preventing shin pains

[email hidden] (Jack) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

I got chronicle shin pains. I stopped running for a few months and it was much better. Now I
started running again and the pains came back.

I am wondering what I can do except not running? I got decent shoes. I only run on treadmills. I
stretch and warm up.

The interesting thing is, my right foot is OK while my left foot gives me problems. Is it
something related to my gaits?

Try staying more upright so that your ankle doesn't have to be at such a sharp angle to keep your
toes from dragging.

Next time you run try and concentrate on your foot fall. I bet you're running on the balls of your feet all the time, without even realising it. Try and concentrate on landing correctly, and using your full foot, toe to heel. You'll notice over time that you should stop getting this shin pain. I see this a lot in aerobics classes, people over using their calf muscles because they don't land correctly, and use the full foot fall, so they're constantly on their toes (balls of their feet I should say) and so overusing the calf muscles. As a consequence the muscles in front along the shin bone, the Tibealis Anterior, become weakened over time, and you start to experience pain there. It can eventually lead to shin splints. You may find at first that it feels awkward to land toe through to heel but after a while you'll get used to it and feel the difference in having no pain in your shins !
Hope it helps !
Sharon

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Jack
Hi,

I got chronicle shin pains. I stopped running for a few months and it was much better. Now I started
running again and the pains came back.

I am wondering what I can do except not running? I got decent shoes. I only run on treadmills. I
stretch and warm up.

The interesting thing is, my right foot is OK while my left foot gives me problems. Is it something
related to my gaits?

Quoted message said:

Jack said:

Hi, I got chronicle shin pains. I stopped running for a few months and it was much better. Now
I started running again and the pains came back. I am wondering what I can do except not
running? I got decent shoes. I only run on treadmills. I stretch and warm up. The interesting
thing is, my right foot is OK while my left foot gives me problems. Is it something related to
my gaits?

To strengthen the shins (tibialis anterior=TA), you might try toe raises (dorsiflex foot) - a set
each of toes forward, left, right. I think heel walking also helps that. You can also dorsiflex with
resistance tubing or some people use weights. I just found a new soleus stretch on stability ball,
that also seems to strengthen shins (sit on ball, tuck heels under, roll forward over heels while
trying to dorsiflex feet). I've only used it a couple times - primarily for the soleus, but the TA
seems to be getting some work also.

Unless you solve the problem of what caused the shin pains in the first place, you can probably
expect the pain to recur. There can also be gait issues involved.

Just some thoughts.

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

In article said:

Jack said:

Hi, I got chronicle shin pains. I stopped running for a few months and it was much better. Now
I started running again and the pains came back. I am wondering what I can do except not
running? I got decent shoes. I only run on treadmills. I stretch and warm up. The interesting
thing is, my right foot is OK while my left foot gives me problems. Is it something related to
my gaits?

Next time you run try and concentrate on your foot fall. I bet you're running on the balls of your
feet all the time, without even realising
it. Try and concentrate on landing correctly, and using your full foot, toe to heel. You'll notice
over time that you should stop getting this shin pain. I see this a lot in aerobics classes,
people over using their calf muscles because they don't land correctly, and use the full foot
fall, so they're constantly on their toes (balls of their feet I should say) and so overusing
the calf muscles. As a consequence the muscles in front along the shin bone, the Tibealis
Anterior, become weakened over time, and you start to experience pain there. It can eventually
lead to shin splints. You may find at first that it feels awkward to land toe through to heel
but after a while you'll get used to it and feel the difference in having no pain in your
shins ! Hope it helps ! Sharon

Building on Sharon's observation:

1. If you march in place lifting the knees up two to four inches, you will notice that you land ball
the heel. When the other knee is lifted, the planted foot is on the ground and both the heel and
ball are in contact.

2. If you do not lift your knees, your lower leg pendulums forward and you land on the back of the
heel of the shoe. That causes a deceleration because the foot has overstrided, that is, the foot
lands in frong of one's center of gravity.

3. Again notice that when you march in place, you are only lifting your knees, and not your center
of gravity.

4. With the legs penduluming forward, you need to lift your entire center of gravity to take the
next step. Most people are use to doing this, while not used to lifting their knees.

5. If you march in place lifting the knees 2 to 3 inches and keeping the steps in a cadence or
rhythm, and keeping the body erect, you lean a degree or two from the ankle you will notice that
you are moving forward and still only lifting your knees and not the entire body.

6. Check out mindfulness.comof1.aspOpen ↗

7 Face the railing or edge of a table or a chair. Turn 45 degrees to the right for the left leg or
45 degress to the left for the right leg. Place the front of the shin on the railing so the anterior
tibialis (not the shin bone) is resting on the upper or lower railing depending on your height.

7. The lower part of the anterior tibialis muscle is resting on the rounded edge. Make a small
circle with the heel and ball, and slowly slide down the edge massaging out the shin.

8. On Sharon's point of view about the skin weakening , I hold that it has been overstretched
because you're either staying on the balls of your feel while running or the shin is getting
overstretched because it can't relax when you lift your entire center of gravity rather than just
your knees.

If you Jack are not swinging your right elbow forward or it is locked at the shoulder when you run,
you are effecting your stride on your left leg. Often that is because you always carry your
briefcase/computer/backback over your right shoulder.

Do the massage of the calves as shown in the picture mentioned at the URL in #6 above.

If the calves are tight then the shins have to pull against a semi contracted calf muscle which
should be relaxing when the shin is working.

Let us know what you discover.

In health and on the run, Ozzie Gontang Maintainer - rec.running FAQ Director, San Diego Marathon
Clinic, est. 1975

Mindful Running: mindfulness.commr.aspOpen ↗ faqs.orgrunning faqOpen ↗