In the cold season, the human body is always prone to some problems.
In winter, many people suffer from cold legs and feet again. Worryingly, it didn’t improve even after wearing a lot of clothes.
But some people say that cold legs and feet are not limited to winter, and I feel this way all year round.
Attention! If you always have cold legs and feet, you must pay attention to it, it may be that your blood vessels are “sick”!
So, how to judge whether it is just cold legs and feet or disease? How to alleviate it?
If your legs and feet are cold, you should be alert to problems with arteries and blood vessels. The human body is covered with blood vessels, mainly divided into arteries and veins. Arteries are responsible for transporting blood and nutrients from the heart to all parts of the body, and veins are responsible for returning blood to the heart, which is a blood circulation. Large arteries originate from the heart, and then, like trees, branch out into many smaller arteries to supply various organs and limbs of the body.
If there is a problem (narrowing or blockage) in the arteries that supply blood to the legs, it can lead to insufficient blood supply to the legs and feet, resulting in various symptoms such as cold legs and feet, lower extremity pain, intermittent claudication Wait for discomfort. At this time, we must be alert to whether there is a problem with the arterial blood vessels.
How to judge whether it is just cold legs and feet or disease?
Let’s first talk about two cases of cold legs and feet: one is that you feel cold, but you can’t feel it with your hands; the other is that you feel cold and feel cold.
In the first case, first consider whether there is a lumbar spine disease, and it is recommended to see an orthopedic doctor.
In the second case, generally there is a problem with the arterial blood vessel, and then determine where the arterial blood vessel is wrong.
The large blood vessels of the human body will have a bifurcation at the position of the navel, called the iliac arteries. Continue down, at the root of the thigh, there will be another bifurcation called the femoral artery. It then continues downward and divides into three branches in the calf, supplying blood to the calf and foot. Problems in any part of this arterial pathway from the navel to the feet can lead to cold legs or intermittent claudication.
In this regard, we have a simple method to measure the patency of blood vessels.
Self-test 1: Stand up, put both hands in your trouser pockets, and touch the base of your thighs. Under normal circumstances, you can feel the pulsation of the arteries, throbbing. If there is no jumping, or the beating is weak, there may be a problem, and it is recommended to see a doctor.
Self-test 2: Lie flat, take off your shoes and socks, and let your family touch the back of your feet. Normally, a weak arterial pulsation can be felt. This method has certain difficulties. If you cannot make an accurate judgment, it is recommended to see a doctor.
How to relieve cold legs and feet?
If it is judged that the cold legs and feet are caused by arterial vascular disease, there are generally the following relief methods, which correspond to mild to severe cases.
Method 1: Walk more, keep warm, wear thick socks, comfortable sneakers or cotton shoes, and gently rub your feet repeatedly with your hands, be careful not to use too much force. It is not recommended to soak your feet, and it is not recommended to bake your feet with an electric heater.
Method 2: Go to the hospital for treatment, and you can take some drugs that dilate blood vessels orally. Through the action of the drug, the tiny blood vessels in the feet are expanded, so that the blood supply is more, and the symptoms are relieved.
Method 3: If the artery from the navel to the feet has serious problems, then surgery is required. Minimally invasive interventional therapy can now be used to treat lesions through a needle at the root of the thigh. Drug balloon dilation or stent implantation may be required to resolve the diseased blood vessels, restore blood flow to the legs, and warm the cold feet. meaning.
(Expert in this article: Fang Jie, Deputy Chief Physician, Vascular Surgery Center, Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences)