So I started walking with a friend this morning. Our plan is to trade each week (Mon, Wed, Fri), meeting at the other person's house and walking before our husbands leave for work from 6:30-7:15 ish. A little over halfway through, my usual exercising nemesis returned - itchy legs. And no before you think it, its not dry skin - it goes WAY beyond that - its like a slow burning creepy crawly feeling about a quarter of an inch under my skin. If I make any move to rub or itch - it worsens and a vicious cycle of stopping and clawing at myself begins. - I tried to refrain due to having company on my walk and not ever touching my legs seemed to help a bit, but it still drove me crazy. I am posting something I found on someone's else blog. If anyone else has this and has tips I would appreciate it:)
Other Blog:
Anyway, halfway through the walk my legs began to itch. Not just a little bug bite itch, but insane, maddening itching - mostly on the fronts of my upper legs and my butt cheeks. I had to stop every few feet to scratch - I didn't even care that I was drawing blood with my nails - I had to scratch. I couldn't scratch my butt cheeks though my jean shorts so I smacked my butt. I looked crazy, walking down the street, stopping every few feet to bend down and scratch my legs and then spank myself.Worse still, this wasn't the first time this has happened. It happens often when I go walking at a brisk pace for a good amount of time.Well, I decided to look it up on the Internet, not expecting to find anything. I'm not the only one. It's called..... Itchy Leg Syndrome. (Very technical you see.)I found several articles, among them, one from Prevention magazine which states:
Believe it or not, itchy legs is a common complaint, particularly among new walkers. Some experts believe that it may be due to poor circulation. If sluggish blood flow is to blame, the itching should subside as your body gets acclimated to your new activity.Another site explained:
It usually occurs during exercise performed after a long period of inactivity. The itching is not on the skin, it's inside the actual limbs. There are millions of tiny capillaries and arteries inside our muscles which expand rapidly due to the demand for more blood that is brought on by exercise. When fit, these capillaries remain open allowing maximum blood passage, but when unfit and inactive they tend to collapse, allowing only minimal blood passage (which is sufficient for a sedentary person however). The rapid expansion of these vessels causes adjacent nerves to send impulses back to the brain which are interpreted as an itch.
3 comments:
Well, I have been known to itch at some odd times.. you must have inherited it from me! Along with other good qualities, of course...
The itch comes from fat basically. This is what happens. When you walk, your body kind of does an up an down motion. when you step on your leg, your muslces tighten and change directions. Anything that is not muslce, doesn't tighten and inertia takes it down further, then it goes up and down and up an down. Basically you jiggle the crap out of it and it gets agitated and your body perceives that as an itch. The rules are: never itch it, and burn through it. Eventually the feeling will become hot and numb. I like to go around it. I do the elliptical where my foot never leaves the pedal, this cuts out the impact, which is what causes the inertia jiggle thing. Riding the bike will also cut off the itch. Lifting weights goes around it too. It's the impact of the movement that causes the itch.
Janie-
I have had this also. Whether walking, riding, or using the elliptical-the itch has found me. I second what the articles said-that after awhile of exersizing the itching does subside. I say stick with the walking and hopefully in a few days, weeks, months, it will go away. Good luck!
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