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Dead limbs while exercising


Andrew
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I've recently taken to canoeing and when I'm putting in a hard effort, mostly upper body strength, my left leg goes to sleep followed slowly by my right. It must be some sort of pressure thing but I've gone so far as to sit on a pillow while in the boat and it doesn't make much difference.

I suspect the problem is that I'm restricting blood flow to the lower half of me and while using the upper body, the restriction is starving the legs. It doesn't happen if I'm not going at it hard.

It did get me thinking though that on occassion (not often by any means) a leg can go to sleep while I'm running and on the cross trainer at the gym, my foot can often go to sleep.

Anything obvious do we think? Blood pressure was measured last year and was, in the words of the paramedic, perfect.

My long term plan is to do a rather long race in the boat (many hours) and can't have the legs going to sleep on that!

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If your blood pressure's fine, I'd suggest you get it checked out. Like you say, it sounds like you're stopping flow into the arteries or back from the veins in your legs, probably at your hip joint.

I'd suggest you get it checked out, mate. Not that it might be something nasty, but I'd get it checked all the same to avoid any problems in the future.

Ask your doctor to refer to you to a sports specialist or a physio +++

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Well sh*t starts to go wrong when you're 30+ :rolleyes:

I wish I'd had my back properly looked at and sorted out when I fecked it in a car smash, but I just left it and, when I decided I'd had enough of being in constant pain, it took 3 years to put it right.

Don't let the quack fob you off with any "you're just getting old" bollox +++

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This could be an indication of lower back problems, if the nerves get trapped (even lightly) it can result in "reflected pain" which is where your brain thinks it's getting signals from your legs (or not) but the problem is actually in your back. This often manifests itself as sciatica which can be extremely painful. I had a back op about 10 years ago and I still get occaisional twinges in various parts of my legs and feet which I can stop with some lower back stretches and exercises.

Get yourself down to an Osteopath and they can check you out and probably recommend some exercises that will help. My experience is that most doctors won't know what to do other than prescribe pain killers which you obviously don't need. I haven't been to an Osteopath for a few years but I would guess that a couple of consultations will cost about 80 quid.

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It might actually be something much more trivial. The shorts I wear are elasticated and I reckon it might be them restricting blood flow so I'll try paddling naked on Wednesday* ad see if the problem reoccurs! Some adjustment on Saturday seemed to help hugely.

*or wear cycling shorts ...

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