PAD Diagnosis: Understanding Symptoms, Tests, and What Comes Next

When your legs ache when walking but feel fine when resting, it’s not just aging—it could be peripheral artery disease, a condition where narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to your limbs. Also known as PAD, this isn’t a minor inconvenience. It’s a warning sign that plaque is building up in your arteries, the same process that causes heart attacks and strokes. If you’re over 50, smoke, have diabetes, or high blood pressure, you’re at higher risk—and you might not even know it.

PAD diagnosis starts with recognizing the most common symptom: claudication, cramping or fatigue in the legs during activity that goes away with rest. But not everyone feels this. Some people just think they’re out of shape. Others feel numbness, cold feet, or sores that won’t heal. These aren’t random issues—they’re signals from your body that blood isn’t reaching where it needs to. Doctors use simple, non-invasive tests like the ankle-brachial index, a comparison of blood pressure in your ankle versus your arm to confirm it. If that test shows a significant drop, further imaging like ultrasound or CT angiography may follow to see exactly where the blockages are.

What makes PAD diagnosis tricky is how often it’s missed. People chalk up leg pain to aging, arthritis, or poor circulation without realizing it’s a vascular problem. And because PAD doesn’t always cause pain at rest, many delay getting checked until the damage is advanced. But catching it early means you can slow or even reverse it—with lifestyle changes, medication, and sometimes minimally invasive procedures. It’s not about surgery right away. It’s about stopping the progression before it leads to amputation or a heart event.

You’ll find real-world advice here on how PAD diagnosis works in practice—what tests actually matter, which symptoms get ignored, how medications like statins or antiplatelets help, and why managing diabetes or quitting smoking isn’t optional. These aren’t theory-based guides. They’re based on what patients experience, what doctors see in clinics, and what works when the stakes are high.