Imagine a young athlete at the top of his game– perhaps a cyclist. He works out daily, eats right, and gets plenty of rest. He is visibly healthy in every way with no familial history of cardiovascular disease. Yet this young man could be at risk for arterial disease… but why?
External Iliac Artery Endofibrosis (EIAE)– nicknamed “cyclist arterial disease”– results from repeated pressure on the external iliac, the part of the artery found in the hip area before it splits in two to run down the legs. Athletes put pressure on the iliac artery when they spend time bending forward while exercising. Over time, the artery becomes kinked and irritated. The body attempts to reduce the irritation by hardening the artery, which in turn restricts blood flow to the legs.
Symptoms of External Iliac Artery Endofibrosis
Symptoms of EIAE can seem fairly innocuous. Generally, the person begins to feel cramping in one of their legs when heavily exercising. For athletes, cramping is not unusual; they often feel some degree of muscle pain and fatigue when exercising. However, the cramps don’t go away; in fact, they get worse with time.
Eventually, a person with EIAE will find that the harder they go, the more difficult it is. The pain will graduate from mere cramping to more extreme bouts of pain. The person may feel like their leg is unstable and on the verge of seizing. Many patients describe the accelerated pain as burning or bursting. Eventually, they are not able to perform as they once did.
External Iliac Artery Endofibrosis vs Typical Arteriosclerosis
Typically arteriosclerosis is the product of old age, bad diet, smoking, and other poor health choices. As plaque builds up along the artery walls, it restricts blood flow. Cardiologists consider this as chemical irritation, unlike External Iliac Artery Endofibrosis which is a physical irritation.
While arteriosclerosis and arterial disease are very common in the United States, EIAE is rather rare. EIAE is difficult to diagnose as symptoms only appear during strenuous exercise and are often confused with general muscle fatigue. Arteriosclerosis symptoms are noticeable once a blockage occurs and require immediate medical attention.
Treating External Iliac Artery Endofibrosis
The best treatment for EIAE is to cease training altogether and allow the body to heal. However, since doctors discover most cases of EIAE in professional athletes, quitting is not an option for some. A surgical procedure where the kinked part of your artery is removed and replaced with a bit of vein tissue in its place. Vein tissue is much more flexible and can withstand pressure a bit better. The procedure is risky. In 2007, professional cyclist Ryan Cox died while recuperating from a vascular lesion operation.
If you’re an athlete and you are experiencing debilitating pain in your leg while training, call Dr Stacie Grossfeld at 502-212-2663 today or visit Orthopaedic Specialists in Louisville, KY to seek medical care.
A torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament, more commonly known as an ACL, can be a difficult injury for a high school or college athlete to sustain. Unfortunately, they are also the most common injuries sustained by athletes. Football, soccer, hockey, and basketball players are highly likely to sustain an ACL injury over their athletic career and ACL injuries are becoming more common thanks to a variety of factors including:
A clavicle fracture, more commonly known as a broken collarbone, is a common injury and one that is most often the result of a hard blow or fall. Athletes who participate in contact sports are highly likely to suffer from broken collarbones; however, clavicle fractures are also common in car accident victims. This is especially true of people who incorrectly wear their seatbelts. There have even been incidents in which newborns have sustained broken collarbones from passing through the birth canal.
Surgery, whether major or minor, comes with risks. Surgical risks factors can be either unprecedented and unpreventable, but others can. One of the most pressing and preventable surgical risk factors is obesity. The prevalence of obesity continues to rise and an estimated 35 percent of adults in the United States have a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30. Obesity is leading cause of preventable death worldwide with an increasing incidence and prevalence in adults and children. Being dangerously overweight is a worldwide epidemic. Medical providers know that obese patients have more complications with surgical procedures and also with their health in general.
A common occurrence for a lot of people is the sound of their knee joints “clicking” when they sit down, stand up, or put a lot of weight on their knee. For the most part the issue of clicking knees is not any indication of injury or cause for concern. Most doctors advise that unless the clicking sound is accompanied by pain in the knee, then you shouldn’t worry. There are many harmless reasons for the clicking sound. However, if you are experiencing clicking in your knees that is accompanied by pain, or difficulty moving, then you should look into some potential causes with your primary care physician. 
While eating nutritious foods and working out are great ways to improve your health, there is so much more to consider. Health and wellness requires a holistic approach that not only focuses on nutrition and fitness, but other areas as well. In order to achieve optimal health, it may be worth your while to take a look at the 15 habits of healthy people.
Recent Comments