Calf pain can result from many different causes, some of which are serious, and some of which are benign. Regardless of the underlying nature of your calf pain, the most important part of the equation is finding relief.
Regardless of whether your calf pain has been an ongoing issue for years, or if it just developed recently, your Parker chiropractor can help. In this article, we will review some of the major issues surrounding calf pain and discuss how chiropractic care can help you recover from this tricky condition.
What Causes Pain in the Calf?
The most common cause of calf pain is, luckily, the most innocuous. Specifically, most calf pain is caused by muscle soreness due to exercise or overuse of the calf and leg muscles. This type of calf pain will usually resolve on its own, though it may take a few days for the pain to completely abate.
That being said, very severe muscle soreness in your calves can indicate that you overworked your legs to the extreme. This may mean that you strained the muscles and tendons to such an extent that some rehabilitative therapy might be necessary for you to fully recover.
Outside of muscle pain, another common cause of calf pain is blood clots. Needless to say, this is a very serious issue, as blood clots can move to the heart, brain, or lungs; leading to a heart attack, stroke, or pulmonary embolism respectively. Each of these is a deadly condition that must be treated immediately by medical personnel when suspected.
Traumatic injuries, such as car crashes or collisions in sports, can also lead to calf pain. These issues can cause bruising and widespread damage. This damage, in turn, will usually result in long-lasting pain.
Other causes of calf pain are usually associated with issues elsewhere in the body. For instance, you may experience calf pain as a result of radiating pain from your low back. This is known as a radiculopathy.
How Is Calf Pain Treated?
Depending on the cause of the calf pain, treatments for this condition can take a variety of different forms. For instance, blood clots can be treated with blood thinner medication or surgery.
On the other hand, most cases of muscular calf pain can be addressed through very simple methods such as rest, light exercise, and chiropractic care. Of course, all of these methods can also be combined into one key treatment plan designed to help the patient fully recover.
Specifically, exercises for sore calves will often include calf stretching, plantar fascia mobilization, and some gentle strengthening movements. Additionally, some self-massage (or professional massage) may help to loosen up these tight, sore tissues.
Chiropractic care is often overlooked as a treatment option for calf pain, but this is a big mistake. Chiropractors can often help patients decrease their calf pain in just a handful of visits, with some patients leaving the office pain-free after just their first visit.
How Can Chiropractors Help with Calf Pain?
When the spine is out of alignment, nothing in the body works as it should. For this reason, patients with misaligned spines will often experience pain in various regions of the body.
With regard to calf pain, patients may have a subluxation in their spine in an area that is associated with this portion of the leg. By reducing this subluxation through the use of chiropractic manipulations, your chiropractor can often quickly and effectively decrease your calf pain.
Your calf pain shouldn’t hold you back from living life the way you want. Come see us at Awaken Chiropractic, your go-to Parker chiropractor, today. Book your session now!
