Swollen Left Leg Causes
Causes for Left Leg Swelling
What causes swollen legs?
While getting new headshots done the other day, my photographer was telling me that his wife was dealing with an unusual health challenge. He said her left leg was swelling, from just below the knee to the ankles.
There had been testing done to rule out a blood clot in the leg (deep vein thrombophlebitis) and PAD.
She apparently had researched gout on the internet and ruled that out as well.
I really didn’t know what could be causing it either, other than maybe a hip misaligment impinging on and irritating nerves. I told him I’d get back to him if I could find anything else on it. Wow, I did not expect what I found.
Turns out there are quite a few reasons for leg swelling.
In fact, there is even one specific to women for which no cause is known. This type of swelling is called Idiopathic Cyclic Edema. This condition is alternately called fluid retention syndrome.
However, since idiopathc edema mainly affects younger women of menustrating age, and my friend’s wife is older, it doesn’t seem likely this would be the diagnosis either.
Other causes of unexplained leg swelling:
Cellulitis
Phlebitis
Venous Insufficiency (those with varicose veins more at risk for this)
Nephrotic Syndrome (a condition affecting the kidneys)
Scleroderma
Cirrhosis Of The Liver
Shulman’s Syndrome (caused by an increase of a certain type of white blood cell)
Diabetes
Silent Thrombosis
Lymph Congestion
Chronic Constipation
Baker’s Cyst (these typically affect the knee joint and back of knee more than leg)
A fall or hard bump against the leg, causing trauma to the tissues, can also cause prolonged swelling if a hematoma results.
The most facinating piece of information came from a forum where someone had posted, asking what could cause the left leg to swell.
One of the posters to the forum, who said they worked “in the field”, responded that a blow to the head could affect the kidney meridians and that a swollen left leg indicated that the left kidney was congested.
This is fascinating in this particular instance because, in the course of our conversation, my photographer friend also told me that his wife had fallen and hit her head before the leg swelled, and that she had also had a bladder infection.
While I certainly can’t say her swollen leg is connected to the hit to the head, it is odd that the events happened with the timing they did.
Here’s the post on swollen left leg causes