Health & Medical Diseases & Conditions

Peripheral Artery Disease Explained

If you experience random pain in your legs you might want to pay close attention. While the pain you are experiencing could be nothing more than soreness after a workout, it could also be a symptom of peripheral artery disease (PAD). This disease causes reduced blood flow which usually occurs in the legs and feet and needs to be diagnosed right away. While you won't need cardiothoracic surgery, you will need some sort of treatment soon.

Peripheral artery disease can easily be summed up in a few words. PAD is what is happening when plaque builds up in your blood vessels and the amount of blood flowing through them is reduced. Plaque in your arteries is made up of mostly fats and cholesterol. When your arteries become narrowed due to plaque, this is called the hardening of the arteries. Once this happens, your arteries basically are no longer able to keep up with any sort of physical activity. With physical exertion your body requires a greater amount of blood flow to keep going, but the plaque in your arteries prevents this from happening. During regular exercise your arteries expand to increase blood flow to the body. With peripheral artery disease your arteries are unable to open and to become stiff instead. In general, PAD causes difficulty walking, random pain throughout the body and even sores on your skin that won't heal as they should.

After visits to a Chicago occupational health services facility, your PAD symptoms will probably make more sense. If you have peripheral artery disease, you will find that your symptoms are prevalent mostly when exerting yourself in some sort of physical activity. Difficult walking, sores on skin, tingling in your limbs and muscle cramps are all symptoms of PAD. One thing to keep in mind is that you might not experience any symptoms at all. If you do notice that you are having any of these symptoms it is best to seek medical attention right away because you could be worse than you realize.

You should also know that there is no cure for PAD, but the complications that arise from it can be treated. If you have very little hardening of the arteries a few lifestyle changes could help get your peripheral artery disease under control. If you have a more severe case of PAD you might need to have some sort of surgery to help relieve your symptoms. While an Illinois da vinci surgical robot won't perform the procedure, the surgeon doing the operation will see to it that you are in good hands.

The symptoms of PAD are usually late to onset, so a visit to the Chicago occupational health services facility or to Riverside Medical Center at the first signs is recommended. While you are there you can feel free to check out the highly advanced Illinois da vinci surgical robot [http://www.riversidehealthcare.org/services/cancer-institute/robotic-cancer-surgery/davinci.html] that assists surgeons with cardiothoracic surgery. Riverside Medical Center will see to it that your PAD is brought under control right away.


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