15 Simple and Effective Home Remedies for Leg Pain

Leg pain is pain that you experience as sudden stabbing sensations, that lingers around or causes discomfort in your legs. Severe leg pain could occur due to physical trauma, injuries, and accidents while minor pain could be due to doing intense physical workouts. Minor leg pain recovers naturally with rest but more severe cases could require ongoing medical treatment coupled with a few natural remedies to speed up the healing process.

Generally, making some lifestyle changes like doing stretching, low-impact workouts, and consuming a diet rich in anti-inflammatory properties will help you overcome the pain and tackle the problem at the root. We discuss some of the most common causes of leg pain and cover some remedies you can try at home.

Common Causes of Leg Pain

The causes of leg pain can be several and experts usually agree that the cause of leg pain stems from damage or some problem with the musculoskeletal, neurological, and physiological system. The type of treatment will depend on the origin or cause of the leg pain and the best way to find that out is by getting a professional medical diagnosis. Dietary and lifestyle changes play a huge role in managing and treating it, thus speeding up the process and improving your chances of a successful recovery.

Some of the common causes of leg pain are:

• Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD)
• Sports injuries
• Stress fractures from intense physical activity
• Damage or trauma to the legs due to accidents
• Poor blood circulation due to a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle
• Potassium and magnesium deficiency stemming from malnutrition or poor diet
• Varicose veins
• Degenerative medical diseases like osteoporosis and osteoarthritis
• Myalgia
• Bone cancers like osteosarcoma
• Conditions which damage the nervous system like sciatica, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, and post-laminectomy syndrome

15 Natural Remedies for Leg Pain

Looking for natural remedies for your leg pain? Try these below and let us know how it goes.

1. Use Cold Compress

A cold compress lower inflammation by reducing blood flow after workouts or injuries. To relieve the pain, wrap a couple of ice cubes in a towel and place it on the affected areas. Do it for at least 10 to 15 minutes and repeat a few times throughout the day. This falls under one of the best home remedies for leg pain after delivery as well.

2. Drink More Water

Dehydration is the common cause of leg pain and muscle cramps. You can prevent this by drinking more water throughout the day. Drinking spring or mineral water is even better as it contains many beneficial electrolytes. Skip the caffeine and alcohol because those contribute to electrolyte imbalances and thus, dehydration.

3. Move Your Legs

Sitting still at work and doing nothing won’t help the problem. If you want to boost blood circulation, reduce cramping, and get pain relief, try doing some low-impact exercises. It’s among the top natural home remedies for leg joint pain. Calf and hamstring stretches are the best and when you do low-impact strength training routines, it benefits your bones and joints by increasing bone density.

4. Drink Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar has analgesic properties which help soothe inflammation and pain in the legs. Drink a tablespoon or two of it on an empty stomach early in the morning, or choose to bathe in it by mixing the solution in your bath water. Make sure you go for raw organic apple cider vinegar though and if you choose to drink but can’t stand the taste, use some honey – it makes it go down a lot easier. It’s one of the top home remedies for leg nerve pain.

5. Try Yoga

Yoga makes use of therapeutic exercises which remove blockages in the body and makes the energy channels more open or receptive. Besides that, it’s fantastic for healing your legs as the exercises are restorative in nature, detox the body, and speed up healing. The only catch is you need to do the poses or exercises right and not hurt yourself. That’s why we always recommend working alongside a yoga instructor or expert practitioner. You can also try Qi Gong besides yoga as it’s also one of the home remedies for leg pain during pregnancy.

6. Walk, Walk, Walk

Walking is one of the best, free, and natural ways of relieving leg pain. It reduces inflammation, boosts blood circulation, and releases endorphins in your body. Besides lifting your mood, it’ll take some weight off the pain. But the good news is that it works.

7. Load Up on Potassium and Magnesium

The best way to treat your leg pain is to add foods to your diet which are rich in potassium and magnesium. Some foods to include are bananas, whole-grains, fish, yoghurt, dates, raisins, plums, tomato juice, and baked sweet potatoes. Deficiencies in these two nutrients lead to leg pain and when you fix that, you’re resolving the problem at its roots.

8. Give Yourself a Warm Compress

If a lack of blood circulation is the reason for your leg pain, you can help reduce the pain by using some warm compress or heat packs. Apply one of these to the affected areas and let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes. You’ll notice your muscles loosening up or relaxing, thus providing you relief from the pain.

9. Take Epsom Salt Baths

Epsom salt baths are fantastic for relieving some of that inflammation and leg pain you experience. These salts are rich in magnesium which is a key nutrient required to remedy the pain. Here’s what you need to do – get half a cup of Epsom salt and add that to lukewarm water in a bathtub or bucket. Soak the swollen areas in that for 15 minutes and you’ll feel better.

10. Drink Methi Water

Fenugreek is a natural remedy for treating leg pain. Buy some fresh fenugreek leaves and dry it in the sun. Let the leaves dehydrate and after that, crush them to make a fine powder. Take a teaspoon or two of this powder, blend with water, and drink up. You’ll be surprised at the results. If you don’t like fenugreek or methi water, you can squeeze a lemon and make lemon water from that. Lemon is loaded with antioxidants which relieve leg pain. Ginger tea is also another option for you as it has anti-inflammatory properties. That ends up reducing the leg pain and we recommend drinking it up to three times a day, every day.

11. Massage With Mustard Oil

Mustard seed oil is another amazing home remedy for treating leg pain. For this, take 200 to 250 grams of mustard seeds and soak it with about ten grams of camphor oil. Let this blend sit in the sun until you notice it dissolving. Massage your legs using this remedy and you’ll soon notice your leg cramps going away.

12. Try Stretching

Stretching exercises help relieve tension from the leg muscles and relax. This boosts blood circulation in the process too. Some stretching exercises we recommend are the sitting pigeon pose, knee to opposite shoulder stretches, sitting spinal stretch, and the standing hamstring stretch. Any stretching routine that targets on loosening up your glutes, hamstring, and decompresses the spine will help. A neat trick to relieve the inflammation is to lift your leg slightly above the level of your heart. This helps in draining the fluids that get built up and led to the swelling.

13. Saffron Water Works

Saffron water is a good way to get relief from leg pain. Take a teaspoon of saffron powder and add it to half a cup of boiling water. Strain, let it cool a bit, and drink this concoction. You’ll notice the pain gradually reducing or going away as the days pass.

14. Try Acupressure Therapy

Acupressure therapy involves putting pressure on certain points in the body to stimulate healing and recovery. We’ll tell you the two points you can try massaging for leg pain relief. The first one is the dent or the joint between your index finger and thumb. For the second point, you’ll have to run four fingers down from the shin to the knees until you hit a bump. When you hit the knee or right before you cross that mark, just place your pinkie finger down below to feel a tender area. This is the second spot you need to massage to get relief. Massage any or both of these spots for about 3 to 4 minutes until you feel the pain dissipating. But if your leg pain is serious and these don’t work, consult a certified acupressure specialist. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to this and it’s important to remember that.

15. Get Some Rest

Now, this is a no-brainer but if the reason why your legs pain in the first place is because of strenuous physical activity, then it’s time to hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. Sleep is vital to muscle recovery and speeds up the healing process. If you’re not clocking in 7 to 8 hours of sleep, you’re definitely doing something wrong. If you suffer from insomnia, try eating some bananas or cherry juice before going to bed. These contain melatonin which acts as a natural sleep aid, with zero side effects.

If you’re taking any supplements for falling asleep or any medications, consult your doctor and see if they are interacting with the foods you’re eating. Sometimes the chemical interactions of these drugs or supplements worsen the pain and that’s something you don’t want. Some other things you could try for resolving the leg pain is soaking in sunshine for 10 to 15 minutes a day. A Vitamin D deficiency is linked to muscle cramps, leg pain, and low bone density and you can fix that by getting some time out in the sun.

Maybe you’ve been experiencing leg pain due to unhealthy lifestyle habits which have taken their toll on you or maybe you’ve been in an accident. Whatever the case, there’s still hope and the road to recovery isn’t super long. Just be patient, and try out these remedies. Before you realise, your body (and legs) will thank you for it.

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