Swollen Legs and Ankles: Common Causes, Blood Clot Warning Signs, and When to Get Seen

Swelling in both feet and ankles (edema) is common after long periods of sitting or standing, long flights or drives, hot weather, salty meals, and during pregnancy, and it usually goes down with rest and raising your legs. Swelling that's new and in only one leg, especially with pain, warmth or redness in the calf, can be a blood clot (deep vein thrombosis) and needs to be checked the same day. Leg swelling with shortness of breath or chest pain is an emergency.

Common causes of swelling in both legs

• Sitting or standing for long periods, including flights and road trips
• Hot weather
• Too much salt
• Pregnancy
• Medicines, including some blood pressure medicines, steroids, hormones and anti-inflammatories
• Varicose veins or weak leg veins
• Heart, kidney or liver problems, which usually cause swelling that keeps coming back or gets worse

Swelling in one leg

• Injury: a sprain, strain or fracture. See our post on sprained ankles.
• Infection: red, warm, tender, spreading skin, often cellulitis. See our cellulitis post.
• Blood clot (DVT): swelling, pain or tenderness in the calf or thigh, warmth, and red or darker skin

Blood clot risk factors

• Recent surgery, hospital stay or injury
• Long trips with little movement
• Pregnancy or recently giving birth
• Birth control pills or hormone therapy
• Cancer
• Smoking, obesity or a previous clot

What helps ordinary swelling

• Raise your legs above your heart for 30 minutes a few times a day
• Walk and move your ankles, especially on long trips
• Cut back on salt
• Wear compression stockings, if a clinician recommends them
• Don't stop a prescribed medicine on your own; ask your prescriber

What urgent care can do

A clinician can examine your legs, check your blood pressure and heart, look for injury or infection, and decide whether you need an ultrasound to check for a clot or tests for heart or kidney problems. Our post on blood pressure numbers may help too. At an AfterOurs clinic, a standard self-pay visit is $175, and a self-pay in-clinic visit never costs more than $330. We contract with all major commercial and government plans, including Colorado Medicaid and Medicare. See the cost and insurance page.

Call 911 if leg swelling comes with sudden shortness of breath, chest pain, coughing up blood, a racing heart or fainting, which can mean a clot has moved to the lungs. Go to the ER for a swollen, painful, warm leg if you can't be seen right away, or swelling with a high fever, or a pregnant person with sudden swelling of the face and hands with a severe headache or vision changes.

Where to find us

Four clinics across metro Denver, all ages welcome, se habla español:

• Hampden (Southeast Denver): 8 AM–11 PM daily
• Littleton: 8 AM–11 PM daily
• Thornton: 8 AM–11 PM daily
• Highlands: Mon–Fri 5–11 PM, Sat–Sun 8 AM–11 PM

Walk in, or book online.