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Help Required Urgently!!!
Question:
Fellow runners, I was training a couple of years back and suffered severe shin-splints. I continued running and ran the 1/2 marathon that I was training for anyway. I then stopped runninng for about a 1/2 year and was training for a full marathon when I again got shin-splints. This time I went to see a doctor who made me have a bone scan which showed that there was definately no stress fractures but instead the soreness was due to the muscles slightly tearing. I stopped running again (not competing in the marathon) for about 1 1/2 years. I then bought a pair of AVIA Arc Tech 2070’s which gave me excellent support and I started running again, slowly building up the km’s and not having any pain in the shin area. I have built up to running 20km once a week, 10km every second day and 5km on the days in between with one rest day before the 20km run. Every thing was going fine till this week when I found that I could barely run the 5km due to severe pain not only in the shin area (of my right leg only) but also around the ankle region. I would like to know what are the best exercises that I can do the minimize the chance of this sort of thing happening over and over again and also what are some of the different physical exercise I can do to maintain my fitness level (as required for running) while I get rid (hopefully for good) of these annoying pains in my lower legs. Thanx in advance, Rob. | || | | Robert Lieffering, || "The world is your oyster, | | University of Waikato || But your futures a clam !" | | Hamilton || | | New Zealand. || | | || |
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Fellow runners, I was training a couple of years back and suffered severe shin-splints. I continued running and ran the 1/2 marathon that I was training for anyway. I then stopped runninng for about a 1/2 year and was training for a full marathon when I again got shin-splints. This time I went to see a doctor who made me have a bone scan which showed that there was definately no stress fractures but instead the soreness was due to the muscles slightly tearing. I stopped running again (not competing in the marathon) for about 1 1/2 years. I then bought a pair of AVIA Arc Tech 2070’s which gave me excellent support and I started running again, slowly building up the km’s and not having any pain in the shin area. I have built up to running 20km once a week, 10km every second day and 5km on the days in between with one rest day before the 20km run. Every thing was going fine till this week when I found that I could barely run the 5km due to severe pain not only in the shin area (of my right leg only) but also around the ankle region. I would like to know what are the best exercises that I can do the minimize the chance of this sort of thing happening over and over again and also what are some of the different physical exercise I can do to maintain my fitness level (as required for running) while I get rid (hopefully for good) of these annoying pains in my lower legs. Thanx in advance, Rob.
The fact that your shin pain is only in one leg is a little odd – perhaps you have some sort of imbalance between the sides of your body or something which is causing it. The usual first exercise to try is to strengthen the muscles on the front of your legs – they counterbalance the calves. SOmetimes shin splints are caused when the calves are relatively too strong. I like walking around on my heels (while wearing running shoes), holding my toes off the ground. You can also get an elastic band and use it to provide resistance as you fles your foot toward the shin. If your pain is mostly on the insude of the shin (where you can feel the bone), it may be that some mechanical problem is a contributing factor. People with excessively rigid feet tend to suffer from shock-related problems, while people with excessively flexible feet or arches tend to suffer from torsion-induced problems(that’s me). Also, get off the roads and run on grass for awhile. Grass, and the earth underneath, is softer than the roads. Also it is a little more uneven. Thus your legs do a bit more varied activity, helping avoid what the doctors call "repetitive microtrauma". Charles Yeomans
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Fellow runners, I was training a couple of years back and suffered severe shin-splints. I continued running and ran the 1/2 marathon that I was training for anyway. I then stopped runninng for about a 1/2 year and was training for a full marathon when I again got shin-splints. This time I went to see a doctor who made me have a bone scan which showed that there was definately no stress fractures but instead the soreness was due to the muscles slightly tearing. I stopped running again (not competing in the marathon) for about 1 1/2 years. I then bought a pair of AVIA Arc Tech 2070’s which gave me excellent support and I started running again, slowly building up the km’s and not having any pain in the shin area. I have built up to running 20km once a week, 10km every second day and 5km on the days in between with one rest day before the 20km run. Every thing was going fine till this week when I found that I could barely run the 5km due to severe pain not only in the shin area (of my right leg only) but also around the ankle region. I would like to know what are the best exercises that I can do the minimize the chance of this sort of thing happening over and over again and also what are some of the different physical exercise I can do to maintain my fitness level (as required for running) while I get rid (hopefully for good) of these annoying pains in my lower legs. Thanx in advance,
Shin splints have always been a problem for me as well. The recommended way to get rid of them is to strengthen the shins while stretching the calves. Shin splints are caused by a two(2) things: 1. A muscular imbalance between the calves and shins (the calves being so much bigger and stronger than their counterparts, the shins. This, by the way, is also the cause of hamstring pulls.) and 2. running on hard surfaces which aggravates the problem and causes the shins to tear. Running of softer surfaces has never worked that well for me. I feel its a rather dubious fix. The best way to get rid of them so that they never come back is to strengthen the shins (i.e. get rid of the muscular imbalance). The recommended way of doing this is to perform resistance running. Running on sand, up hills or up stairs are all forms of resistance running. I used to live in New Jersey. Lots of hills there. I never got shin splints. Now I live in Florida. No hills. In five years, I haven’t managed to increase my mileage over 5 miles without getting shin splints. To stretch the calves, two exercises can be used: 1. Wall-push ups or 2. standing on an inclined plane. If you need further explanation of these exercises just notify me in some way. Lastly, buy shoes with lots of cushioning. The pain in your ankle may be achilles tendonitis, but I can’t be sure. In that case, stretching the calves (which also stretches the achilles tendon) will work nicely for that injury too. But, as always, in order to recover from an injury, you must first cease performing the exercise which originally brought on the injury. — Rich Richard Piasecki Founder, Pope, Dali-Lama, Lord High Priest and "It’s a tough job being the most perfect being in the universe, but someone’s got to do it." — Quote from "The 1001 Rules of Piaseckism"
Response:
I have an old bicycle inner tube tied to the rear leg of my desk. With my heal on the floor, I hook my foot through a loop at the end and pull against the tube with my foot (leaving the heal on the floor). Great for working those muscles in the front lower part of the leg. By tying the tube to the desk, you can adjust the length so that you can be working and exercising at the same time. What fun!