Restricted Walking (Claudication)

Many people find walking painful due to blocked arteries in the legs. In the most severe cases this can lead to gangrene and limb loss. These blockages in the arteries can be overcome in two ways: The first is an angioplasty where a balloon is blown up across a narrowing. This is very successful when the area of narrowing or blockage is small. The other method of treatment is a bypass of the blocked artery in the leg, either using the patient's own vein or a synthetic graft. By either of these methods, blood flow to the leg can be restored and with it normal mobility. Both these procedures are extremely successful in achieving this.