Leg Pain While Walking Can Be a Warning, Not Just Aging
Pain in your legs when you walk may look like an ordinary part of getting older. It can also be a warning that the arteries carrying blood to your legs are becoming blocked: a condition called peripheral artery disease, or PAD.
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Risk isn't evenly distributed. People who smoke and people with diabetes carry the greatest risk of PAD, and the condition falls disproportionately on those living on lower incomes, those in rural and remote communities, Indigenous Peoples and other under-served populations.
The disparity has a mechanism rather than being a mystery: those groups face more barriers to preventive care, diagnosis and access to vascular specialists, and delayed care produces worse outcomes such as amputation.
Which raises the stakes on noticing it early. When blockages become severe, blood flow to the leg can be suddenly cut off — sometimes described as a heart attack of the leg.