Shin pain when running

[TomTheTyke]

Just after a bit of advice. I never did any running before last summer but I started r vulgarly and enjoyed it, got my 5k hilly park run down to 22.00 so I was going along fairly well for a beginner, although I am decently fit. Anyway recently I've been really frustrated because I can't shake this really bad shin pain, in both legs sometimes but worse in the right. I have looked on nhs website and advice is 2 weeks off but that hasn't made much difference although I did play football twice in that time, with no pain as I think it's the repetitive nature of running. I basically hobbled to the end of park run with it last week, felt fine playing footy yesterday, had a jog on grass today and I could feel the pain starting after ten minutes.


Anybody nor experienced able to offer any advice? I do try to stretch before starting as well.

[Hoofy]

Just found this: http://runnersconnect.net/running-injury-preventio...

Bloody horrible thing, shin splints. Rest until you can't feel anything altogether. I used to get them so bad that the pain in my shins would wake me in the middle of the night. Do not be tempted to "run through the pain" as you will make things worse possible causing damage that requires surgery.

[maxxy5]

I get this if I don't stretch before and after. Are you stretching calves? When doing a normal calf stretch, bend your knee as low as it will go while keeping your heel on the ground. You can also try standing on a step with only your heels, bend your knees slightly, then bend the foot up and down - making sure you go low - and holding the stretch at the top. Build up the strength. Worked for me.

Edited by maxxy5 on Saturday 16th May 13:20

[dave_s13]

Medial tibial stress syndrome.

It's really difficult to treat, I'm a podiatrist and it can be other things, not just a simple muscle fatigue..

Go to your gp and ask for a referral, you need someone to look at your gait, foot posture and running style. Plus rule out other things.

One thing you could try is a minimalist running shoes, they tend to force you to midfoot strike, thus offloading the tib ant muscle. Just be ready for your calves to be overloaded.

[egroeg]

I had it for a while, found I could only run up long hills (for me it was the heel hit which causes your foot to slap forwards and damage the muscle).

I tried getting expensive shoes... Helped but not much.

In the end I got some saucony hattori zero drop shoes. You land on your forefoot, it took about 6 months to build up but I've gone from pain after 1 mile to being able to run a half marathon with no pain.

Absolutely no running when you get pain for a week or two also. It takes a long time to heal!

[TomTheTyke]

Thanks for the advice chaps, I am going to have a couple of weeks of all exercise I think as a starting point and see how it goes from there.

[Katzenjammer]

I used to get this. It Got to the stage where I could barely walk 200m without having to stop in agony. Don't quite remember how I got over it, but seemed to be worst with trainers with soft soles or shoes with leather soles. Wierd phenomenon.

[944fan]

OP- Have you recently upped your distance a lot? The pain could be shin splints which is an overuse injury. RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) should be your first port of call. Get some elastic tubular bandages and put them over your shins doubling them up and slip the ice backs between the layers. Once recovered easy back into the training and only up your distance by 10% each week

If it is really painfully and wont go away, or comes back then see a specialist. There maybe something bio-mechanical about you that causes it or it could be your technique. Look for a specific sports injury place which has podiatist and running gait analysis.

I had really bad shin pain and then ankle pain when I started running and it turned our when I saw someone I have the flattest feet they had every seen. Custom othortics sorted that out.

[Carrot]

I went from 18.5 stone to 14.5 stone over the past year, mixture of dieting, weight training and running.

At the heavier end, I used to get this all the time, just seemed that running wasn't for me until I lost a couple of stone to allow less stress on the legs overall.

Getting the right trainers helped as well. Oddly my really expensive (well for me... £80) trainers really caused a problem. Got some £40 ones and those give me no problems at all.

[Hoofy]

Carrot said:

Getting the right trainers helped as well. Oddly my really expensive (well for me... £80) trainers really caused a problem. Got some £40 ones and those give me no problems at all.

Interesting - what were the differences between the trainers (apart from the price!)?

[MYOB]

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/compartment-syndrome/...

Similar to what I had a few years back. Had to have an operation…

[tom5678]

I had real problems with my shins when I first started running. I have always been pretty fit so found it really hard to hold back and not go too far: which I inevitably did and then found myself hobbling after every run.

I did overcome it though. Firstly by going to a running shop and having my gait analysed, they identified that I had high arches and needed particularly cushioned trainers. And secondly, forcing myself to build up distance and run frequency really really slowly!

Definitely worth preserving!