How to Treat Lower Leg Pain at Home
A Simple Yet Effective Strategy for Relieving and Preventing Lower Leg Pain
Fitness, it's what keeps us strong, healthy, and sane. How often has your walk, run, or hike felt so good that you didn't want to stop? You want to get to that view at the top of the hill, record your best average mile time, or walk just one more mile because it's nice out and you feel so good.
You realize that pushing yourself that extra step costs you. It may be a sudden pain, it may be that you go to sleep and your legs hurt. Or, you may wake up still in pain. Lastly, it could be that you have the slow buildup of soreness you just can't shake off.
You may be suffering from an overuse injury. You overdid it! Now, your lower legs are in pain and paying the price.
Walking for Health and Fitness will show you how to treat lower leg pain at home quickly and easily, how to pamper your legs so they always feel great, and how to prevent pain in the future.
For this article, my definition of the lower leg is above the ankle and below the knee. Injuries to feet, ankles, and knee will be forthcoming.
If You Are In Pain NOW Do This ASAP
Stop all activity until you figure out what is going on with your legs. Continue reading for a description of the type of injury you may have and the appropriate at-home treatment.
Types of Injury and Causes of Lower Leg Pain
Tired / Sore Lower Legs: A general feeling of a dull ache in your lower legs mostly caused by overuse.
Tight Painful Calf Muscles: I find this a most common ailment with walking. Because of the amount of time we spend on our feet during a walk the muscles of the lower leg get real tight causing discomfort most of the time, and pain on occasion.
Calf Cramp: Caused by overuse of the muscle, dehydration, muscle strain, or holding a position for a long period-of-time.
Calf Strain: Usually occurs when you are tired and your muscles being to tighten up. You may have pushed off hard to propel yourself and when you put enough pressure on the muscle, both attached ends of the calf muscle begin to pull apart. That extra effort resulted in a ripping away of the calf muscle from the Achilles tendon. There is little pain at first, and you can continue doing the activity for a while until the muscle goes into complete spasm, contracting violently and you find your foot begins to point downward. Your calf may swell and may turn black and blue. No matter what you do you cannot bring the foot back up to neutral.
Stress Fracture: Your bone doesn't break, it flexes under pressure to prevent breaking but does develop hairline cracks that do not show up on an x-ray but do cause significant pain. Stress fractures become tender before they're painful and the area is well defined. If you can pinpoint the tenderness, then it's most likely a stress fracture.
Compartment Syndrome: Muscle is encased in a tough gristle-like envelope called fasciae. The muscles behind the shin are bound on three sides by bone. When you over-work these muscles they swell like clothes in an overstuffed suitcase as the compartment grows tighter and tighter. At this point blood flow to the muscle shuts down and the blood within the muscle gets trapped. This is when the pain begins. The pain is over a larger area then a stress fracture. Compartment Syndrome hurts at precisely the same area every time you exercise. When you stop the activity, the muscle relaxes and the pain stops.
Contusion: A direct blow to the leg. Think about that time you hit your shin on something, ouch. The pain is caused by the bleeding under the bone.
Fractures: You know it when you have one. Heavy pressure placed on the bone from a fall can lead to fractures.
Shin Splints: This is the medical catch-all phrase when you have pain in the front part of the leg, not right on the shinbone, but where muscle and bone meet. Shin splints are usually brought by a sudden increase in the duration and intensity of your activity. Starting an activity such as running or taking a dance class can cause the onset of shin splints. (Walking is so gentle on your body that you would have to push the mileage up quickly to develop shin splints). You know it's shin splints if you run your fingers down the leg over the area of pain. If the area is large; a few inches or more, you most likely have shin splints. At first, it aches after the activity then it will hurt during the activity. When you stop the activity for a few days it goes away. There is a repeat of this on/off behavior before it finally goes away for good. The pain of shin splints is caused by tiny muscle fibers being pulled loose from the tibia.
Also Read: 21 Benefits of Fitness Walking With The Fitness Walking Exercise Program
Treatment for Lower Leg Pain at Home
Tired / Sore Lower Legs: Rest is the best cure along with elevating your legs above your heart. Lay down, prop your legs up and read a good book for 30-minutes. Take a warm bath to increase circulation or a cool soak to reduce the buildup of inflammation. <link to section on how to pamper your legs>
Tight, Painful Calf Muscles: Ease up on the activity you are doing. Massage and stretch the calf muscle after you warm up and also after you have completed your activity. Warm compress, heating pad, or soaking your legs in a warm bath all help to ease this condition. Elevate your legs above your heart to help blood drain from your legs. If you treat this immediately, you won't have to face a more serious injury.
Calf Cramp: Once the cramp subsides, gently massage the cramp to relax it. Slowly and easily stretch the muscle <pic> then apply moist heat. I like to use a heating pad designed to hold a moist sponge inside it. Then I wrap it around my lower leg with the moist sponge against my calf. Alternatively, you can apply ice. Try different methods to see what gives you the best results. Massaging the calf with a foam roller will help break up muscle adhesions and relax the calf. Word of caution.. be easy with it.
Stress Fracture: Don't let a stress fracture become serious. The path to healing a stress fracture is twofold:
Start with complete rest even if that means using crutches. You only need to rest for a few days.
You must get active again as soon as the pain subsides. Stopping all activity weakens our bones so begin experimenting with what you can do and what you can't do. Get active but let discomfort be your guide.
Compartment Syndrome: See a doctor. In the most severe case of Compartment Syndrome, the depletion of oxygen to the muscle could result in permanent muscle damage.
Contusion: Compression and Ice help keep the swelling down. I will hurt for a while but eventually, get better over time.
Calf Strain: Stretch right away! Keep your knee straight, foot pointed forward, and heel on the ground, slowly bend forward over your ankle and then bring your foot back to neutral. Next, apply compression and ice. Wrap an Ace bandage from your foot up to your knee. All three together; stretch, ice, and compression will lessen the severity of this injury. Healing from a severe calf strain takes time, up to several months due to the muscle reattaching to the tendon. Be patient.
Fracture: Seek medical attention as soon as possible. In the mean-time, immobilization is key immediately after the fracture. Restricting the movement of a broken bone in your leg is critical to proper healing. You Doctor will set the bone and put a cast on it. Important: Your treatment doesn't end when the cast is removed. You've lost muscle and building it up along with bone strength is crucial to a successful recovery. Seek out a physical therapist or at the very least begin an at-home strength and stretching regimen designed for your specific injury. Don't rush back to full activity too soon.
Shin Splints: To treat shin splints, stretch your calf before activity (but after you do a warm-up). Then after your activity, applying ice to the affected area will provide initial relief. Think RICE: rest, ice, compression, and elevation for 20-30 minutes. In most cases, shin splints go away in 1-2 weeks. If they persist, try adding arch supports to your shoes and increasing the flexibility and strength of the dorsiflexor muscle that pulls the foot back towards the leg.
Dangers of Sitting and Its Effect On Your Lower Legs
Flexible hips can help maintain balance when sitting, but incessant sitters hardly ever stretch the hip flexors and they become tight and short.
This results in limiting your stride length and range of motion. Plus, reduced hip mobility can then easily become a primary reason for falls in advanced age, and lower back pain issues.
While muscles suffer in one sense, bones do so in another. When people keep themselves seated for a long time, bones also become inactive and weaken.
Inactivity can cause bones to become soft and lead to serious conditions like osteoporosis.
Throw in poor or slowed circulation from prolonged sitting, and it results in fluid collecting in the legs. This leads to soreness, calf cramps, and a host of other problems listed in this post.
The problems of impaired circulation can result in swollen ankles, varicose veins and deep vein thrombosis to name a few.
Varicose veins are enlarged veins and can cause aching, pain, and discomfort for some people. In the least severe cases, this does not present a problem but prolonged cases of varicose veins may indicate a higher risk of other circulatory problems.
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a clot that forms in the leg, often because people sit still for too long. It can be serious if the clot breaks free and lodges in the lung. Some people might notice swelling and pain, but others have no symptoms at all.
Engage in some kind of exercise so that muscles and joints are kept in motion and do not get impaired by sitting idle.
Even something as little as sitting down for two hours can erase the health benefits achieved from 20 minutes of exercise.
Prevention of Lower Leg Pain
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." So let's take Ben Franklin's advice when we consider the task we are asking our legs to undertake.
Before you start your walk or any athletic activity: Do not stretch! Stretching "cold" tight muscles is a recipe for disaster.
Begin by doing a gentle warm-up. I want to emphasis gentle, slow, and steady:
High knees
Calf raises
Ankle circles
Leg swings
Pelvic loops
A slow gentle warmup will help to loosen up your joints and muscles. Go out on your walk than when you return, repeat the sequence slowly to cool down. Then focus on stretching any tight muscles.
Stretching for Health and Fitness is excellent fitness program that teaches warming up before you work out, and stretching AFTER your walk.
Click the links and watch the Stretching for Health and Fitness video and see for yourself.
Stretching After You Walk
Make sure you do some light and gentle stretching… emphasis on light and gentle…
Hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds… gentle, no pain, no strain.
Calf Stretch (from a step)
Hamstring Stretch
Quad Stretch
Lower Back Stretch (Place your hands on your lower back and lean back)
Hip Flexor Stretch
If you have just started a walking or fitness routine, over time your muscles will loosen up.
How to Pamper Your Lower Legs
Make your tired, sluggish legs feel good:
Elevate them: When you elevate your legs, ideally at or above heart level, it helps keep the blood from pooling in your lower legs and improves blood flow to the rest of your body. This is one of the easiest ways to prevent lower leg problems.
Soak your legs in cool or ideally cold water: Cold helps reduce inflammation. Fill a bathtub with cool water, or find a stream in the woods and soak in it!
Soak in a warm bath: The heat feels great on tired sore legs. The heat helps increase blood flow.
Rollers and Foam Rollers: Foam rolling is a self-myofascial release (SMR) technique. It can help relieve muscle tightness, soreness, and inflammation, and increase your joint range of motion.
Over-the-counter pain medicine: Take a dose of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) like ibuprofen.
Treating leg pain at home begins before you get to the point of needing professional treatment. Develop a warmup, stretching, and cooldown routine, then pamper your legs and treat them right. They need to last you a lifetime!
If you find yourself in pain, the treatment above will help you. Then, when you get back to walking, remember the axiom, "slow and steady wins the race!"
Walk on,
Frank
Author: Walking for Health and Fitness, Fitness Walking and Bodyweight Exercises, and Walking Inspiration.
FAQ’s How to Treat Lower Leg Pain at Home
I just began walking to get into shape, how can I avoid getting injured?
To avoid getting injured, make sure to do a warm-up before you walk, the go out on your walk at a comfortable pace. You should be able to hold a conversation with someone at this pace. When you complete your walk, do a cool-down, stretch, and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment!
I’ve strained my calf muscle, what is best for treating it heat or ice?
For acute pain muscle strain, treat it with ice to reduce and inflammation causing the pain. 15-minutes of ice every hour for a few hours do this for a day or two, the use whatever feels good to you. Once the pain is gone I like to use moist heat on the injury… it just feels good!
Why do my calves get tight when I exercise?
The main cause is overuse. You’ve asked your legs to do more than they are used to doing. Develop a warmup and stretching routine to combat this. Also, treat your legs right by elevating, massaging, and using moist heat to help them heal after a walk.
