6 Easy Exercises to Get Rid of Leg Pain

Pain in any part of the leg is a common occurrence. Leg pains can occur for any reason. Whether you are an athlete or an office worker, leg pain can grip anyone.

Leg pains can happen for a variety of reasons. However, all leg pains are categorized into three major types.

Three Types of Leg Pain

Musculoskeletal

Musculoskeletal leg pain is the most common form. This type of leg pain is related to muscles or skeletal system. Conditions seen in this category are muscle strain, ligament and tendon strain.

Muscle pain is the most common type of pain.

Vascular

Conditions in this type of leg pain are Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), peripheral artery diseases, or veracious veins. In this type, skin discoloration can also be another symptom.

Neurological

Conditions like sciatic leg pain (which involves sciatic nerve compression), neural damage, neuropathy (diabetic leg pain) come under this category.

How to get rid of leg pain immediately?

If your leg pain is frequent, continuous, and affecting most of your daily activities, then it is advisable to visit your doctor immediately.

Once the serious causes of the condition are ruled out you can try looking into the following tips which include exercises for leg pain relief. These exercises for leg pain will help you to stretch your leg muscles which improves blood flow and breaks muscle stiffness as well as builds strength, which will gradually help you in leg pain relief.

1. Seated Forward Bending — Hamstring stretch

This exercise for leg pain helps to stretch your hamstring muscles (back of thigh) and also to some extent the lower back muscles also.

Hamstring Stretch strengthens muscles in legs. Source: Yogajournal

1. Sit on the floor, with your back straight, shoulders down, abs engaged, and legs extended in front of you.
2. Bend forward from the waist, reaching your hands towards your toes. Imagine reaching your chin towards your toes in front of you (not towards your legs). Keep your knees extended and tight. Breathe deeply and hold for 10–30 seconds.

2. Calf Stretch

This lower leg pain exercise helps you in strengthening your calf muscles also.

Calf Stretch helps in providing strength to the muscles of calves. Source: Sportsinjuryclinic.net

1. Stand in front of a wall and place your hands shoulder-width apart against the wall (as in the above picture), at chest level. Put your left foot behind your right foot, gently flexing your right leg forward while maintaining your left knee aligned and the heel in contact with the floor.
2. Now, with your back straight, lean onto the wall pushing your hips forward. When you feel a gentle stretch, hold it there for 20 seconds. Repeat with the other leg. Do this twice with each leg.

3. Parvatasana — Mountain Pose

Basically, it gives a stretch to your hamstring as well as calves at the same time, which makes this a great leg pain relief exercise.

Parvastasan is a yoga and strengthens our lower legs muscles.

1. Raise the buttocks up, let the two arms be on the floor and support the body weight. Lower the head between the arms.
2. The body makes the shape of a triangle when observed from the sides. It looks like a mountain and hence the name.

4. Standing Quad Stretch

This exercise helps you to stretch the front thigh muscles.

Standing Quad Stretch also helps in strengthening lower legs muscles.

1. Stand tall, holding onto a chair or wall if required. Keep your feet hip-width apart, your back straight and your feet parallel.
2. Reach back and grab your left foot in your left hand, keeping your thighs lined up next to each other and left leg in line with the hip (not pulled back behind you). Breathe deeply and hold for 10–30 seconds. Repeat on opposite side.

5. Static Lunge

This exercise will help you to build strength in the large muscle groups of the legs as well as to build balance and core stability.

Static Lunge helps in strengthening your abdominal muscles and improves balance.

1. Stand with all the muscles in your body tensed, your core tight (tighten your abdomen muscles), and shoulders back up straight. Split and take your left leg back in a lunge (starting position).
2. Lower yourself into as deep a lunge as you can without touching your bent knee to the ground. Ideally, lower yourself until you are just inches above the ground. Hold this pose for 3 seconds and go back to the starting position do 10 reps with the same leg and repeat the same with other leg.

6. Ankle Pumps

This exercise helps in contraction and stretching of calf muscle with the movement of the ankle joint which helps in pumping back the blood and improve venous drainage.

Ankle pumps strengthen muscles present in calves and ankle joints.

1. Sit or lie on the floor with legs extended. You can also do it while sitting on a chair in the office or anywhere.
2. Pull the toes towards yourself and point them away from you. Push and pull your toes as far in either direction as you can. Repeat 10 times. Do this 2–3 times a day regularly.

Other than all the above some simple exercises like a brisk walk for 20–30 minutes every day also can help. Go for activities like swimming, cycling, dancing, yoga, etc which will help you to strengthen your leg muscles. As I always say, make exercise a part of your life to fight pain and leg pain relief. You can easily perform these exercises at home without any worries!

Manage your health and reduce chances of development of health related complications. Download Zyla app (http://bit.ly/2BftxyE-defeatingdiabetes) for continuous monitoring and personalised care.

Connect with us:

1. Subscribe to our Youtube channel: https://bit.ly/2o19OzE to watch videos on health and health-related conditions.
2. Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zylahealth
3. Join our facebook community, “Defeating Diabetes” and get daily updates: https://bit.ly/2nloObl
4. Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zylahealth/
5. Visit our website: https://www.zyla.in/
6. Talk to us on WhatsApp — https://goo.gl/kjofPU