Peripheral Arterial Disease
Claudication/Leg Pain

What is Peripheral Arterial Disease (Claudication / Leg Pain)?

Peripheral Arterial Disease is experienced as pain in the legs while walking, particularly described as cramping or heaviness and ache, can be a result of narrowed or blocked arteries supplying the muscle groups of that leg.

Arteries are the tubes that deliver oxygenated blood from the heart to the legs and every other part of the body.

Pain in the calf or thigh made worse by walking on flat ground, uphill or upstairs, which is relieved by rest, is described as Intermittent Claudication. It is referred to as intermittent because it is reproducible each time the patient walks or exerts effort in using their legs.

Blocked arteries are referred to as Peripheral Arterial Disease and can cause a spectrum of symptoms from leg pain to developing ulcers and gangrene.

The cause of blocked arteries can be due to plaque build-up and also clot developing in the arteries.