One of the common complaints from many people is leg pain. This can be due to weak legs. Usually, women in the later 30s and 40s as well as elders are affected more by weak legs. However, men are not exempted. They too can suffer from weak legs. Pain in the legs many times indicates a situation that needs your attention and proper care. Life really becomes difficult when you cannot even walk a few steps to meet your day to day needs!
Causes for Weak Legs
Legs and feet carry your body weight and are essential for balancing your body while standing, walking or running! Loss of strength in your body and legs may lead to weaker legs due to which you might experience leg pain frequently. But this is not all. There are innumerable reasons that can weaken your legs.
If you find yourself unable to walk with proper balance or to stand continuously even for a few minutes, you may consider your legs to be weak. Shaking legs or pain in legs while walking or taking stairs also indicate weakness in legs! However, these situations might also occur due to some other medical conditions of your body. Check with your doctor to rule out any medical issue.
As far as weakness is concerned, some of the causes of leg weakness include the following:
- Muscle Weakness caused due to wear and tear of muscles, injury, spinal compression, etc.
- Nervous problem which leads to instability in legs
- Injury in the legs or knee
- Degeneration of bones or weak bones and associated diseases like arthritis
- Not getting enough rest (working too much)
- Side effects of certain medications
- Inactivity or too much activity
- Poor diet or malnutrition
The above mentioned factors are the major causes that lead to weak legs. In addition to these reasons, obesity is yet another cause that weakens your legs. Legs can withstand only certain amount of weight. Excessive weight damages the muscles and makes your legs weak! Weak muscles can be the result of nutritional deficiency, over-use, illness and overweight.
How to strengthen weak legs?
Strengthening weak legs involves many phases with various approaches. Focusing on nutritional requirements of your body, exercises and home remedies help transforming weak legs into stronger ones.
According to National Institute of Aging, doing simple exercises thrice a week strengthen weak legs.
Your legs don’t get weaker in a day. However, even making minor changes to strengthen legs can bring a big difference in your life.
Nutritional Requirements to Strengthen Weak Legs
Leg muscles should be strong enough to hold your body weight and to make your body stable. Muscles require all types of nutrients from carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals. In addition, muscles also need fluid content to function properly. Sometimes, you may have overlooked the nutritional deficiency of few elements inside your body. Micro nutrients and minerals like magnesium are quite important for optimal functions of all the parts of your body. On a whole, a well balanced diet combined with moderate exercise or physical activity can strengthen weak legs. A simple blood test can analyze and report the deficiency of nutrients in your body.
Following is the list of nutrients that can make your weak legs stronger.
Vitamins to Strengthen Weak Legs
Vitamin B1
Also referred to as Thiamin, deficiency of Vitamin B1 may result into muscle pain, weak arms and legs, abnormal reflexes, twitching muscles of the legs, poor muscle coordination, etc. Poor diet or lack of nutritious food is a major cause of deficiency of Vitamin B1. If you experience tiredness in your legs or feel the legs drooping in absence of stability, it is a sign of B1 deficiency.
Foods rich in Vitamin B1
Vitamin B1 is found in many grains. If you don’t eat healthy carbohydrates, your body don’t get thiamine. The following foods are rich in vitamin B1:
- Lentils
- Legumes
- Brown rice
- Long grain white rice
- Organic rice
- Wheat germ
Vitamin B12
Also referred to as Cobalamin, Vitamin B12 is responsible for the production of red blood cells. It takes care of nerve impulses and DNA synthesis in the body. Lack of vitamin B12 (and iron) is often diagnosed in women and elders. When you lack vitamin B12, you may experience numbness along with frequent tingling in the legs. This is due to inadequate red blood cells in your body. Besides, it causes overall weakness in your body and results in difficulty in walking.
According to a report published by Linus Pauling Institute, the daily requirement of vitamin B12 in an adult is about 2.5mg.
The best way to get the adequate nutrients is only through diet. Unless prescribed by a physician, do not take any supplements to meet the nutritional requirements.
Foods rich in Vitamin B12
Mostly, vegetarians and vegans suffer from lack of vitamin B 12 as it is found abundantly in meat and poultry. Some of the vitamin B 12 rich foods include
- Beef
- Salmon
- Chicken
- Eggs
- Soy foods (the best bet for vegans)
- Dairy products
Vegetarians and vegans can add fortified cereals and grains in their diet to get vitamin B 12.
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