Regular exercise plays a significant role in your overall health and wellness. Taking a walk, lifting weights and playing sports are just a few ways that you can improve your mental health, maintain muscle strength and increase your energy levels. However, there’s a common type of pain among athletes and people with an active lifestyle that affects the leg, called shin splints.
Medial tibial stress syndrome is commonly known as shin splints. It refers to pain along the shinbone. When you put excessive stress on the bone that’s located at the front of your lower leg, such as during exercise, you can develop small tears in the muscles, tendons and bone tissue. Shin splints lead to pain that often worsens with movement. It can also cause potential redness and tenderness.
Shin splints tend to take up to a month to heal on their own. However, physical therapy techniques can help to speed up the process.
4 techniques often used by physical therapists to relieve shin splints
The goal of seeking physical therapy for shin splints is multifaceted. The treatments not only help to alleviate the pain, but they also work to improve the strength and function of your lower leg. They can boost athletic performance while reducing the risk of future pain or issues.
When you go to see a physical therapist to find relief from your shin splints, they’ll assess your symptoms. They'll also evaluate your strength, flexibility, mobility, balance, and gait, or the position of your body as you move. They’ll consider the severity of your symptoms, medical history and overall goals of physical therapy. They’ll use that insight to create a personalized treatment plan that will help to bring you the relief from shin splints you’re looking for.
Here are four physical therapy techniques that may be included in a treatment plan to provide relief to those with shin splints:
Soft tissue mobilization — Sometimes, being as hands on as possible is the best way to go. Many physical therapists turn to manual therapy techniques for musculoskeletal injuries, such as shin splints. A manual therapy treatment they may try is soft tissue mobilization. It involves the physical therapist using their hands in massage-like movements to break up tight tissue that’s contributing to your pain.
Dry needling — A common pain management technique used by physical therapists for shin splints is dry needling. It involves inserting thin, hollow needles into the impacted area to stimulate the affected muscles, leading to contractions that reduce the pain. Not only do dry needles reduce muscle tension, but they also help to accelerate the healing process by increasing blood flow to the area.
Stretches — When you’re in pain, your instinct is often to try to stretch it out. Stretching exercises can help you with shin splints by boosting the flexibility of your impacted muscles to reduce the damage to them during physical activity. They also help reduce the painful pressure being placed on the shinbone. A physical therapist can guide you through safe and effective stretches, such as calf stretches, that will target your shin splints for reduced pain.
Strengthening exercises — Along with stretches, strengthening exercises play an essential role in physical therapy treatment plans for shin splints. Your physical therapist can show you how to perform exercises that will strengthen the muscles in your shin and calf. These exercises can help your muscles absorb impact while working out and evenly distribute the load to reduce the risk of recurring pain. Potential strengthening exercises for shin splints include calf raises and wall toe raises.
KC Rehab can provide you with physical therapy for shin splints
Shin splints can cause persistent or worsening pain that can affect your ability to carry out your everyday activities. They can also have a domino effect on other aspects of your health, as the pain can prevent you from carrying out your regular exercise. That’s why it’s important to seek out guidance and treatment from a physical therapist.
At KC Rehab, we want to make sure that we take every possible course of action to alleviate your shin splint pain so that you can get back to your day-to-day routines. We’ll ensure that everything included in your treatment plan is tailored to your symptoms, abilities and goals. From dry needling and manual therapy to stretching and strengthening exercises, we’ll help you cover all the bases for the best results possible.
Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.