Lower legs, ankles & tibialis soft tissue problems

Lower legs, ankles & tibialis soft tissue problems

By Alessandro Mancini, Holisitc Therapist!

Description of why those parts get sometimes sore.

Feeling pain and heaviness on our ankles and, generally, the lower part of our legs is a quite common issue caused by a stiffening of the soft tissue in those areas.

Why is this happening?

This phenomenon can manifest in people who conduct any kind of lifestyle, of any age, gender, and body composition. Surely, genetics plays a crucial role in it. A sedentary lifestyle is also a trigger for this kind of issue, as sitting for long hours puts pressure on legs that obstacles the normal blood flow in the lower body. On the other hand, professional athletes and highly active people can still experience this kind of issue. This happens because by doing a lot of physical activity, you build up and harden muscles and consequently apply more pressure to the main arteries, veins, and nerves.

Another important consideration to be made is the fact that ankles and lower legs are very distant from the heart, compared to other parts of our body; Consequently, a higher distance needs to be covered to pump blood in our legs, and factors like the presence of adipose cells or “fatty tissue” − that presses against the blood vessels − can compromise the blood supply in these areas. This scenario also causes an alteration of the lymphatic drainage system and leads to ankle lymphedema.

How can it be treated in non-invasive therapy?

One of the techniques that I apply is digital pressure on the internal and external meridians or body lines, that pass through the main arteries and veins and on some important nerves. By pressing some crucial parts of the legs, an intense oxygenation and detoxification process gets started. With this increase in blood flow, muscles are getting prepared to receive soft tissue manual therapy.

The combination of digital pressure and soft tissue manipulation has shown a fantastic result in more than 95% of the cases I treated. This statistic is based on both male and female patients of any age group, profession, and lifestyle. After this type of treatment, patients report feeling their legs lighter, rebalanced, and more energetic, while experiencing better mobility and flexibility already from the first treatment. Another common feedback from patients is that their feet do not get cold as used to do before.

How many times should this treatment be applied?

The answer deeply variates for single individuals because it depends on several factors like, for instance, lifestyle and diet.

This treatment is very effective to rebalance the lower limb, but in 90% of the cases, it should be applied as part of a full-body treatment.

The principle behind this is the fact that, in order to get our legs rebalanced and in better harmony, receiving a full-body treatment will allow us to have the whole body rebalanced, and therefore a better homeostasis performance regarding the lower body too.

I can say, from my experience, that usually female patients need to be treated with one session of 60 or 90 minutes every week, for 5 to 8 weeks. Males, on the other hand, need to be treated with one session of 60 or 90 minutes every week, for 3 to 4 or also up to 8 weeks.

What will happen after this therapy plan?

Usually, after this therapy, patients will need to have a 60 or 90 minutes session every 15, 20, or 30 days; this advice will be given out based on the response of every individual patient’s body, depending on how long the legs will maintain a well-balanced condition for.

Case study: best result obtained

One of the best results I obtained is from one of my male patients.

He is a man in his early 40’s, with average body composition, although carrying a few extra pounds of weight. Working as a manager, he was not having a healthy diet routine and he was smoking a few cigarettes per day, while generally keeping the very bad habit of NOT stretching.

First session

The first time I treated him, he was running about 3 to 5 kilometers per day. His legs, hamstrings, lower back, upper trapezius, shoulders, and neck were extremely stiff and out of balance. He also had back pain and chronic right shoulder pain, with difficulties moving the right arm in all directions, carried over the last 10 years.

We started the 90 minutes full body weekly remedial soft tissue therapy plan and we did 8 sessions.

In the first session, his chronic shoulder pain was reduced by 90%, and his arm mobility increased by 90%. Moreover, his back pain was basically gone, and he felt lighter legs already from day one.

Following sessions

The first 4 sessions were the hardest ones because his body was responding very slowly, although he was still feeling his legs much lighter and he gradually started to increase the running distance on a daily basis; on the 4th session he was already doing an average of 10 kilometers per day.

Going to the 8th session, he was able to run an average of 15 to 20 kilometers a day, including some uphill.

The treatments I gave him led to a fantastic result, but what also helped to rich this result was the changes he made in his lifestyle: drinking more water, reducing unnecessary drinks, stretching his legs more, and persisting in traveling from NW London to SW every week to receive my treatment.

Case study: worst result obtained

The trickiest case I had regarded a 42 years old lady. Although she was an active person, mother, and professional, she was overweight by about 20 kilos. She contacted me about the stiffness and heaviness she felt on her legs, asking for a soft-tissue massage. A crucial factor in her situation was the fact that the patient had heavy emotions going on, that deeply influenced her metabolism and emphasized her weight gain. It is important to underline why this had a big impact on the storage of adipose tissue in her legs. As previously mentioned, the excess of adipose tissue in the legs can cause pressure on blood vessels and lead to a lower blood supply, manifestation of edema, and soreness in the legs. Moreover, being overweight also leads to thyroid problems, creating big congestion of energy throughout the endocrine system. Besides this, the patient complained of frequent migraines. Evaluating her initial situation, I advised the subject to combine some soft-tissue massage treatments with pranic healing sessions. However, the patient decided to only proceed with massage treatments and I respected her decision. After 8 soft-tissue massage sessions, her body responded with an improvement of about 15% in the sore she felt in her legs. This result did not meet the expectations that I had. However, her headaches were reduced in a big part.

At this stage, we changed our approach. Accepting my advice, she started to receive pranic healing treatments. Already from the first session, she had a great improvement on an emotional and mental level, which opened the way for physical improvements. The patient reported feeling more calm and peaceful, while her headaches were reduced even more, as she did not have one in 13 days. The subject is still receiving my treatments to reach an optimal condition, but the last time I treated her with a soft-tissue massage, I found the tissue in her legs much softer and better responding than before. As a prediction, the patient will probably need another 5-6 of both pranic healing and soft-tissue massage sessions.