Extreme tightness in legs

29 Male 5 foot 7 215 pounds No drugs or drinking

Hey all,

I love walking and I've been consistently walking during spring to fall. I walk around my subdivision in a circle that's roughly 1.8 miles per circle. I usually do this circle 3 times a day for 5 or 6 days a week.

I started doing this for weight loss in 2019 and I've been pretty consistent about walking when it's above 50 degrees and not storming 5 days a week.

Last year I noticed something and it's been happening again this year.

When I go on my first walk, after about a quarter of a mile, my legs tighten up.

My lower leg, near the ankle, on the right sides of both legs, start getting tight. It's noticable but it eventually progresses to feeling like my legs are in a vice grip from the inside and it dramatically slows me down. I usually have to rest 2 or even 3 times for 10/15 minutes to simply walk 1.8 miles at about 2.5 MPH. At a certain point, I get to the point where I essentially can't move anymore due to the tightness.

Once I sit down, my legs become very painful but the tightness slowly goes away. After about 10 to 15 minutes, the tightness goes away and I can walk for a bit longer until it happens again.

It turns a 45 or so minute walk into an hour plus walk.

Once I go home and rest for 2 or so hours, my legs no longer hurt and I can go on another walk.

On my 2nd and 3rd walks on the same day, I have no pain or tightness in my legs nor am I particularly sore after walking.

I wake up, feel fine, and on my first walk, my pain and tightness happens again.

When I told my primary care doctor, he simply told me to exercise more (that's kinda what I'm doing) and to lose weight (again, that's what I'm doing). I don't feel that my doctor cares about this and I haven't gotten a good resolution.

This is impacting my quality of life because I love walking and this is making my first walk miserable and eats up 30 minutes a day being in a lot of pain