and thus also to oxygen. The pain can be compared to immersion in very cold water. The underlying disease is a peripheral arterial occlusive disease, or PAD.

It is an expression of arteriosclerotic calcification of the leg arteries and means that affected patients have to stop after walking distances of several hundred meters to allow sufficient blood flow to the lower legs. To disguise this fact, patients used to behave as if they were standing in front of shop windows to take a closer look at the products on display. This is why the pAVK is popularly known as “shop window disease”. These articles may also be of interest to you: Diagnosis of the pAVK