To reduce back pain, choose fins that strap on your legs, not on your feet. And use them with care. These comfortable fins do not tend to worsen existing lower back pain, if you are sensible about how you use them. However, you should check with your doctor and/or physiotherapist first.
With regular foot fins, back pain often gets worse. Not only do they cramp your calves and hurt your feet, they make you bend your knees too much too. They drop your knees and thighs too low in the water. This causes you to arch your back to maintain stroke balance, putting painful stress on your lower back and straining your knees too. So the bent-knee kicking style required by regular foot fins is what hurts your back.
You can test this for yourself, by swimming with no fins. It doesn’t usually hurt your back as much if you kick from your hips, with straighter knees. When your knees and thighs are higher in the water, your back is straighter and there is less stress on your lower back.
These new fins avoid causing or worsening back pain because they encourage a proper streamlined kick from the hip, with less knee-bend. This promotes a more horizontal body position, a straighter back with less arching and less lower back strain.
In fact, these fins can help you to strengthen the core muscles in your lower back and torso. So, when used with care, they can help you to strengthen your back and reduce your overall back pain. They tend not to aggravate existing back pain. But you should check with your doctor and/or physiotherapist first.
Overall, these comfortable fins fit well and are much kinder to your back than regular foot fins!
shinfin™ fins do much more than reducing back pain
See related faq about why these fins are also kinder to your knees.
See all faqs about the comfort of these new fins.