claudication
Claudication is cramping leg pain that comes on with walking and goes away with rest. The name comes from the Latin for to limp. Think of it as angina of the legs: just as a narrowed coronary artery starves the heart muscle during effort, a narrowed leg artery starves the calf or thigh muscles when they work, and the under-supplied muscle aches until it is allowed to rest and recover.
The cause is usually peripheral artery disease, in which atherosclerotic plaque narrows the arteries supplying the limbs. At rest the reduced flow is enough, but walking multiplies the muscles' oxygen demand, and the partly blocked artery cannot keep pace. The pain is reproducible — appearing after a fairly consistent walking distance, often called the claudication distance — and predictably relieved within a few minutes of stopping, which distinguishes it from joint or nerve pain.
Claudication signals widespread atherosclerosis, so a person who has it is also at higher risk of coronary and cerebral artery disease. It ranges from a mild nuisance to a marker of severe disease; pain at rest, especially in the foot at night, or non-healing wounds suggest critically reduced blood supply that needs urgent attention.
A long-time smoker finds that a calf cramp forces him to stop after walking about 200 meters, eases within two minutes of resting, then recurs at the same distance — classic intermittent claudication.
A consistent walking distance that triggers calf pain, relieved by brief rest, defines intermittent claudication.
Because claudication reflects body-wide atherosclerosis, treating it includes aggressive risk-factor control — stopping smoking, managing cholesterol and blood pressure — not just relief of the leg symptoms.