'Shin Splints' and custom insoles
Discussion
Folks,
I've suffered from shin splint symptoms for 10-12 years now. Horrendous lower shin pain and at worse feels like they could snap at any minute.
Been to doctors 3 times years ago completely useless. Then I got recomended a woman and basically have used her for the last probably 8-9 years to treat me with sports massage techniques. She finds the knots/bumps and gets rid of them.
So my sporting activity slowed down but for last 2 years up until December I've been playing football once a week and with doing the stretches my physio showed me managed to control the shins. However from the new year I've been playing twice a week most weeks but my symptoms and back with avengance.
So anyway I'm taking it a step further and am booked in for a bio-mechanical assessment on the 16th June and I can either get off the shelf insoles or custom ones made. I believe I have a few issues, high foot arch and very straight legs. I think I tend to walk on the outside of my feet also.
So does anyone have any experience of custom insoles helping/curing shin splint symptoms or am I wasting my time?
Is it right that the insoles should be worn all the time to 'correct' whatever is wrong rather than just when I play football?
Interested in real life feedback.
Thanks in advance
I've suffered from shin splint symptoms for 10-12 years now. Horrendous lower shin pain and at worse feels like they could snap at any minute.
Been to doctors 3 times years ago completely useless. Then I got recomended a woman and basically have used her for the last probably 8-9 years to treat me with sports massage techniques. She finds the knots/bumps and gets rid of them.
So my sporting activity slowed down but for last 2 years up until December I've been playing football once a week and with doing the stretches my physio showed me managed to control the shins. However from the new year I've been playing twice a week most weeks but my symptoms and back with avengance.
So anyway I'm taking it a step further and am booked in for a bio-mechanical assessment on the 16th June and I can either get off the shelf insoles or custom ones made. I believe I have a few issues, high foot arch and very straight legs. I think I tend to walk on the outside of my feet also.
So does anyone have any experience of custom insoles helping/curing shin splint symptoms or am I wasting my time?
Is it right that the insoles should be worn all the time to 'correct' whatever is wrong rather than just when I play football?
Interested in real life feedback.
Thanks in advance
I started running at 32 and suffered terrible shin splints, but I lost a bit of weight about 2 stone, and bought better trainers, then went to a very expensive bio mechanist.... he re taught me to run basically. I had no muscle at all in my lower calf, and was using essentially one very weak muscle to pick my foot up, the trigger for which was raising my big toes.
this was causing all the problems along my shins. I trained my soleus muscle learnt to run with my toes flat and gradually trained out of shin problems.
I tried in soles but they weren't ( for me ) fixing the root cause. shin splints as you know is a catch all term for a variety of problems (which gps know very little about ime ).
see what the specialist says, custom in soles can be very expensive.
this was causing all the problems along my shins. I trained my soleus muscle learnt to run with my toes flat and gradually trained out of shin problems.
I tried in soles but they weren't ( for me ) fixing the root cause. shin splints as you know is a catch all term for a variety of problems (which gps know very little about ime ).
see what the specialist says, custom in soles can be very expensive.
I'm not sure about custom insoles as I've never had them, but from experience football boots are s
te for the design in terms of biomechanics etc, and could be the source of your problems.
I used to use the insoles from an old pair of nike frees in my football boots (image of them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matsuyuki/495970007/) and didn't have any problems, although I never had any problems beforehand. They did help in cushioning the impact and supporting my feet
What type of football is it? Stopping and turning quickly on astroturf could create problems as it's a very hard surface, equally wearing proper studs on a baked hard pitch will cause issues.
P.S it seems that you're an underpronator. As you walk you should transfer load from the heel to the outside of the foot and then finally to your big toe as its the last point of contact with the floor (pronation). As I understand as this load transfer occurs the arch flattens slightly which helps to dissipate some of the forces, but if this process doesn't happen then the loadings through the lower leg are much higher, so it could be that walking on the outside of your foot is the cause.
te for the design in terms of biomechanics etc, and could be the source of your problems.I used to use the insoles from an old pair of nike frees in my football boots (image of them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matsuyuki/495970007/) and didn't have any problems, although I never had any problems beforehand. They did help in cushioning the impact and supporting my feet
What type of football is it? Stopping and turning quickly on astroturf could create problems as it's a very hard surface, equally wearing proper studs on a baked hard pitch will cause issues.
P.S it seems that you're an underpronator. As you walk you should transfer load from the heel to the outside of the foot and then finally to your big toe as its the last point of contact with the floor (pronation). As I understand as this load transfer occurs the arch flattens slightly which helps to dissipate some of the forces, but if this process doesn't happen then the loadings through the lower leg are much higher, so it could be that walking on the outside of your foot is the cause.
Some great feedback thanks for that. The football is always astro-turf and there's 3 different pitches I play on.
I have proper astro turf trainers but as touched on they probably make it worse I'd imagine as they have excellent grip so compound the impact on my shins.
Rest certainly helps, and as mentioned playing only once a week with the stretching I managed to control it but I've reached breaking point as I enjoy playing and want to play twice a week hence someone suggested the bio-mechanical assessment.
The assessment is £65 then that raises to 95 if I get some off the shelf insoles. But if I want custom ones total price is 200.
I'm fairly big, 6"2" and 15 stone but I'd like to think fairly nimble considering lol. I've just had enough of the pain.
I'll go to the assessment and see what comes from it. There's definetely something going on as despite it being popular 'on the net' no one I play with sufferes from this like me.
I have proper astro turf trainers but as touched on they probably make it worse I'd imagine as they have excellent grip so compound the impact on my shins.
Rest certainly helps, and as mentioned playing only once a week with the stretching I managed to control it but I've reached breaking point as I enjoy playing and want to play twice a week hence someone suggested the bio-mechanical assessment.
The assessment is £65 then that raises to 95 if I get some off the shelf insoles. But if I want custom ones total price is 200.
I'm fairly big, 6"2" and 15 stone but I'd like to think fairly nimble considering lol. I've just had enough of the pain.
I'll go to the assessment and see what comes from it. There's definetely something going on as despite it being popular 'on the net' no one I play with sufferes from this like me.
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