What Causes Severe Pain In Left Leg Behind The Knee, Thigh And Calf?

Posted on Mon, 14 Mar 2016

Question: I am a 66 year old female who has been experiencing pain in my left leg for about 10 days. The pain is mostly behind the knee but also in the thigh and calf.It feels like a tightened muscle or a prolonged cramp. I am not aware of any activity that may have caused this. the pain makes it difficult to walk. It is particularly bad in the morning when I get out of bed and can hardly walk or stand until I drag the leg around for a while to loosen it up. I am taking 1 tablet of regular strength Ibuprofen 2x a day and before I go to bed. This helps only a little. Hot compresses and a hot shower help to loosen it up only briefly. would could be causing this and what can I do at home to alleviate the pain or obtain better mobility?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (28 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Deep veins thrombosis can be the case.

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Such symptoms can be caused by deep veins thrombosis or ruptured Bakers cyst.
Unfortunately there is no special symptoms to distinguish deep veins thrombosis from other conditions. Calf pain can be the only symptom. Sometimes the calf can get hard and tender.
There is no home remedy for either deep veins thrombosis or ruptured cyst. Moreover, deep veins thrombosis can be life threatening.
That is why, it is strongly advisable to visit a doctor. Doppler veins ultrasound should be done to rule the thrombosis out.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar