Restless Legs Syndrome | Causes of pain in the legs

Restless Legs Syndrome

Restless Legs Syndrome and (RLS for short) is a neurological disease of the legs. The affected persons feel sensitive sensations in their legs. This can range from numbness and tingling to pain.

This results in an urge to move, which leads to an improvement of the symptoms. As a rule, the sensations usually only occur when the patient is at rest and become apparent late in the evening or at night when the patient comes to rest or is lying in bed. RLS can be genetically inherited, but is often also caused by psychiatric drugs such as neuroleptics. Even if the cause has not yet really been clarified, the complaints can be treated quite satisfactorily with painkillers and dopamine preparations. In many cases, however, the focus is not on the sensitive symptoms but on the exhaustion caused by the disturbed night’s rest.

Thrombophlebitis

Thrombophlebitis refers to an acute inflammation of a superficial vein in combination with a thrombotic occlusion. A precise cause of thrombophlebitis has not yet been found. The inflammation is often caused by the carry-over of germs into the venous system.

For example, by using an indwelling venous catheter. It is not entirely clear whether the first symptom was a thrombosis in which substances are released from the blood clot to cause an inflammation or whether the inflammation causes a thrombosis. Both possibilities are conceivable. Thrombophlebitis causes localized pain and even a small limited redness.However, manifest leg pain is rather rare in thrombophlebitis.

Polyneuropathy

Polyneuropathies are nervous diseases that affect several nerves. Often these diseases cause sensations in or on the body. Those affected experience a tingling, pain, numbness or even a loss of sensation, for which there is no corresponding correlate at the perceived location.

Rather, the nerves are damaged and therefore tend to convey sensations that do not really exist. In the case of numbness it can even happen that a nerve is completely dead. In most cases a whole leg or foot is affected by this “false sensation”. Risk factors for polyneuropathy are poorly controlled diabetes or smoking.