Shin pain???? WTF???

Ok now...Why would my shin start hurting out of the blue, for no reason at all? I've been running 70+ mile weeks for a while now feeling fast, fit & healthy. Wednesday I did an 11 miler, no problems. Ran about 6:45 pace and finished strong with a 6:07. Thursday night I did 10 easy miles in the cold pouring rain. Kind of stupid but I did it. This is when I first noticed a moderate pain in my left shin, maybe the last 3 miles of the run. Iced it and stretched it a bit that night. Didn't think too much about it. Did an easy 4 Friday morning. Hurt pretty good first mile but not bad enough to stop. I'd give it a 5/10 on the pain scale. Fully intended to do an 8-10 mile run Friday night but decided to play it safe and just stay off of it.

Saturday afternoon I was heading out for a 10 miler. The shin felt fine all day and when I started running...for about 200 yards. A quarter mile later the pain was intense. Felt like someone smacked me in the shin with a hammer. Walked home.

The pain is about 4" up from the ankle on the front side. I can push all around it and feel nothing. But when I stretch my foot up I can feel it.

Googled shin pain and all I come up with is Shinsplints. Geez, isn't that what HS kids get? Not real sure what to do about it other than stretch & ice. I'll take a few days off...Sure as the hell don't want to limp through it.

Any thoughts?

Could your footing have slipped a little at some point during that rainy run? Not enough to take a spill, but enough to tweak one of your lower leg muscles? That's one possibility. You've already checked your shoes, right?

A little rest will probably do wonders.

Directly on the front, like the bone? Or is it slightly to the outside - the muscle that lays flat on the bone?

Mike MacLellan wrote:Directly on the front, like the bone? Or is it slightly to the outside - the muscle that lays flat on the bone?

Nope, not the bone. Slightly to the outside as you describe. Any thoughts?

Mine used to do that after long, dead flat runs. It would start at the beginning of the run and just keep going all the way through. Lots of stretching (pointing the toes downward, drawing circles) and softer surfaces for a few days helped.

We are just old, Dave. I get the same thing once in a while. Stretch a lot and check your shoes for wear. My right shin was real tight yesterday, but not today at all, and I did a lot of stretching last night and even used the stick on it. If the pain is not acute and in one specific area, you are probably fine.

Also incorporate heel/toe raises in your stretching routine.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:We are just old, Dave. I get the same thing once in a while. Stretch a lot and check your shoes for wear. My right shin was real tight yesterday, but not today at all, and I did a lot of stretching last night and even used the stick on it. If the pain is not acute and in one specific area, you are probably fine.

Also incorporate heel/toe raises in your stretching routine.

Ha!...Who's old? Speak for yourself, Michele!

Yea, I think you're right. Man it just seems like my body is falling apart sometimes. This is the 4th 'thing' to bother me in the past year or so (Hamstring, calf, foot, shin). I went the first 35 years with very little running issues. Kind of hard to accept: My head wants to keep training hard but there's times my body doesn't...

I qualify as old Dave - after all, I'm a "Grand" master now.

By the way, congrats on the mention in the Running Times Geezer pages again Awesome company we keep. I ran with Joanie for 5 miles at the Houston half - we are in the same AG (until she ages up later this month).

Is it any better Dave?

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:I qualify as old Dave - after all, I'm a "Grand" master now.

By the way, congrats on the mention in the Running Times Geezer pages again
Awesome company we keep. I ran with Joanie for 5 miles at the
Houston half - we are in the same AG (until she ages up later this
month).

Thanks Michele but for some reason I'm just not too excited about another Honorable Mention... Guess I need to run a little better this year. It's very cool to run with the elites from our early days. It's kind of like playing catch with Brett Favre or shooting around with Michael Jordan. Watch in 20 years, Dave-O will be handing Hall & Ritz their rear ends!

John Kilpatrick wrote:Is it any better Dave?

Thanks for asking... I think it's better but I haven't run on it, except for 2 miles on Monday to test it. I hoped it peaked on Wednesday. There were some horribly painful moments when I bent my ankle just right....Thursday was a lot better, and so far this morning it seems to be much, much better. Been icing it 3 times each day. It seems to get worse as the day progresses. It probably doesn't help that I've tiling a bathroom this week so there has been a bunch of up and downs and a lot of time spent on my knees. Still now sure what it is...

I'm not going to push it though. Maybe test it again on Monday...Thankfully, I haven't gotten fat, yet.

Dave Bussard wrote:

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:I qualify as old Dave - after all, I'm a "Grand" master now.

By the way, congrats on the mention in the Running Times Geezer pages again
Awesome company we keep. I ran with Joanie for 5 miles at the
Houston half - we are in the same AG (until she ages up later this
month).

Thanks Michele but for some reason I'm just not too excited about another Honorable Mention... Guess I need to run a little better this year. It's very cool to run with the elites from our early days. It's kind of like playing catch with Brett Favre or shooting around with Michael Jordan. Watch in 20 years, Dave-O will be handing Hall & Ritz their rear ends!

John Kilpatrick wrote:Is it any better Dave?

Thanks for asking... I think it's better but I haven't run on it, except for 2 miles on Monday to test it. I hoped it peaked on Wednesday. There were some horribly painful moments when I bent my ankle just right....Thursday was a lot better, and so far this morning it seems to be much, much better. Been icing it 3 times each day. It seems to get worse as the day progresses. It probably doesn't help that I've tiling a bathroom this week so there has been a bunch of up and downs and a lot of time spent on my knees. Still now sure what it is...

I'm not going to push it though. Maybe test it again on Monday...Thankfully, I haven't gotten fat, yet.

Crap Dave - I had the same problem the last three days. Same friggin place. No warning -- look at my post in week of Feb Feb 13 -19. I'm having and x-ray tomorrow. Maybe I can shed some light. Exactly same place on the shin and I know its not shin splints. Been there done that.

Tibialis Anterior Tendonitis??

just a thought.

wrichman wrote:Tibialis Anterior Tendonitis??

just a thought.

Oh we both hope so -- tendonitis is much better than some alternatives. Will let you know tomorrow, Doc.

mountandog wrote:
Crap Dave - I had the same problem the last three days. Same friggin place. No warning -- look at my post in week of Feb Feb 13 -19. I'm having and x-ray tomorrow. Maybe I can shed some light. Exactly same place on the shin and I know its not shin splints. Been there done that.

Oh man, are you serious!?!?...

I was thinking some sort of tendonitis. Pretty sure it's not bone as it doesn't hurt if I push on it.
Can't imagine it being shin splints. Why the hell would I get that? Mines better after 3 weeks...I can run on it now but there is still soreness.

I will be interesting to hear what your doc says. I didn't go this time. Don't they usually say take some time off and ice it?

Keep us updated...

Dave Bussard wrote:

mountandog wrote:
Crap Dave - I had the same problem the last three days. Same friggin place. No warning -- look at my post in week of Feb Feb 13 -19. I'm having and x-ray tomorrow. Maybe I can shed some light. Exactly same place on the shin and I know its not shin splints. Been there done that.

Oh man, are you serious!?!?...

I was thinking some sort of tendonitis. Pretty sure it's not bone as it doesn't hurt if I push on it.
Can't imagine it being shin splints. Why the hell would I get that? Mines better after 3 weeks...I can run on it now but there is still soreness.

I will be interesting to hear what your doc says. I didn't go this time. Don't they usually say take some time off and ice it?

Keep us updated...

They always say take time off > but this guy is a sports ortho, so he understands training regimens. Will keep you up to date.

The verdict is in: Tibialis Anterior Tendonitis. Not a yahoo, because it could take weeks to heal, but a hell of a lot better than a SF.

X-ray was clean although it wasn't an MRI so there still could be an underlying stress fracture, but doc says classic TAT. Ice, cut down mileage by 50% for a week, ibuprofen. Check in again in a week.

I did some reading on this and I'm thinking about changing shoes for a while. Or at least mixing them up with my regulars. It looks like if you shift the arch support a bit you change angles, shorten the tendon, etc. to alter the repetitive motion a bit. The articles were much more detailed and specific but in general supports the theory of running in different shoes. One article went on to say that if you don't make a mechanical change somehow, that rest won't cure the problem and it will recur.

Here's just one link Dave if you're interested.


http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=51292