Finally relief for my leg pain and weakness.

[no_hypocrisy]

I've had it for almost two months. Pain and weakness that have prevented me from climbing stairs one leg at a time and when I did, I had to pull myself up via the banister like it were a rope. I felt it when dressing. Felt when rolling over in bed. And the pain moved from the front to the side of my upper leg. No injury.

I was afraid that I might have a blood clot in my femoral artery and had it ruled out with a Doppler Scan. But the pain and weakness continued.

Yesterday, my friend, a physical therapist, nodded knowingly and gave my leg a thorough (and painful) rub down. I found the pain was more than one muscle. Like 2-3 muscles in both my upper and lower leg. It was excruciating but when the pain subsided, my leg felt "normal."

The point: my friend advised that this was muscle tightening that comes with age. (Yes, I am 62.) That means to lessen that condition, I need to start stretching on a regular basis and do more weight-bearing exercises.

You have no idea what relief I have physically and emotionally.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. How great you found relief!

And now you know what to do to keep the weakness from returning!

Enjoy your newly-found strength.

[DUgosh]

2. Yoga

Check of YouTube for videos searching for beginners yoga for leg pain

[mitch96]

6. +1.. been doing it for over 45 years....

Nothing fancy. Just the basic "Sun Salutation" quick and easy. I throw in a bunch of other stuff to stave off back stiffness. All good and take it slow at first. Slow is smooth and smooth is safe..
m

[Big Blue Marble]

3. Wonderful you are feeling better, but I disagree somewhat with your friend.

Your experience is not normal aging, there is more likely an imbalance that threw your muscles into crisis.
You might want to search out a cranial sacral osteopath. As you move through your life, imbalances
get build in. Your fascia can be come distorted putting strains on your muscles. Often cranial sacral
therapy will reset your muscles and skeleton.

Definition of fascia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascia

[no_hypocrisy]

4. I'll look into it. Thank you!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. I agree with Big Blue Marble.

You are only 62. Unless you have something else going on, such as childhood polio (not very likely at your age) or some kind of actual neurological or muscle disorder, you are far too young to be having leg pain and weakness. If you are extremely sedentary, then yes, you need to get out and move more.

[CTyankee]

7. I'm in my late 70s and find that doing exercises in bed when I first wake up helps a lot.

I have a set of exercises my therapist taught me. Gentle stretching of the back, sides with knees bent. pelvic stretches are my routine each morning before I get out of bed. It warms my muscles up so when I roll (literally, I do a side roll) out of bed I am steady and a lot of stiffness is gone.

I didn't make these up. They were given to me in physical therapy.

No sudden moves!

[diane in sf]

8. Make sure your mineral balance is OK, particularly that you are getting enough magnesium.

It’s found in organic, green leafy vegetables and nuts and seeds. And you can supplement or try hot baths with Epsom salts—very relaxing! Try taking digestive enzymes with meals to make sure you are absorbing nutrients. Digestive juices get scarcer after 50.

[BamaRefugee]

9. Sounds A LOT like me.

Turns out I needed a total hip replacement on my left side.
For 2 years I got worse and worse, could only just barely climb stairs, had to walk with a cane, fell down a lot. Finally got the correct diagnosis, had the operation at Christmas 2018, now I can walk, jump, run, anything I want, it's so freaking great. I'm 67.
Might want to ask your doc about it, I also had this awful thing called meralgia paresthetica in the same hip, excruciating, so I was suffering from a double whammy, check with doc about that too. Your outer thigh becomes almost numb, while inside, it burns ike hellfire 24/7. It's an affliction of the femoral nerve. It also went away after the hip replacement.

[infullview]

10. Getting old sucks.

I'm in this age range and every morning when I roll out of bed I feel a little more creaky. My new fun thing is massive leg cramps in the middle of the night. Usually brought on by dehydration (not enough water, too much exercise, and too many alcoholic beverages). I refuse to give in though. I still run circles around my lazy Gen Z daughter.

[pnwmom]

11. In view of your pain, I'm glad to hear you ruled out a blood clot before you got that massage work.

If someone has a DVT, deep muscle work can release a preexisting clot -- which could be life threatening. (I had pain from an undiagnosed DVT and a physical therapist told me that, so I went to the MD before getting a massage -- thank goodness.)

So you did everything right. I'm glad you got some good help and are feeling better.

[kimbutgar]

12. I'm 63 and I stretch when I get achy.

I wear flats one day and heels the next to alleviate any knee pain. Stretching has changed my life. When I get achy I stretch my body until I hear lactic acid noises in my joints. I know then I have done enough stretching.

[ginnyinWI]

13. A leg roller.

For when your muscles tighten up. It’s like a rolling pin only plastic and textured. My PT recommended it when I had sciatica and tightened leg muscles due to lifting too much. She also gave me a series of core strengthening exercises.

[SunSeeker]

14. Damn. I gotta get myself in the gym!

[Skittles]

19. no need for the gym

exercise / stretching can be done at home

[Richluu]

15. Gentle yoga, walking 1+ miles a day, and Egoscue...

...(find online and do in bed before getting up). All these will make you feel younger. Glad the massage worked; now the maintenance!

[B Stieg]

16. About to be 60, and...

I am just discovering this new unpleasantness.
Gotta play more golf!

[Moral Compass]

17. Very glad that you found relief

I have a chiropractor that was a physical therapist. He does things that no other chiropractor does.

That excruciating treatment was to get the fascia of your muscles to release. When it gets tight like that it causes pain and weakness that you describe.

The deep tissue massage that your therapist did hurts like hell, but when it is over you’re essentially cured.

My chiropractor cured my plantar fasciitis while my former podiatrist gave me 3 ineffectual steroid injections and recommended rhizotomy (nerve ablation). It took 5 visits but the plantar fasciitis has not returned.

Old bodies (I’m about to turn 64) do some really weird things that are very serious in terms of mobility and daily function.

Glad you found the right person.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

18. Welcome to the club!...

Just got diagnosed with osteoarthritis bone on bone in the hip and milder elsewhere but starting to settle in the left knee. I’m got heart problems so the only pain reliever I can take is Tylenol...hardly worked anymore. I live in Michigan so we can grow legal cannabis, which I do, so I purchased a Infuzium 420 infuser and made my own version of “cbd” oil to make a lotion. I quoted CBD because my mixture also includes THC.
I infused trim leaves into Sweet Almond Oil, about 20 grams to a cup of oil. You could use it at this point but my wife makes her own skin lotions so she turned my oil into lotion which is easier to apply.
Then I tweaked the next batch with equal amounts of comfrey root oil, yarrow oil, self-heal (Prunella vulgaris) and cannabis oil. This combo beats out the prescription ointment that my doctor prescribed.
Nature will help you out. All these herbs can be found growing in most fields you just have to be careful to harvest in pollution-free areas not treated with herbicides.
Google the health benefits of these herbs and be prepared to be amazed.