Alcohol-related disorders: Prolonged or excessive exposure to alcohol can also lead to leg weakness by causing muscle and nerve damage in the legs.

Abnormal growth: Cancerous and non-cancerous abnormal growths in the brain, spinal cord, or peripheral nerves to the legs can interfere with the signaling from your brain to your legs, leading to a reduction in the ability to move your legs and the sensation of weakness.

These diseases can be genetic, which means they can be passed down through generations in a family or they may be spontaneous. Damage to the muscles: Some diseases can affect the muscles in the legs leading to leg weakness and may affect other muscles in the body.This may include damage to the brain from a stroke or abnormal growth damage to the spinal cord from trauma, infection, or abnormal growth or damage to the peripheral nerves from diabetes, certain vitamin deficiencies, and trauma. Damage to particular areas of the brain, spinal cord or to peripheral nerves that travel to the legs can lead to leg weakness. Damage to the nervous system: The nervous system consists of two parts, the central nervous system which includes the brain and spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system which includes all the nerves that connect the central nervous system to every other part of the body.Some diseases or illnesses are systemic and can affect multiple parts of the body. The best course of treatment depends on the cause, which can often be unclear, but a medical provider may be able to recommend tests to identify the correct diagnosis and the most appropriate treatment. These causes can affect the nerves, spine, or brain, leading to leg weakness. Leg weakness can be due to systemic disease, inflammatory conditions, or medication side effects. Less serious: If your leg weakness is not severe and also not associated with any of the above-mentioned symptoms, it may not require immediate medical attention, but you should talk about your symptoms with a medical provider to identify the cause and best course of treatment.It is serious if your leg weakness is due to nerve compression: If your leg weakness is also associated with sudden severe back pain, trouble with balancing, sudden change in bladder or bowel control including incontinence, and numbness or weakness in the buttocks, inner thighs or back of your legs, these could be symptoms suggesting your spinal nerves are being compressed and you should immediately seek medical attention.

It is serious if your leg weakness is due to stroke: If your leg weakness is sudden in onset and associated with numbness, arm weakness or numbness, vision problems, trouble with balancing or trouble speaking, these may be symptoms of a stroke and you should immediately seek medical attention.However, because leg weakness can sometimes be a sign of a serious issue, you should seek medical attention. Leg weakness may be due to an easily treatable cause. Back pain that may or may not shoot down the back of your legs.Paralysis: This means the inability to move the legs.Weakness of both legs may also be associated with the following symptoms: Sudden-onset (acute): If you noticed sudden weakness in one or both of your legs, this could be a medical emergency and you should seek immediate medical attention.Gradual (chronic): This means the weakness got worse over time.Asymmetric: This means one leg feels weaker than the other.Symmetric: This means both legs feel equally weak.Common characteristics of weakness of both legsĭepending on the cause, weakness of both legs may be: Sudden leg weakness could be a sign of a medical emergency and you should get immediate medical attention to determine the correct diagnosis and the best course of treatment. While some causes of leg weakness can be serious and some can be managed either medically or surgically, all causes require medical evaluation. There are many potential causes of leg weakness, including medical conditions that affect the whole body, or conditions that affect the nerves and nervous system.

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