Four steps physical therapists can take to ease your shin pain

Your shinbones stand like columns in your lower leg, and like columns, they provide support for your knees and ankles as you walk or run. However, your ability to do such normal activities can be dramatically reduced if you’re feeling shin pain. 

Athletes who run or jump are no strangers to shin pain, and one reason is due to their high likelihood of developing repetitive strain injuries like shin splints. Medical research shows that this condition alone affects up to 20% of runners. Working with a physical therapist can be an effective way to address your shin pain, and there are many steps that these medical professionals can take to treat your pain. 

These are fours steps a physical therapist can take to address your shin pain:

1. Determining its source — Treating aching shins is a lot easier when you know the exact source or sources of your pain. That’s why physical therapists perform comprehensive physical evaluations: to find the source of your pain. For shin discomfort, your physical therapist will examine your shin, but they’ll probably also examine your ankles, knees and feet as well. The reason? Many lower leg issues often develop from problems in other parts of your lower extremities. 

2. Evaluating your gait — How you walk, or your gait, is another factor that your physical therapist may evaluate. Often, your gait can reveal specific issues with your lower extremities, and such issues may be the root cause of your aching shin. 

3. Educating you — Many people don’t feel like their day is complete unless they learn something new. Well, you’ll definitely learn plenty of new things when you work with a physical therapist. These specialists make it a point to educate you about the cause of your pain and the treatments they use to counteract it. This is a result of the realization that better educated patients tend to be more engaged in their physical therapy, which can translate in increased effectiveness and reduced recovery time. 

4. Addressing your pain — Your physical therapist will also build you a customized treatment plan designed to reduce your pain. Such plans may include techniques like: 

• Therapeutic exercises.
• Manual therapy.
• Ergonomic training.
• Shoe recommendations.

Back in Motion is here to help with your shin pain

Tired of regularly dealing with shin pain? Our team at Back in Motion Physical Therapy is primed to help you find effective ways to address your pain. We can start by performing a free screening on you, which is intended to help us determine the source of your pain. Next, our physical therapists will create an individualized therapy plan for you that’s designed to help: 

• Reduce pain.
• Improve strength and flexibility.
• Decrease the risk of future leg pain. 

Contact us today for more information about all the services we offer to help people with lower leg pain or to schedule your initial appointment.