What causes weakness in legs? Leg weakness can be due to systemic disease, inflammatory conditions, or medication side effects. These causes can affect the nerves, spine, or brain, leading to leg weakness.
People will often experience shaky or weak legs when dealing with vascular issues in the leg, like deep vein thrombosis or blood clots. Clots are very serious if untreated because they could break off into the bloodstream and travel to an artery in the lungs, blocking blood flow.
As a result, people with heart failure often feel weak (especially in their arms and legs), tired and have difficulty performing ordinary activities such as walking, climbing stairs or carrying groceries.
Feeling weakness in one or both of your legs is called monoparesis or paraparesis and can be a direct result of MS. You can also feel weakness in your arms and other areas of your body, but to feel it in your legs often occurs more frequently.
Individuals with primary orthostatic tremor experience feelings of unsteadiness or imbalance. The tremor is sometimes described as causing “shaky legs” and can cause affected individuals to immediately attempt to sit or walk because of a fear of falling. In many patients, the tremors become more severe over time.
Your body prepares to deal with the stressor, interpreting the anxiousness as a signal that you'll need to stand your ground or escape from danger. Your muscles become primed to act, leading to a trembling sensation, twitching, or shaking.
When you become anxious, stressed or even angry, your nerves are heightened, causing shakiness. Some medications. Some people are more sensitive to medication than others. Asthma medications, antidepressants, lithium and even antihistamines can cause your hands to shake.
Causes of Tremors in the Elderly
For example, tremors can result from multiple sclerosis, stroke, liver failure, kidney failure, PTSD, alcohol abuse, hyperthyroidism, depression, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, and others.
There's no cure for essential tremor, but there are ways to treat it. The main treatment options are medications, assistive devices, botulinum toxin, deep brain stimulation and focused ultrasound.
The “jelly legs” feeling, which typically refers to feelings of weakness, dizziness, or loss of control in the legs, is often caused by a rush of adrenaline taking blood away from the legs, though there may be other causes.
Numbness of the face, body, or extremities (arms and legs) is often the first symptom experienced by those eventually diagnosed as having MS.
Abnormal sensations can be a common initial symptom of MS. This often takes the form of numbness or tingling in different parts of your body, such as the arms, legs or trunk, which typically spreads out over a few days.
High blood pressure is a risk factor for poor circulation, a condition also medically diagnosed as peripheral arterial disease, causing symptoms such as leg aches and pain, leg cramps in the calf or thighs while exercising or weakness in the legs.
While some studies have suggested a connection between heart disease and restless legs syndrome (RLS), a common condition characterized by an overwhelming urge to move the legs, usually at night, other studies have failed to confirm this association.
It is serious if your leg weakness is due to stroke: If your leg weakness is sudden in onset and associated with numbness, arm weakness or numbness, vision problems, trouble with balancing or trouble speaking, these may be symptoms of a stroke and you should immediately seek medical attention.
Numbness, weakness, or heaviness in muscles. Pain (described as burning or aching) at rest, commonly in the toes and at night while lying flat. Paleness when the legs are elevated. Reddish-blue discoloration of the extremities.
Causes of nerve damage include direct injury, tumor growth on the spine, prolonged pressure on the spine, and diabetes. A spinal cord injury. Spinal cord injuries are among the most common reasons that legs give out. These injuries vary in severity but should always be evaluated immediately by a spine specialist.
The telltale sign of vascular leg pain is pain that occurs during activity and subsides within a few minutes of rest. This pain can range from mild discomfort to debilitating pain, depending on the severity of plaque build up.