Legs, as a part of weight-bearing walking, bear the pressure from our upper body all the time. Especially for the elderly over 60 years old, muscles, blood vessels and bones have been seriously degraded. Most elderly people will have diseases such as arthritis and atherosclerosis. So, how can we know whether the legs are aging?
As the saying goes, "when people get old, their legs will get old, and when they get old, their legs and feet will not work." This sentence is really reasonable, because from the physiological structure of our human body, this part of the knee joint is the largest joint in the human body. We usually rely on the knee joint for flexion and extension when walking and running, so as to complete these actions.
It is precisely because we use the knee joint many times that this part naturally ages faster than other parts. With the increase of age, there may be many uncomfortable symptoms in the knee joint of the leg. For example, the following six kinds of disease signals are all reminding you to pay attention to leg health.
1, varicose veins.
Simply put, varicose veins actually refer to the tortuous and dilated superficial veins of the body caused by blood stasis and weak vein walls. Varicose veins may occur in many parts of the human body, and varicose veins often occur in lower limbs.
When varicose veins appear in lower limbs, we should be alert in time, because the cause of varicose veins may be due to the secondary manifestations of other diseases, such as varicose veins in common inferior vena cava obstruction. Therefore, when varicose veins appear in the lower limbs, we should actively and timely deal with the primary disease.
The main symptoms of varicose veins are pain and heaviness of lower limbs, which will seriously affect the quality of life of patients. Mild symptoms are mostly red bloodshot and blue reticular venules, while severe symptoms are tortuous dilatation of cord veins. In any case, varicose veins will seriously affect the beauty of the legs.
If not treated in time, these symptoms will develop with the aggravation of the disease. There will be a lot of pigmentation on the skin, accompanied by itchy skin, rough skin and atrophy, and even lead to thrombophlebitis.
2, frequent joint pain
In normal times, if you often feel joint pain, it may be caused by leg aging, because joint pain is also one of the manifestations of leg aging. Among middle-aged and elderly people, most of them will feel the symptoms of leg pain.
This is because with the increase of age, the bone mass decreases and the brittleness of bones increases, which leads to the brittleness of the hip joint of the body. The knee joint will also become more fragile, so that the leg can't bear the gravity of the body, and most patients will have symptoms of pain.
If it is found that leg pain often recurs and cannot be relieved, it may be a signal sent to the body by wear or degeneration. In addition to this reason, it may also be caused by disease. For example, when middle-aged and elderly people suffer from gout and rheumatic diseases, symptoms of joint pain often appear.
In short, if middle-aged and elderly people frequently feel joint pain, it means that a lot of calcium has been lost in the body. Then, you can eat more calcium-containing foods on weekdays, such as milk, beef, fish, shrimp, eggs, sparerib soup, bean products and so on. Usually, you should also exercise properly and go out to bask in the sun. Doing these things well can promote the absorption of calcium in gastrointestinal tract, thus effectively delaying the loss of calcium.
3. Inconvenient legs and feet
The inconvenience of legs is the primary feature of leg aging, especially middle-aged and elderly people often feel that their legs and feet are inflexible, their legs and feet are sore and swollen, and they walk more and more slowly. These are all phenomena of leg aging. In the process of aging, most elderly people often feel weak in their legs and feet, which leads to inconvenient legs and feet, and they also feel very tired and weak when they are active.
If you find that your legs and feet are inconvenient to move, it is mostly a signal of physical aging. After the general age is over 60, these situations will become more and more obvious. Therefore, middle-aged and elderly people need to take corresponding measures to prevent leg aging when their legs are weak and their legs and feet are inconvenient.
4, legs and feet are frequently cold and numb.
If the legs frequently appear cold and numb, it may be caused by vascular diseases of the lower limbs. Because of arterial stenosis and plaque formation in lower limbs, these symptoms will lead to insufficient blood supply in patients' legs. Coupled with the lack of nutrition in the nerves, the legs and feet will also have numbness symptoms, which will lead to a decrease in blood supply and eventually lead to cold symptoms in the legs.
In addition to vascular diseases of lower limbs, legs and feet often feel cold and numb, which may also be caused by disc herniation and spinal stenosis. If the patient has serious disc herniation and spinal canal stenosis, it will promote nerve edema to a great extent.
When the nerves of the body are highly sensitive, they will show obvious clinical symptoms of chills and numbness. Patients may also be accompanied by severe low back pain, especially the muscle strength of lower limbs will gradually decrease with the severity of the disease.
5. Osteoporosis in the legs and feet.
Osteoporosis is a common bone metabolic disease in middle-aged and elderly people. Due to the aging of age, most middle-aged and elderly people will have a decrease in bone mass, which will change the bone mass of the body and cause osteoporosis.
There are many reasons for osteoporosis, which are related to abnormal calcium absorption, rapid calcium loss and insufficient nutrient intake. When the body is obviously deficient in calcium, it will lead to bone trabecula and bone mass reduction.
Osteoporosis is very harmful to patients, and generally there will be no obvious symptoms in the early stage. But with the continuous development of the disease, it may cause a series of harm. Such as bone and joint pain, pathological fracture, spinal deformation and other factors.
When osteoporosis is serious, sometimes coughing can cause fractures, which are difficult to recover after. In short, the incidence and disability rate of osteoporosis are extremely high. If osteoporosis occurs in the body, it should be treated in time. Don't underestimate osteoporosis.
1, massage your legs more.
Usually, you can prevent leg aging by massaging your legs, because this way can relax tight muscles. First relax your body and mind, then keep sitting, knead your calf with your hands in a wide palm, and press it slowly from calf to thigh from light to heavy. Using this method can stimulate the muscles and meridians of the leg well and help to strengthen the strength of the leg.
Step 2 Exercise properly
If you want to protect your legs, try not to do anything that hurts the joints of lower limbs on weekdays. For example, reduce the load on your lower joints and bend down as much as possible in your life.
At the same time, we should avoid sports that damage the joints of the body, such as mountain climbing and long-distance running. It is best for the elderly not to sit for a long time and not to stand for a long time. These two behaviors are very unfavorable to bone and joint, which can easily aggravate the symptoms of poor blood circulation of lower limbs, and may eventually lead to the obstacle of arteriovenous circulation.
Although there are many restricted sports for the elderly, this does not mean that the elderly can't exercise, and they can usually do some sports suitable for middle-aged and elderly people. Mild aerobic exercise can be carried out in life, such as common walking and Tai Ji Chuan, but the time of each exercise should not be too long, and it is best to control it within half an hour.
3, a reasonable diet
Usually, I can see some old people look good and look tough. However, although some old people are young, they feel much older than their peers when they walk. This is actually related to your usual eating habits. Therefore, if the elderly want to prevent aging, they can improve it through correct diet.
First of all, the main dietary principle of the elderly is light, low in salt, sugar and fat as far as possible. Usually, you can eat more soy products and whole grains, eat more green leafy vegetables and fruits, and eat some meat and fish properly.
Old people also need to properly supplement their bodies with calcium. Drinking milk, eating eggs and basking in the sun every day can effectively promote the body to synthesize endogenous vitamin D. This can effectively supplement calcium and prevent osteoporosis in the body.
4. Pay attention to the treatment of primary disease
Generally speaking, lower limb diseases are caused by the development of other diseases except aging. For example, common diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia will all lead to diseases of the lower limbs of the elderly.
Therefore, in order to effectively treat lower limb diseases. So, first of all, we should pay attention to the treatment of these primary diseases. Be sure to actively monitor your blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipid on weekdays. Take the medicine regularly according to the doctor's advice and check it regularly. At the same time, try to reduce the occurrence of physical burden.
It is recommended that people over the age of 60 develop the habit of regular physical examination. Because the middle-aged and elderly people are getting older, their health needs special attention. In order to prevent leg aging, it is very important to check bone mineral density.
By regularly checking the bone density, you can have a good grasp of your bone health. Because of the decrease of bone density, the bones of the body will become brittle and the toughness will become worse and worse, which will increase the incidence of falls and fractures in middle-aged and elderly people.
In addition, in addition to bone examination, these three examinations are also indispensable. The first is the cardiac function examination in ECG, because the aging of the heart is imperceptible to the human body. Secondly, blood indexes such as blood lipid, blood sugar and blood pressure are also very important.
Physical examination can effectively discover the aging phenomenon of the body and effectively prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, arteriosclerosis and cerebral infarction. Finally, it is best to check your digestive function regularly, because digestive diseases such as intestinal cancer and gastric cancer are more common among the elderly now.
When the body reaches a certain age, the phenomenon of lower limb aging appears in the body, although it cannot be reversed. However, preventive measures should also be taken at ordinary times and more measures should be taken to delay the aging of lower limbs. Timely detection of bad symptoms and effective treatment according to their own symptoms can preserve the function of lower limbs to a certain extent.
You can start from the little things in life, keep a good routine, go to bed early and get up early. You can also protect the function of lower limbs by insisting on exercise, healthy diet and massage. The most important thing is to check and review regularly, which can protect your health and improve the quality of life in your later years.