Why does my husband get intense pain after walking for 50 minutes? DR MARTIN ... trends now
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My otherwise healthy husband gets an intense pain in his groin after walking for 50 minutes or so. It radiates down his right thigh and, although it subsides when he rests, it soon returns. He’s had checks to see if it’s due to a hernia, a spinal disc problem or even a tumour — but these found nothing. What could be the problem?
Barbara Croxen, Menston, West Yorkshire.
This sounds like it could be a condition called intermittent claudication — pain in a muscle, or group of muscles, brought on by exercise and relieved by a few minutes of rest.
This can affect the buttocks, hips or thighs but usually it’s the calf muscles.
In most cases, it is due to narrowing of the arteries which supply the muscles in the affected area, triggering pain as the muscle becomes deprived of blood and oxygen.
This sounds like it could be a condition called intermittent claudication — pain in a muscle, or group of muscles, brought on by exercise and relieved by a few minutes of rest
This can affect the buttocks, hips or thighs but usually it’s the calf muscles
The condition is quite common — affecting an estimated 10 per cent of adults over the age of 55. Smoking, raised cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure are all major risk factors.
Although you say in your longer letter that your husband has had tests,