Pulled muscle in my shin?

[el guapo]

Ok I am a pretty active guy and in fairly good shape . On Wednesday I went for a run . Just a short one about 2 miles .I do not run every day but I try to a few times a week . That night I developed this pain in my shins . Its in the muscle that runs down the outside of each leg . When I walk it give me horrible pain . Always in the leg that is trailing. the only thing that helps is to walk on the balls of my feet keeping my heels from touching the ground as I walk . Does anybody have input on this ? I always stretch really good before running so I am not sure about this .

 

[dragonzim]

Sounds like Shin Splints

 

[darthtang aw]

Originally Posted by DragonZim
http:///forum/post/2769991
Sounds like Shin Splints
I concur, they suck, had them during basketball season in my younger days. Wrap the shin with a tight sleeve this is all that helps and you will have them forever now, i still do occasionally.

 

[el guapo]

What is it ? I have herd the term before but don't know what it means . This is the first time I have felt this .

 

[keebler]

Originally Posted by EL GUAPO
http:///forum/post/2770002
What is it ? I have herd the term before but don't know what it means . This is the first time I have felt this .
Really, never had shin splints? I get these all the time in track. It mainly happens when you run on a really hard surface. Ice helps, pain killers don't in my experience. Mostly you get used to it and the more you get them the less they hurt.

 

[darthtang aw]

Originally Posted by EL GUAPO
http:///forum/post/2770002
What is it ? I have herd the term before but don't know what it means . This is the first time I have felt this .
this may not be correct, but the way I understand it, your shin bone has a tiny splinter or splinters chip/shave/break off and embed itself in the muscle/other tissue. This is what causes the pain.

 

[el guapo]

Well I just looked it up on wikapida . It said that running over rough terain can cause these symptoms . There is about a 1/4 stretch of the road that was being paved and was real rough . I bet thats what caused it . I will try and stay off of them for a few days and see if that helps .

 

[rylan1]

Stretch..
sit down .. legs straight... point toes forward...push toes

 

[brianbeme80]

I get them to, I can not go hiking anymore, I don't want to get stuck out there!....haha. I was told they are like tiny little factures along the shin....

 

[keebler]

Nice to see that there is an adult in this world that strives to stay active. Keep it up and you'll live longer and be a positive role model to younger kids.
I find that if you stand on the ball of your foot and try to touch the sky, then do the same thing on your heel and keep switching back and forth between these stretches makes it feel a bit better. Of course this is my experience and may not work for you.

 

[hlcroghan]

Yup shin splints............it really hurts. There is only one way to alleviate them. There is an exercise where you put a weight on the top of your foot and then flex your foot. You can even do it without weight, in front of the tv. In other words, lift the weight (or not) with your foot up towards your shin. I would do it 50-100 times with a small amount of weight several times a week. If you can't do that many start smaller, like 25-50.
This pain is caused by the impact of hiting the pavement with your heel and not the ball of your foot. It causes stress on the shins. Also, almost everyone's muscles in the front of the leg are much weaker than the calf muscles, so this causes a strain on the shin muscles. You can alleviate this by running on a slight incline on a treadmill (maybe 1.5-3), or running on soft surfaces such as grass or rubberized tracks. I had them when I was in the military and as soon as I implemented this exercise and more incline and hills in my rountine, it helped immensely. Now very rarely I will get them again. If you are in a lot of pain right now, ice and motrin will relieve it the best. Make sure to take care of this though. If you continue to run on it anyway without doing the exercise, you can actually cause cracks in the shin bones. Ouch.

 

[hlcroghan]

Originally Posted by brianbeme80
http:///forum/post/2770025
I get them to, I can not go hiking anymore, I don't want to get stuck out there!....haha. I was told they are like tiny little factures along the shin....
Try the exercise I recommended. I guarantee it will help after a couple of weeks and you will be able to hike again.

 

[el guapo]

Thanks for the advice everybody . I really appreciate it all . I am going to try and stay off them over the weekend do the ice and motrin thing Maybe grabe some wraps to use on them . As well as add the stretching and exercises to my daily regime after in calms down a little bit .
Maybe Mimzy might have some advice on some yoga style exersices I might try too ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

 

[bigarn]

to much time in a small cramped private jet!
hope you feel better though.

 

[spiderwoman]

What kind of running shoes do you have?

 

[gmann1139]

Originally Posted by hlcroghan
http:///forum/post/2770035
Yup shin splints............it really hurts. There is only one way to alleviate them. There is an exercise where you put a weight on the top of your foot and then flex your foot. You can even do it without weight, in front of the tv. In other words, lift the weight (or not) with your foot up towards your shin. I would do it 50-100 times with a small amount of weight several times a week. If you can't do that many start smaller, like 25-50.
This pain is caused by the impact of hiting the pavement with your heel and not the ball of your foot. It causes stress on the shins. Also, almost everyone's muscles in the front of the leg are much weaker than the calf muscles, so this causes a strain on the shin muscles. You can alleviate this by running on a slight incline on a treadmill (maybe 1.5-3), or running on soft surfaces such as grass or rubberized tracks. I had them when I was in the military and as soon as I implemented this exercise and more incline and hills in my rountine, it helped immensely. Now very rarely I will get them again. If you are in a lot of pain right now, ice and motrin will relieve it the best. Make sure to take care of this though. If you continue to run on it anyway without doing the exercise, you can actually cause cracks in the shin bones. Ouch.
Croghan's pretty dead on here. Unless you have access to good running surfaces like a track, there's no way to avoid them. I always just ran through them. They'd go away after a few weeks.
I never tried Croghan's method from the first paragraph, but I did find that doing calf stretches while standing on a step, where you can get the heal lower than the toes, seemed to help.
Oh and shoes. Shoes are big. Make sure they're in good condition. Especially if the pain isn't centered, its on the inside or outside of your leg. Make sure you have shoes that are designed for your feet. Some of us hit with the inside of our feet first, some with the outside. Running shoes are designed to compensate for one or the other. If you have the wrong kind, it can get painful.

 

[aquaguy24]

oh yes.. shin splints..had that back in my track star days...

.i always had high end running shoes....i even had the purple and gold micheal johnson shoes he wore for the olympics..i still had shin splints.....i ran on grass and a track field...but i ran a whole lot..x-country and track and field..i had them really bad my senior year..just all that running can ware u down...i usually wrap my shins tight and it helps with the pain..

 

[el guapo]

I had them taped up all night last night and today . I just took the tape off a few hours ago and I feel a ton better already .
Thanks for the advice everybody. I really appreciate it .
I usually wear flip flops unless I am at work where I either wear dress shoes or my tactical boots . I have to admit I do not have "running" shoes I usually wear my airwalks or vans to run or work out in .

I guess I will need to suck it up and go buy some good running shoes .