Dr. Timothy Young, a Board-Certified Foot and Ankle Surgeon, Discuss His Treatment For Anterior Tibial Tendinitis

Whenever possible addressing the underlying mechanics is helpful. Also decreasing the activity that exacerbates is the problem and cross training is helpful. For example when playing tennis one might have to switch from singles to doubles and be aware of abrupt and sudden movements that will cause the foot to hit the ground quickly and with runners this may involve avoiding running hills and doing flat work instead.

Additional treatments can include decrease in workload on the anterior tendon itself such as anterior tibial athletic taping such as KT tape, especially during activity.

A lace-up ankle brace can also be quite helpful for this but can be bulky and difficult to fit into shoes. Prescription orthotics hold the foot in a more stable position so that when it does contact the ground there’s less mechanical force through the foot and ultimately decreasing the workload on the anterior tibial tendon.

Icing, rest, taping, orthotics and braces are all very helpful.

And for stubborn cases we also can treat this with shockwave therapy.   For severe cases, PRP combined with shockwave therapy is an excellent treatment.