Ok I recently told a friend that I had put up a long post regarding shin splints on here, he failed to find it so putting it up here for him to read, and of course for the benefit of everybody else....this is more or less a copy and past from another thread:
Overpronation is what caused my shin splint problem. I was out of action from running for 6 months, and suffered a few months later.
Quote:
Keep your shins warm.
…..be careful with this advise.
Shin splints is a generic term for pain in the shins, just like a stomach ache is a generic term for pain in the stomach. There are different types of shin splints, fractures, and compartment syndrome etc....compartment syndrome is the one which I had, so is the one which my field of knowledge covers. Symptoms for shin splints are always more or less the same, making it hard to distinguish what type of shin splints you have.
In your lower leg/calf area there are four muscles which are contained in a "sheath". Compartment syndrome is when the muscle at the front - i.e. along the shin, swells up and exerts a lot of pressure, and the sheath is struggling to stretch. In severe cases, part of the muscle can become oxygen deprived and die, this is a 999 job if it ever reaches this stage (No need to worry, you would be screaming in pain if this was the case).
So what causes this muscle to swell up? Well, suddenly upping the training can put stress on your legs that they cannot cope this, that is one thing. The other, which was the case for me, is a pronation of the foot which will need to be addressed by insoles. While running, as the foot lands, the front muscle out of the four in your leg (no idea of the muscle names
) will be working extra hard to slow the pronation motion down - this part is difficult to explain without using some form of model to demonstrate.
So back "keep the shins warm" advise, if you do have compartment syndrome, then keep the shins cool! Ice after exercise for roughly 10 minutes, applying the ice up and down the shin.
If you had fractures then it would be unlikely that there is much pain at all while cycling, fractures are mainly caused by hard impact etc. Compartment syndrome however, could effect your cycling. If the foot moves up and down (if you don't get what I mean by that, suspend your leg in mid air, point your toes up, then point them down several times) then the muscles affected by compartments syndrome will be agitated. However there is much less vertical movement of the foot in cycling than there is running, so there should be far less pain.
To try and help, you can do the sit on your feet/prayer stretch as mentioned above, or try and write the alphabet in the air with your toes.
Compartments syndrome is very unlikely to go away, and will have to be managed for as long as you keep cycling/running up etc. However it does improve, a great deal. I run regularly- up to 20 miles. No grief from my shinsrecently. I deem myself to be fully recovered, and very very very rarely to I feel a twinge on my shin...although that twinge does remind me not to be silly with my training. A few weeks ago, I ran every day, most of which was short distance speed work - this was the last time I remember experiencing any compartment syndrome feeling and it did not hold me back.
Another thing, people say "do not push through the pain under any circumstances!!!"...but this has to be taken with moderation. You WILL feel slight pain, but this is unavoidable. For this, we need the very scientific "pain scale". 0 being painless 10 being a shark biting your head off. If you feel the pain in your shins ever gets to 5, stop, rest.
Do not take painkillers at all while running/cycling as this can mask pain, leading you to believe you are lower on the pain scale than you actually are. Pain scale 5+ means you are damaging yourself.
On a side note, static stretching before exercise is a no no. Imagine your muscles as a piece of chewing gum. Try stretch that chewing gum before chewing it. Rip/snap. Now try chewing the chewing gum and stretching it. Bingo. There are several stretches you can do pre exercise, such as swinging your legs etc - Not sure if you are already doing these or are on static stretching, but this is a separate debate and shouldn't be affecting your shins.
Slight pain after the exercise is promising, means you are on the mend (or just developing) so extra care in taking things slow and steady.
Oh and I replace my trainers every 6 months (which is annoying, luckily I know the girl who sells me the shoes well enough to get a discount) and have a neutral shoe - i.e. one that does not correct any pronation. I have a custom made insole from a specialist to do the correcting.
It helps if you attempt to stay clear of tarmac – try and stick to off road, grass if you can! Oh and with stretching and cycling.... ensure you stretch those calves out after, especially if you do running as well. Because cycling and running try and build the calf in different ways, if you do not stretch you may find yourself cramping badly while running - I can speak with personal experience with this one as well, having suffered cramps recently while long distance running, whereas I was fine before I began cycling.
Hope this helps,
Any extra advise/anything I have missed or got wrong or any questions, then post em up
Overpronation is what caused my shin splint problem. I was out of action from running for 6 months, and suffered a few months later.
Quote:
Keep your shins warm.
…..be careful with this advise.
Shin splints is a generic term for pain in the shins, just like a stomach ache is a generic term for pain in the stomach. There are different types of shin splints, fractures, and compartment syndrome etc....compartment syndrome is the one which I had, so is the one which my field of knowledge covers. Symptoms for shin splints are always more or less the same, making it hard to distinguish what type of shin splints you have.
In your lower leg/calf area there are four muscles which are contained in a "sheath". Compartment syndrome is when the muscle at the front - i.e. along the shin, swells up and exerts a lot of pressure, and the sheath is struggling to stretch. In severe cases, part of the muscle can become oxygen deprived and die, this is a 999 job if it ever reaches this stage (No need to worry, you would be screaming in pain if this was the case).
So what causes this muscle to swell up? Well, suddenly upping the training can put stress on your legs that they cannot cope this, that is one thing. The other, which was the case for me, is a pronation of the foot which will need to be addressed by insoles. While running, as the foot lands, the front muscle out of the four in your leg (no idea of the muscle names
) will be working extra hard to slow the pronation motion down - this part is difficult to explain without using some form of model to demonstrate.So back "keep the shins warm" advise, if you do have compartment syndrome, then keep the shins cool! Ice after exercise for roughly 10 minutes, applying the ice up and down the shin.
If you had fractures then it would be unlikely that there is much pain at all while cycling, fractures are mainly caused by hard impact etc. Compartment syndrome however, could effect your cycling. If the foot moves up and down (if you don't get what I mean by that, suspend your leg in mid air, point your toes up, then point them down several times) then the muscles affected by compartments syndrome will be agitated. However there is much less vertical movement of the foot in cycling than there is running, so there should be far less pain.
To try and help, you can do the sit on your feet/prayer stretch as mentioned above, or try and write the alphabet in the air with your toes.
Compartments syndrome is very unlikely to go away, and will have to be managed for as long as you keep cycling/running up etc. However it does improve, a great deal. I run regularly- up to 20 miles. No grief from my shinsrecently. I deem myself to be fully recovered, and very very very rarely to I feel a twinge on my shin...although that twinge does remind me not to be silly with my training. A few weeks ago, I ran every day, most of which was short distance speed work - this was the last time I remember experiencing any compartment syndrome feeling and it did not hold me back.
Another thing, people say "do not push through the pain under any circumstances!!!"...but this has to be taken with moderation. You WILL feel slight pain, but this is unavoidable. For this, we need the very scientific "pain scale". 0 being painless 10 being a shark biting your head off. If you feel the pain in your shins ever gets to 5, stop, rest.
Do not take painkillers at all while running/cycling as this can mask pain, leading you to believe you are lower on the pain scale than you actually are. Pain scale 5+ means you are damaging yourself.
On a side note, static stretching before exercise is a no no. Imagine your muscles as a piece of chewing gum. Try stretch that chewing gum before chewing it. Rip/snap. Now try chewing the chewing gum and stretching it. Bingo. There are several stretches you can do pre exercise, such as swinging your legs etc - Not sure if you are already doing these or are on static stretching, but this is a separate debate and shouldn't be affecting your shins.
Slight pain after the exercise is promising, means you are on the mend (or just developing) so extra care in taking things slow and steady.
Oh and I replace my trainers every 6 months (which is annoying, luckily I know the girl who sells me the shoes well enough to get a discount) and have a neutral shoe - i.e. one that does not correct any pronation. I have a custom made insole from a specialist to do the correcting.
It helps if you attempt to stay clear of tarmac – try and stick to off road, grass if you can! Oh and with stretching and cycling.... ensure you stretch those calves out after, especially if you do running as well. Because cycling and running try and build the calf in different ways, if you do not stretch you may find yourself cramping badly while running - I can speak with personal experience with this one as well, having suffered cramps recently while long distance running, whereas I was fine before I began cycling.
Hope this helps,
Any extra advise/anything I have missed or got wrong or any questions, then post em up
