Why women have painful legs at old age.

Painful leg
A painful leg spur

Painful legs in women are more common in Women than men. Kenyan women at the age of 60 experience difficulty in walking. Statistics shows that most women experience leg pains. Leg pains could mean the heels pain, the ankle pains, the knee pain and entire leg pain.

Read also: Common habits among Kenyans

Causes of painful legs

Well, having painful legs is not only uncomfortable but lender your ability to work difficult. From my observation legs pain are as a result of genetics and lifestyle.  

Genetics

Genetics problems runs through family lineage. Genetic can dictate which disease one is likely to inherit from the parents. If your parents have had arthritis for example it is going to be likely that the children will have arthritis in the future.

Lifestyle

Your lifestyle is a contributing factor to your health. Lifestyle predisposing factors range from diet, occupation, dressing and shoes. Let explore some of the lifestyle factors.

Read more: Who is to blame for high numbers of single mothers in Kenya?

Diet

You may be wondering about the relationship between your diet and painful legs. People in the same family tend to use the same diet. If in my family, we eat Ugali and Sukuma and Omena (balanced diet) it’s not easy to get arthritis. But if the diet is rice mix that comprises potatoes and rice and a tomato then that family doesn’t have a diet with calcium and so probably will get arthritis. Lack of calcium in the diet give rise to weak bones and so arthritis and other bone related diseases.

Sun exposure

Medics advice mothers to exposure their infants to sun. Do not underestimate this advice. Lack of sun exposure at young age is contributing factor to leg pain at adult age. Most children born during cold season or in cold areas are likely to suffer from arthritis and other vitamin D related dieses like rickets.

Dressing code

Your favorite dressing code could be lending you to pain. The reason why most women will suffer from painful legs is the dressing code. Women like dressing in short skirts that exposes their legs to cold. Long exposure to cold will contribute to knee problems. That is why most women prefer dressing in trouser to protect them from cold.

Type of shoe

Your choice of shoe could be hurting your health. Most women shoes are flat and with no shoe sole. Most women in the village prefer rubber shoes that are flat. This kind of shoes does not protect the feet. After sometimes the bone from the feet develops spurs that grow. These spurs are very painful. Another type of shoes that women treasure are the heels. This kind of shoe also injure the ankles, with time the legs became injured and prone to fracture.

How to avoid painful leg

For women to protect themselves from leg problems they need to ensure proper diet. We need food rich in vitamins and calcium. Foods like fish, milk, green leafy vegetables. Fruits like oranges, pineapples, mangoes should be included in the diet.

Women should avoid short dresses that expose their knees to cold. Dress appropriately according to the weather. Women should also avoid flat shoes like plague; flat shoes with no sole will lead to serious leg problem as age approaches. Always ensure that the shoe won has a thick sole the size of sport shoes.  Wear moderate Heeled shoes. This will protect the legs from fractures.