Chronic leg pain at night

Feeling a pain in your leg whilst sleeping, or trying to sleep can be caused by various sources. It is very frustrating to have your sleep disrupted constantly especially by pain or aches. Some causes are minor and easily resolved and others are rather serious and require extensive treatment.

Causes of Leg Pain at Night

Restless Leg Syndrome is a common cause of a sleepless night. This syndrome will make your limb stay in a motion which helps ease the pain slightly and it is most noticeable when you are at rest thus causing the host to have insomnia as well. The main causes of restless leg syndrome are pregnancy, iron deficiency, anemia, obesity, smoking and hypothyroidism. There is another nocturnal leg cramp that is known as charley Horse Problem and every one would have suffered with this at least one time in their life. It usually takes place in the calf of the leg and can be due to dehydration, hormonal imbalance or even a shortage of potassium and/or magnesium. When a woman is pregnant in her second trimester the muscular cramps in her legs at night can cause her to experience severe leg pain. If there is improper blood circulation to the legs it can cause the nerves to get damaged and this is called diabetic neuropathy. This will make you feel pain coupled with numbness in both the legs and the hands. Deep vein thrombosis can be another cause of pain in the leg in the night time, first you will feel pain and then cramps will follow shortly afterwards. It happens when there is a blood clot located in the leg causing inflammation. The reasons for getting deep vein thrombosis are obesity, a recent heart attack, recent childbirth, respiratory conditions and even suffering from a stroke. When a woman is going through her period she may experience pains in her legs which is caused for the same reason as the second trimester leg pains in pregnancy.

Diseases and Disorders

Addison’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and fibromyalgia are other reasons for suffering with pains in the leg at night. As well as those you can also suffer with leg cramps if you drink alcohol excessively or suffer with dehydration.

Knee Pain at Night

There are quite a few reasons for experiencing knee pain at night, for example arthritis, ligament injury, patellar tendonitis, cartilage injury, plica syndrome, and baker's cyst can all contribute to a painful knee in the evening time.