Shin Splints or ???

[BradW]

Hi,

I'm coming back to outside exercise. It's been long enough that I might as well say I've never been hiking before. My body and muscles would agree. I'm taking things slow, not trying to push myself too hard. I'm old enough that when I injure myself, I don't recovery as quickly as I used to.

So, went on a 3.3 mile hike/walk last week. There was only a few hundred feet of elevation. So, this was mostly just a walk with a slight hill during part of it. I felt fine during and after. I did noticed my legs were feeling "it" a little towards the end, but I could have kept going had I needed to.

The next day the muscles in my shin were ripped. My feet and ankles weren't great either, but my shins were really killing me. Today, five days later, they are still hurting just not as bad.

Someone said I had shin splints, so I started looking into that a bit. I wanted to get your opinion...

Picture of Mayo describing where Shin Spint pain occurs




Based on this image, my pain is the "Tibialis anterior"



Would you still consider what I'm experiencing as Shin Splints, or just an overworked muscle I'm not accustomed to using to much?

In reading recovery suggestions from a few sites, they say "stop the activity", but it always seems to be in the context of a more physical activity (like soccer), not simply walking with a little hill in the mix.

I was planning on doing another 3'ish miles this Friday. The pain has subsided enough by today that it wouldn't stop me from going for it. If I can only walk three miles, then I have to wait weeks before I can do another three miles, I'll never be able to progress to anything worthy.

thoughts?

thanks

[BrianEdwards]

From the sounds of it, yes. One thing about shin splints is that rest is the best thing for them. It's one of the muscle conditions that doesn't get better with continued use.

I had shin splints 10-15 years ago. They took a while to 'fix'. The way people in the know had me work on em was:

Stretch and warm them up before going on a walk. Stand sorta on your heels, or lean against a sturdy wall or car, with your feet pointing forward. Now lift the balls of your toes off the ground and hold. You'll feel your shin muscles working. As long as your heels are on the ground, your shins are doing the work. The second your heels leave, it becomes a calf workout. Hold your toes up 10-15 seconds, then release. Repeat a few times. Over time work up to more holding time.

I really hope you're able to fix them. I had a terrible time with them. I was even on the Basketball team up into high school, doing leg stretches and being on my feet for years. Basketball was life at that time, and I dealt with them almost all the way through. Nothing the experts were telling me would make them not ache after running the court. Didn't matter what shoes, what posture. Warm ups did help though.

Good luck with them. There's worse things, but shin splints still make life interesting until the shin muscle gets stronger.

[BradW]

thanks

so, stretching and strength building sounds to be the deal. hopefully this wont go on for too long. its hard to get into something new if all it does is cause pain

[Grannyhiker]

For any injury: Initially, RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). GENTLE stretching. Important to stretch before, during and after exercise. While my plantar fasciitis from last year has healed up, I still get twinges if I don't stretch several times a day!

[texasbb]

Shin muscles naturally want to fight against the foot slap that follows a heel strike, and that can overwork/overuse them. I think that's a more common problem with running, but I've had it happen to me walking on pavement. I have a personal theory, not backed by any data or corroboration from anyone else, that elevated heels on your shoes/boots exacerbate this. I think stiff soles do too. (Frankly, I'll never understand elevated heels on athletic shoes [which includes hiking shoes/boots] but that's another topic.)

[raven]

Shin splints are highly correlated with stress fractures. The following article makes it sound easier to tell them apart than it is in practice.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/19151 ... n-splints/

IIRC, the only reliable way to tell what's what is an MRI.

[kate_quay]

For any injury: Initially, RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). GENTLE stretching. Important to stretch before, during and after exercise. While my plantar fasciitis from last year has healed up, I still get twinges if I don't stretch several times a day!

I agree, I've always used the tried and true RICE concept. There are a couple of neat products designed specifically to help combat shin splints (see http://recofit.co/product/shin-splint-t ... n-sleeves/). Most of these products combine the compression and ice elements of the RICE concept. RecoFit has worked well for me in the past.

Hope this helps and good luck in your recovery!

[raven]

From the NY Times today:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/1 ... n-splints/

[potato]

Shin muscles naturally want to fight against the foot slap that follows a heel strike, and that can overwork/overuse them. I think that's a more common problem with running, but I've had it happen to me walking on pavement. I have a personal theory, not backed by any data or corroboration from anyone else, that elevated heels on your shoes/boots exacerbate this. I think stiff soles do too. (Frankly, I'll never understand elevated heels on athletic shoes [which includes hiking shoes/boots] but that's another topic.)

Yeah -- not sure if this is what you were getting at, but I wonder if the heel-strike (AKA "normal") method of walking can lead to this type of pain (and a lot of other injuries as a barefoot/minimalist enthusiast might claim).
I actually started walking with a forefoot strike a few months ago... looks weird and nobody does it. It's hard to do in shoes that have elevated heels, at all (I wear Merrell trail gloves).

Hope it feels better soon!

[texasbb]

Shin muscles naturally want to fight against the foot slap that follows a heel strike, and that can overwork/overuse them. I think that's a more common problem with running, but I've had it happen to me walking on pavement. I have a personal theory, not backed by any data or corroboration from anyone else, that elevated heels on your shoes/boots exacerbate this. I think stiff soles do too. (Frankly, I'll never understand elevated heels on athletic shoes [which includes hiking shoes/boots] but that's another topic.)

Yeah -- not sure if this is what you were getting at, but I wonder if the heel-strike (AKA "normal") method of walking can lead to this type of pain (and a lot of other injuries as a barefoot/minimalist enthusiast might claim).
I actually started walking with a forefoot strike a few months ago... looks weird and nobody does it. It's hard to do in shoes that have elevated heels, at all (I wear Merrell trail gloves).

I'm not advocating a forefoot strike while walking--not even sure how you'd pull that off without hurting other things, including your pride.

But I think sometimes when we walk for exercise (as opposed to leisure), we take longer strides and force our shin muscles to work more than they're used to. I've read that the human frame isn't designed to walk fast. Run fast, yes, but not walk fast. Anyway, unvarying hard surfaces, elevated heels, and stiff soles all impose more work on those shin muscles in my experience. I'm sure it depends on how your feet/ankles/hips/legs are built.