Definition | Claudication | Futura Health

The claudication, from the Latin claudicare which means to limp, generally designates a pain or muscle weakness in the leg that interferes with normal walking and stops at rest. The term can nevertheless apply to other members such as the jaw (difficulty chewing), for example in Horton's disease.

Intermittent Claudication: Symptoms

Intermittent claudication manifests in a specific part of the leg in the form of cramp, with a pain which increases with effort and which disappears quickly when stopped. The pain is most often located in the calf, more rarely in the thigh, buttock or foot.

Intermittent Claudication: Causes

Intermittent claudication is linked to an insufficient blood supply to a muscle group in relation to an increased metabolic demand, which leads toacidosis. The most common cause frequency of this ischemia is a chronic arterial disease, with narrowing of the arteries through atherosclerosis (deposit of a plate ofatheroma). We then speak of intermittent vascular claudication.

Other causes can however cause the same symptoms :

• articular: lumbar degenerative rheumatism, hip or knee, or pathology of the foot.
• neurological: compression of the spinal cord or roots of nerves inside the spine, which prevents nerve impulses to reach the muscles after a certain amount of effort This pathology is sometimes associated with low back pain or a sciatica.

Intermittent Claudication: Treatment

In the absence of treatment, the evolution of intermittent claudications is generally not favorable, with persistent symptoms or even worsening (pain, paralysis), which can even appear at rest. The treatment consists in improving the circulation in the artery in question, either with drugs (antiplatelet agents, pentoxifylline or cilostazol), or by angioplasty (insertion of a balloon into the artery to widen it) or bridging surgical. Patients are also advised to improve their lifestyle (smoking cessation, activity physical moderate, balanced diet …) to reduce the cardiovascular risk.