Top
icon menu

Swollen hands and feet, an alert?

  • Home
  • News
  • Swollen hands and feet, an alert?
05 Sep 2018
Mains et pieds enflés, clinique Les Oliviers

The body undergoes a lot due to our external environment: stress, poor food hygiene, heat, fatigue ... and internally: hormones, kidney dysfunction, heart problem, allergies ...
Swollen hands and feet are symptoms. The causes are diverse, and to remedy this, it is necessary to detect the origins.
Often, heat is a direct cause. It causes dilation of the blood vessels and then the skin, inducing swelling or edema. If heat is the only cause of these swellings, just stay cool so that these symptoms disappear.
Below are the various causes observed and some solutions to remedy it:

Bad lifestyle

Among bad habits, lack of physical exercise or sedentary lifestyle and unbalanced diet.
A sedentary lifestyle or inactivity due to sitting for a long or standing for a long time at work or at home is a cause of swelling of the hands, ankles and feet. This condition is caused by poor blood circulation. To remedy this, think about moving, changing position, walking and elevating your feet to sleep.
Dietary intake that is too high in sodium induces water retention and leads to swollen hands and feet. Avoid eating salty foods like cold cuts, french fries, canned food ... Eating healthy is always good for the body!

If you do not drink enough water, at night the body tries to catch the fluids in the circulation, and you will wake up in the morning with edema because of the water retention.

Hormones and Pregnancy

During the menstrual cycle, hormonal variations cause water retention and swelling of the hands and feet. It is only a premenstrual syndrome that disappears with each cycle, but it is advisable during this period to avoid excess salt.
During pregnancy and particularly during the second and third trimesters, the baby puts pressure on the mother's womb by its size and position, thus impacting the blood circulation. The latter causes edema in the mother’s hands and feet.

Inflammation

Arthritis or inflammation of the joints can lead to swollen fingers and toes that can last for hours after waking.

Infections

In localized infections in the upper and lower limbs of the body, the immune response can cause swelling of these limbs. A medical consultation is necessary to get proper treatment.

Kidney problems

The kidney is the organ that filters the fluids in the body. Renal dysfunction causes water to accumulate in the body and especially in the hands and feet.

Heartheart

A heart problem can prevent blood from being pumped throughout the body, hence the appearance of edema in feet. Rigorous monitoring by a specialist is recommended.

At the end of the day, after standing for long periods of time, lying down and elevating your feet is beneficial, but if edema is considerable and swelling appears in the face, you must immediately contact the doctor for quick and efficient treatment.