Suffering from diabetes calf pain is something you must deal with in the disease. Diabetes and calf pain quite often occur together because diabetics are prone to vascular problems and poor circulation. Arteriosclerosis is one of the biggest causes of calf pain diabetes symptoms. This is caused by your blood vessels narrowing and thus reducing the healthy oxygen-rich blood flow to the muscles in your legs. If this occurs you will feel ‘claudication’, which means that you will feel pain that results from the lack of a good blood supply to the calf muscles.
Another big concern of diabetes and calf pain is that circulatory problems may cause your blood to pool in the lower parts of your body. This is called peripheral vascular disease. These circulation problems also make it harder for a diabetic to fight infections in the lower parts of your body. This may lead to the amputations in the lower extremities. For this reason, you should check your legs and feet for wounds, ulcers, or anything else that may lead to infection, particularly if you have diabetes and calf pain.
Other Possible Causes of Diabetes and Calf Pain
One must understand that a person with diabetes can have the same sorts of complications as anyone else, they just tend to occur earlier, more severely, and more often in diabetics. Calf pain in particular can arise from a number of different problems that can range from trauma to nerve conditions. Many times it may be simply caused by a muscle cramp or charley horse, but more severe conditions can cause calf pain as well.
Most calf pain is not serious. It is normally due to overuse, injury, or age related wear and tear to the tendons and ligaments of the calf. Normally these conditions are not serious and can be prevented or treated with self-care. Taking proper periods of rest between exercises and avoiding extreme exertion are two ways to avoid trauma or pulled muscles.
One of the more serious conditions which concerns diabetes and calf pain is deep vein thrombosis, which is a blood clot in the leg. This blood clot can break loose and cause a pulmonary embolism in the lung, a heart attack, or a stroke. This calf pain or leg pain will often appear after exercise or another form of exertion. So, if you are experiencing pain, swelling, redness, and warmth in the calf it is best to seek immediate medical care.
