Possible causes of thigh pain include: musculoskeletal problems, neurological conditions and even a serious blood circulation disorder known as deep vein thrombosis.
Thigh pain usually occurs in association with other symptoms, which vary according to the underlying cause.
The treatment of thigh pain depends on the factor at the origin of the painful sensation: to heal it is necessary to act on the causative factor, identified after a scrupulous diagnostic investigation.
Brief anatomical recall of the Thigh
Seat of the femur, the thigh is the upper region of the lower limb between the pelvis (or pelvis), in the proximal position, and the leg, in the distal position.
Also referred to as the upper section of the lower limb, the thigh has the hip joint as its upper limit, and the knee joint as its lower limit.
Along the thigh, there are numerous muscles (including the quadriceps femoris, adductors, hamstring, semitendinosus, etc.), ligaments and tendons.
- The hip joint (or simply the hip joint) joins the proximal end of the femur to the ilium (ilium, ischium and pubis).
- The knee joint (or simply knee) connects the distal end of the femur to the tibia, ie the bone that together with the fibula forms the skeleton of the leg (lower section of the lower limb).
Thigh pain is a symptom, such as headache, cough, etc., so it is a sign of some health problem.
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While they deserve a simple report: iliotibial band syndrome, sciatica (or sciatica), cruralgia and lumbocruralgia
Thigh Muscle Fatigue
To understand…
According to the most traditional of anatomical descriptions, the thigh muscles can be divided into 3 main groups:
- The muscle group of the anterior compartment of the thigh, to which belong the quadriceps femoris (vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, vastus medialis and rectus femoris), the sartorius, the pectineus and the ilio-psoas;
- The muscle group of the medial (or internal) compartment of the thigh, which includes the gracilis, the external obturator, the short adductor, the long adductor and the adductor magnus;
- The muscle group of the posterior compartment of the thigh, which includes the hamstring, semitendinosus, and semimembranous.
Thigh muscle fatigue is only a mild state of muscle distress, in which there are no injuries or other changes in tone (of the muscles).
As a rule, thigh muscle fatigue results from overexertion of the lower limbs and affects people who engage in physical activities without an adequate degree of previous training.
Thigh Muscle Injuries
Premise: with the expression "muscle injury" s "means a condition characterized by an" alteration of the tone of the muscle fibers, in less severe cases, or by a lesion of the muscle fibers, in the most severe cases.
There are 3 types of muscle injury: contracture, which is the least-concerned type of muscle injury, strain, which is the intermediate-severity type of muscle injury, and strain, which is the most serious type of injury of all.
More clinically important than simple episodes of fatigue, injuries to the thigh muscles are muscular pains, which arise from physical exertion that far exceeds the capacity of contraction of the muscle fibers involved.
Those who play sports, in which there is a significant use of the lower limbs (eg: running, football, rugby, etc.) suffer the most from injuries to the thigh muscles.
Meralgia Parestesica
Also known as Bernhardt-Roth syndrome, meralgia paresthetic is a neuropathy (i.e. a nerve disease), which arises as a result of compression of the lateral cutaneous nerve, a peripheral sensory nerve that travels along the latero-superior part of the thigh. .
Among the factors that, according to doctors, can contribute to the onset of meralgia paresthetic, include: obesity, pregnancy, diabetes mellitus, the habit of wearing clothes that are too tight at the waist level and the presence of a tumor pelvic / abdominal level.
Peripheral Neuropathy
"Peripheral neuropathy" is the medical term for any morbid condition resulting from the damage and malfunction of one or more nerves of the peripheral nervous system (peripheral nerves).
The possible causes of peripheral neuropathy are numerous; among these causes, special mention should be made: diabetes mellitus, severe alcoholism, severe vitamin deficiencies, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, hypothyroidism, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Lyme disease el "amyloidosis.
Did you know that ...
When peripheral neuropathy is due to diabetes, it takes the name of diabetic neuropathy.
Diabetic neuropathy represents one of the so-called chronic complications of diabetes mellitus.
Deep Vein Thrombosis
Deep vein thrombosis is the medical condition that results from the formation of a thrombus in a deep vein in the human body.
With a preference for the venous system of the lower limbs - in particular that of the thigh and leg - deep vein thrombosis represents a very dangerous circumstance for the human being, because it can block the blood flow along the involved vein and / or cause emboli, which, after reaching the heart by exploiting the venous circulation, can obstruct the pulmonary artery and cause the phenomenon of pulmonary embolism.
The causes / risk factors of deep vein thrombosis include: clothing that is too tight, old age, maintaining a static position for long periods of time, obesity, use of the contraceptive pill, predisposition genetics to thrombotic phenomena, sedentary lifestyle and smoking.
Trochanteritis
Premise: on its proximal end, the femur has an important prominence, which takes the name of the greater trochanter and on which some muscles of the thigh and hip are inserted with their tendons (eg: external obturator, gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, etc. .).
Also known as painful syndrome of the greater trochanter or trochanteric bursitis, trochanteritis is the inflammation of the synovial bursa located above the greater trochanter, protecting the tendons of the muscles that have insertion on the surface of the aforementioned femoral prominence.
Trochanteritis can be the result of:
- Accidental falls on one side, with particular involvement of the hip;
- Accidental collisions between the hip and objects such as doors, furniture, etc .;
- Hip bruises in sports;
- Lying on your side on a hard surface for an extended period of time;
- A functional overload of the hip (it is a typical situation of those who practice sports such as running, cycling or walking in the mountains in an inappropriate way or without adequate previous training).
Risk Factors: Who Suffers Most from Thigh Pain?
Thigh pain is a symptom that can affect anyone at least once in their life; however, statistics say that this type of pain is more common in:
- People who practice sports in which the use of the lower limbs is widely used (eg: running, football, cycling, etc.);
- Obese or overweight individuals;
- Sufferers of diabetes;
- Pregnant women;
- Subjects prone to a sedentary lifestyle.
PARESTHESIC MERALGIA
In addition to pain in the thigh, meralgia paresthesiica is responsible for tingling and numbness along the anatomical stretch of the femur.
Did you know that ...
The thigh pain produced by meralgia paresthetic is a burning type pain.
PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY
Thigh pain resulting from peripheral neuropathy can be associated with:
- Repeated muscle spasms and cramps along the thigh and elsewhere
- Reduction and consequent weakening of the muscle mass of the thigh and other anatomical areas;
- Loss of sensation and numbness along the thigh and elsewhere
- Tingling along the thigh and elsewhere
- Difficulty moving and loss of balance
- Allodynia (i.e. pain caused by a stimulus which, under normal conditions, would be completely harmless and without consequences);
- Constipation and diarrhea;
- Difficulty emptying the bladder
- Sexual dysfunction (eg: erectile dysfunction in men);
- Intestinal incontinence;
- Etc.
DEEP VENOUS THROMBOSIS
Thigh pain resulting from a deep vein thrombosis episode is typically associated with:
- Swelling and soreness along the thigh
- Feeling of heat along the thigh;
- Redness or blue discoloration of the skin on the thigh.
What happens when deep vein thrombosis leads to complications?
When deep vein thrombosis results in a "pulmonary embolism, the affected person develops unambiguous symptoms, such as: shortness of breath (dyspnoea), chest pain (especially when taking deep breaths), cough, cyanosis, dizziness, fainting and altered heart rhythm.
TROCANTERITIS
Thigh pain - pain that, to be precise, affects the upper-latero-thigh area - trochanteritis is followed by a series of complaints along the same painful area, which includes: swelling, redness, heat, sense of joint stiffness (of the hip joint) and soreness.
; therefore, if the aforementioned investigations were insufficient to reach a definitive diagnosis, they could continue further with imaging diagnostics (eg: ultrasound and / or magnetic resonance imaging of the painful part), neurological examinations (eg: neurological examination and / or electromyography) and / or blood tests.
The choice of which exams and tests to follow the anamnesis is strictly dependent on what emerged from the anamnesis itself, on the account of the symptoms associated with thigh pain and on the physical examination.
Why is it important to discover the triggers?
The knowledge of the causes of thigh pain is very important, because it allows to plan the therapy through which it is possible to obtain healing (or, at least, an improvement of the symptoms).
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- If the thigh pain is due to peripheral neuropathy, the patient will benefit from an appropriate treatment of the cause of what damages the nerves and alters their functioning (ie the cause of peripheral neuropathy); moreover, it will benefit enormously from pain management through particular drugs, different from classic pain relievers (eg paracetamol or NSAIDs), such as for example: the antiepileptic gabapentin or pregabalin, the antidepressants amitriptyline and nortriptyline or capsaicin in cream.
- If the thigh pain is related to a deep vein thrombosis, the therapy could be, depending on the progress of the condition, pharmacological (thrombolysis), surgical (thrombectomy) or mechanical (intermittent pneumatic compression, elastic stockings or bandages, etc.).
