Blue said:
Do you have an overpronation problem at all - ....<snip>.... If you do you may find that a shoe with appropriate support, or an orthotic, may help. Worth a try.
This is a brilliant post, overpronation is exactly what caused my shin splint problem. I was out of action from running for 6 months, and suffered a few months later.
jimboalee said:
Ok....I see jimboalee is a great fountain of knowledge, but be careful with this advise.
Shin splints is a generic term for pain in the shins, just like a stomatch ache is a generic term for pain in the stomatch. There are different types of shin splints, fractures, compartment syndrome etc....compartment syndrome is the one which I had, so is the one which my field of knowledge covers. Symptons for shin splints are allways 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 alot 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 to Jimboalee's "keep the shins warm" advise, if you do have compartment syndrome, then keep the shins cool! Ice after excersize 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 aggitated. 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 aslong as you keep cycling/running up etc. However it does improve, a great deal. I run reguarly, and completed my first 20 miler trail run last sunday. No grief from my shins (the fact that run was the most painful few hours of my life is a different story). 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 excersize 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 excersize, such as swinging your legs etc - Not sure if you are allready doing these or are on static stretching, but this is a seperate debate and shouldn't be affecting your shins.
Slight pain after the excersize is promising, means you are on the mend (or just developing) so extra care in taking things slow and steady.
Hope this helps,
). Problem seems to have gradually healed, but not completely.
