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Leg pain when walking
Category: Chest, Heart & Circulation · All chest & heart symptoms
What it can feel like
Leg pain when walking — often called claudication — is a cramping ache in the calf, thigh or buttock that arrives after walking a fairly predictable distance, forces you to stop, and eases within a few minutes of rest. It is the leg muscles asking for more blood than narrowed arteries can deliver.
Possible causes
A symptom can have many causes, and most are not serious. The lists below group conditions this symptom can be associated with — common causes first. They are possibilities to discuss with a clinician, not a diagnosis.
Common causes
Predictable exertional leg pain can be associated with narrowed arteries (peripheral arterial disease), which shares risk factors with heart disease — smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol. Back problems can mimic it with a different pattern.
Other possible causes
Leg pain at rest, especially in the foot at night, suggests more severe arterial narrowing and needs prompt assessment. Pain that comes on at varying distances, or with back pain and numbness, can come from spinal nerve narrowing instead.
Red flags — when to seek help promptly
- Leg pain present at rest, or a foot that is cold, pale or dusky
- A leg ulcer or sore that is not healing
- A leg that suddenly becomes painful, pale, cold and numb — emergency
- Walking distance shrinking quickly over weeks
What a clinician may do
A clinician will feel the leg pulses, compare blood pressure in the arm and ankle (the ankle-brachial index), and take blood tests for sugar and cholesterol. An ultrasound scan of the leg arteries maps the narrowing, and treatment tackles risk factors as well as blood flow.
Watch: related videos
Examination and clinical videos from the MedicalVideos.com library relevant to this symptom. Some clinical footage is graphic — that is the nature of a medical video library.
Related guides on MedicalVideos.com
Frequently asked questions
Why does the pain stop when I rest?
Working muscle needs much more blood than resting muscle. A narrowed artery can cope at rest but not during walking, so pain builds as you walk and settles when demand falls. The predictable pattern is the classic clue.
Is walking still good for me?
Yes — supervised, regular walking that pushes gently into the discomfort and then rests is one of the most effective treatments, because it encourages the growth of small bypass vessels. Your clinician can advise how to build it up safely.
Related symptoms — Chest, Heart & Circulation
Browse the L section of the A–Z list or return to the Symptoms A–Z hub.