How to Identify Poor Circulation in Legs?

If you’re experiencing a different sensation in your legs than usual, there are ways to check if you have circulation problems. You can do some simple tests on your own, but if you’re still uncertain, the best thing is to ask for professional help.

Firstly, observe the healthiness of the skin. The skin on our feet should always be soft and elastic, without visible color changes. While looking for signs of change, notice if there are any signs of swelling.

Do both of your feet look the same? Checking such symptoms is especially important during recovery from any surgical procedures since poor circulation doesn’t necessarily have to be in both legs.

After you’ve checked the superficial signs of insufficient blood flow:

1. Notice if there are any tingling sensations or painful areas in your legs, feet, or toes.
2. If there are no such symptoms, continue with the next step – capillary refill test. The capillary refill test will quickly check how much it takes for your capillary to pump the blood back to its place.
3. Start with gently pitching the tip of your toe over the toenail and squeeze it until it turns pale. If your toenail restores its original color within 5 seconds, you most likely don’t have slow leg circulation.

Causes of Bad Circulation in Legs

There are a lot of diseases in the circulatory system. Therefore, it’s vital to determine the causes for them in order to start the prevention therapy. Even though older adults primarily face this condition, young people can be affected by it as well. Reasons for such issues are many, but the most common are:

• diabetes,
• obesity,
• physical inactivity,
• deep vein thrombosis,
• smoking,
• peripheral artery disease caused by atherosclerosis,
• venous insufficiency

We can’t stop some diseases from developing as we grow older. But we can avoid other consequences of unhealthy life choices at a younger age.

Changing our lifestyle with a specific diet, fluids intake, and exercise will do wonders for our blood flow and genuine health improvement. Taking steps to control and prevent further development of poor blood circulation in the legs will benefit your immune system as well.

Poor Circulation in Legs Symptoms

Poor blood circulation in our limbs manifests in many different ways. Sometimes it’s easy to dismiss these symptoms since we attribute them to stress and other factors that might influence our health at the moment.

However, this circulation problem is not to be ignored since it can lead to many other serious health issues. If you are experiencing some of the following symptoms, you might have a problem with the blood vessels in your limbs:

• tingling numbness of legs, feet, and toes,
• the feeling of heaviness in your legs,
• muscle cramps,
• swelling of lower extremities,
• unusual paleness or blue skin,
• throbbing limb pain,
• joint pain and discomfort,
• cold feet.

Keep in mind that the presence of one symptom doesn’t mean you have poor circulation in your legs. However, if you feel any unusual discomfort, the best thing is to contact your doctor that will do the tests, and if needed, refer you to a vascular surgeon.

Such things are not to be taken lightly since they can be side-effects of many severe conditions like diabetes, obesity, or Raynaud’s disease.

Foods That Improve Blood Circulation in the Legs

If you were to ask any medical expert how to improve blood circulation in the legs, they would agree that the best way is the old-fashioned way – through food and nutrients. We often rely on the wonders of modern medicine and forget that nature has the cure for many conditions.

• nuts: walnuts;
• spices: turmeric, cayenne pepper, cinnamon;
• vegetables: garlic, onions, leafy greens, beets, tomatoes;
• fruits: pomegranate, citruses, berries;
• fish: mackerel, salmon;
• apple cider vinegar.

Any food with omega-3 fatty acids, capsaicin, vasodilators, antioxidants, nitrates, and vitamin E will significantly benefit your blood circulation. All the ingredients mentioned above have very potent elements that will also boost your immune system. It’s crucial to watch your overall health when dealing with blood pumping issues—our body functions as a clock mechanism. If one cog is out of order, it can affect the whole system.

Is Circulation Leg Massage Helpful In Young and Older People?

Leg massager for circulation is a very effective way of relaxing our body muscles. It is the most common and natural way to find quick relief from poor blood circulation symptoms.

If done regularly, it can benefit everyone no matter the age. However, such treatments should never be the primary therapy. To improve the blood flow in your legs, we need to jumpstart some healthy changes in our life. First, we need to increase our physical activity.

Nothing can stimulate blood flow as much as the proper workout. And while it’s imperative to pay attention to exercise every part of our body equally, try to focus on your legs more. If you are a gym-goer, you probably know that many dread leg day and sometimes even avoid it.

However, we should never skip this day because we can ease any discomfort with simple exercise and an increase in physical activity.

Is Leg Circulation Machine Effective In the Treatment?

Circulation machines or so-called “circulation boosters” are usually seen in morning commercials and infomercials. And while the presented concept sounds good on paper, the question is whether these machines work.

The original idea of such an apparatus is to improve blood circulation in the legs through electric muscle stimulation and contraction. That way, the blood flow will increase, and the original function of the legs is restored. Sounds great, right? And while no one can dispute the instant relief these machines bring to our limbs, the effects wear off in a matter of minutes.

So the answer to the original question is no. Such devices give momentary comfort but without lasting impact and improvement to our health.

In summation, if you want to improve blood circulation in the legs, the most efficient way to do it is with circulation massage, an increase of physical activities, and a healthy diet. And the best part is, you don’t need expensive medications to do it.

You can do it yourself. A little bit of hard work and some healthy changes will not only help your blood circulation but boost your immune system as well.