Run-Down Forums

[Guest]

I am new in the forum and hope that you would be able to answer my questions. I started running a few weeks ago. Managed to get out two times to the trail but had the worst shin splints. I rested during the run and started again but they came back. So I went to the gym and tried to walk/run on the treadmill. The pain was worse than it was outdoors on the trail. It felt as if my ankles were going to explode and when I flexed my feet, it felt as if all the muscles around my ankle were strung tightly together. The manager at the gym told me to rest 2-3 weeks or else the shin splints will turn into stress fractures. Is this true? Will increasing the amount of calcium in my diet help to make my shins stronger and prevent shin splints? What is causing the shin splints and why are they so painful? Why the strange pain and sensation around my ankles? I like running and want to continue but am now afraid of the shin splints. What can I do to make the shin splints go away? I hope you would be able to give me some advice. Thankyou, Debbie

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Debbie Smith']

[Dan]

Debbie,

I can certainly relate to the frustration of shin splints. A few things: I don't believe it's true that shin splints can lead to stress fractures, as stress fractures are bone and shin splints are muscle. If you do get stress fractures, that's probably what you had developing in the first place. Also, softer surfaces will always be easier on an impact-related soreness like shin splints, but hard surfaces don't necessarily cause the problem.

Here's what I wrote for the Running Tips Page:

-----------------
Shin Splints

Shin splints, the plague of many a high school runner. I suffered through them for three years, myself. I did all the recommended exercises like walking on your heels, I iced and took advil several times daily, and I often rode the stationary bike the day after races (it hurt too much at times to run). Finally, someone recommended I try a very simple exercise to see if it would help.

The exercise that was recommended would best be described as figure-eights. Find yourself an old bicycle tube or some surgical tubing, and tie a loop at one end to put your foot in. Pull back on the other end with as much resistance as feels comfortable, and rotate your foot in circles (point your toe, rotate clockwise toward you, then away from you, etc.). Change directions from time to time, making slow, controlled movements. After five to ten minutes a day of this, my shin splints were gone for good within a mere week or two. Had I only known this three years earlier...

I have not seen this exercise recommended anywhere else, and I've never seen a good description of the underlying physiological principles. Here is the way I understand the process works. There is a long, slender muscle (the tibialis anterior, I'm told) that runs vertically along the front of your shin. Being a very small muscle, it can easily become weak in relation to the opposing calf muscle. The result is muscle being pulled away from the bone and causing the un-scientific term shin splints. It is surprisingly easy to counter this affect by strengthening the muscle for which I now know the name.

Furthermore, I have learned through experience that running on pavement does not cause shin splints. The pavement may aggravate the shin splints, but it does not cause them. Be careful to separate the symptom and the illness. When I had shin splints, running on hard surfaces was excruciating. As soon as they were gone (and I mean a mere week after they were gone) running on pavement never again caused me shin pain.

[Guest]

Dear Dan:

Thank you very much for your information and advice. I will try the exercises for two weeks, hopefully this will strengthen the anterior tibialis and I will be able to run without the pain. I am looking forward to trying this out!

Thank you,
Debbie

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Debbie Smith']

[Dan]

Best of luck! Let us know how it goes.

Dan

[Guest]

Dan,
The exercise you have given definitly works. I used it all the while I was recovering from stress fractures, which happened because of my shin splints. You are right, that shin splints are not bone, but muscle. However, when the muscles get that sore and worn they no longer protect your bone from the impact and "jarring" that running can cause. Instead of your muscles getting stronger, they get weaker and stressed. Leaving your bones to suffer.
My deliverer came in the form of motion control shoes, no more shin splints, and i can finally focus on running rather than on pain.
hope my experience can help?

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Michael']

[Dan]

Hi Michael,

Your experience is definitely helpful. Severe shin splints can definitely lead to stress fractues, if not attended to. It's interesting how similar conditions can require very differnt solutions -- going away from motion control shoes, toward light and flexible models, caused me less problems. Of course, I've since gone to orthodics...

Dan

[Guest]

Dan,
The problem with motion control shoes is that they are so new and still limited. I have been looking for a racing flat which could accomidate my overpronation habit. This is very difficult, if you know of any I'd be grateful to hear about them?
My physical therapist has tried to get me into orthodics, but i don't really want to listen. They seem all to troublesome to me. Though I am probably wrong as usuall. Is there an issue of extra weight with them, and do they fit in any shoe? What was your problem, if you don't mind me asking? Do you think there is hope for me to get away from motion control shoes?
Thanks for your reply and input from before.
Michael

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Michael']

[Dan]

I'm not completely sure what you mean by motion control shoes being new; I believe the Structure (pre-Triax) series came out around '90.

With racing flats, I doubt you'll have any luck finding motion control. Sort of goes against what they're designed for, unfortunately. Your best bet would be to find a shoe that works for you and isn't too heavy, and make do with that. Either that, or hope that the few miles you put in in your flats isn't too much of an aggravation.

Issues with orthodics:

1) They weigh a bit more than regular insoles, but it's honestly not much of a factor. Make sure you get the running models (as opposed to walking, which are rock hard).

2) They squeak! Only in some shoes, but the plastic edges can make it sound like you blew out an air sole.

3) Tends to elevate the heel a bit too much, especially in running shoes which already build up the heel to project forward.

4) Cost. I believe I paid over $600 for my first pair, including podiatrist costs and casting, and $200 after that.

The reason I got orthodics is by far the strangest "injury" I've ever had, and I've had a lot of strange ones to compare to....

If you've read through my training pages, you'll recall the year that I focused extensively on toe running. Some time around the middle of the year, I was in a friend's room just hanging out. I had my shoes off and in moving my foot, hit the bottom edge of a wood-cornered table. I didn't make anything of it, as I hardly felt it. The next morning I woke up and couldn't believe how much pain my entire foot and ankle was in! I could barely put any weight on it; it felt like a very badly srained ankle. The next day, the pain subsided enough that I could isolate where it was coming from. It was about halfway down the second metatarsal (bone leading down to the toe next to the big toe). After a while, I realized that was exactly where I had bumped it on the table. Made no sense, but I couldn't figure anything else out that could possibly be connected.

I had been doing most of my speed workouts at that point in my waffle racers (xc flats), without any problems. I kept wearing them for speed work, but the pain in the foot kept getting worse. By the end of the season, I was hobbling up to the starting line and obviously not running my best. Even the lightest touch to that pinpoint spot on the metatarsal was quite painful.

I took some time off, and it seemed to get better. About the same point the next season, it started coming back. Finally, I went to the podiatrist to find out what was going on. X-rays showed that I was either very close to a stress fracture, or I was just recovering from one! Apparently, I have hyper-flexible first metatarsals, which means the smaller metatarsals are taking on much more of a load than they are designed to. This results in quite a bit of stress over time. The idea was to build up my orthodics to pre-load the first metatarsal, so that it could not give way (picture an active suspension system with only one wheel going over a large rock) as much and would actually take on some of the load. It seemed to work quite well, as the pain subsided almost instantly and has not gone back.

So there's my story, in an enormously big nutshell.

Dan

[Guest]

Dan,
What I meant is the variety and slection of motion control shoes for the runner who paces below 6 minutes. I have found one racer called the Asics DS Racer, which is for mild pronators and weighs a nice 7.8 oz. I'm hoping there are more, but that's my point about shoes for my mechanics..they seem to be scarce.
With an 11.9 oz shoe in the triax, my performace is well below potential. It is great to run and train in though.
Thanks for the info on the orthodics, I must look into them more seriously. Once you get em though, there is probably no stopping i guess. Hey, I really enjoy the imagery in your writing, the whole suspension system was great. Thanks for this very very up tempo running page, easy to see why it's one of the best out there!
Thanks Dan
Michael

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Michael']

[Dan]

Hi Michael,

I see your point about lack of selection. I don't associate motion control and racers (I imagine you can figure out why), so I didn't look at it from that angle. If the DS Racer works for you, I'd be content with that, personally. The last few years have seen the shoe industry go away from 5.5 oz spikes and flats, with many top of the line sprint spikes now being 7-8 oz. Considering all the other factors, an ounce or two is pretty minimal overall. (Reminds me of the commonwealth games in Victoria... In the weightlifting competition, there was a 3-way tie in one weight class. The tie-breaker was based on body weight, and the deciding difference between first and third was that the third placer didn't get a hair cut that morning!)

Back to orthodics, I run in them almost all of the time, but occasionally I'll run in shoes that either don't have a removeable insole or feel better without the orthodics, and I don't have a problem. I look at it as minimizing a repetitive stress, so the occasional lapse is ok (in my case, probably not for everyone).

Glad you liked the suspension analogy. Thanks for the kind words.

Dan