shin splint or...

for any of you cardio junkies out there. I have a little problem. since beginning of january i have been running a minimum of 2.5-3 miles a day. I have been increasing my speed as I went along and as of last few weeks am running consistently at 7min/mile. the problem is I think i have injured my shin. I didn't bang it or hit it, i do a lot of snowboarding but it was not injured in a fall or anything. The other day the right side of my left shift started to hurt really bad when i was running. When i prod it with my fingers it definitely feels like the bone is bruised. I took the weekend off to see if it would help, but when i ran yesterday it seemed worse. My next step is to lighten my intensity and run a lot slower.

Has anyone had this before? Is it just a major shin splint or possibly something worse? My fear is that it may become chronic if I don't address it properly and that scares me.

Any comments appreciated.

sounds like shin splints to me

to fix:
1.) how new are your shoes and do they fit? you need to make sure they still have cushion in them. make sure you have the correct type of arch support for your foot. some people's feet are arched more than others.
2.) rest at least 1-2 days a week. do the bike or something low impact if you really need to have cardio 7 days a week
3.) ice your legs after each run until the pain has gone away
4.) do some stretching and strength exercises. The 4 I like best are walking on toes, walking on heels, and walking with feet turned inward and outward
5. make sure you are warming up, stretching, and cooling down properly

how are you landing on your foot? i got this quite a bit and then I read something on this board about 'pose running' which is basically landing on the ball/toes and kicking the heel before it hits the ground basically and it fixed 90% of my shin pain.

my shoes are old, i have new pairs of runners, expensive ones that I had fitted, but I just can't seem to break them in. I always go back to my adidas Suprnovas which i bought a few years ago and are really worn down. but still comfy.

hmm, i think I am heel landing.

land on the ball of your foot (the place right behind your toes).

if it's shin splints taking it easier won't cut it
you need to rest it :(

I'd get a doctor's opinnion asap and in the meanwhile do something with no impact, like swimming.

your running way way too fast if your heel stomping


and dude, throw those fucking shoes out they are ruining your ankles and knees

take like 3 days off or something, then try half the speed pose running in the new shoes after a warmup

Do you have any muscle weakness, or numbness, tingling, burning in top or bottom of the foot? Also possibly in the calf?

Is the pain relieved with rest, esp at night?.

Most likely it is shin splints, but it could also be a stress fracture or compartment syndrome.

Have the bone alignment checked out to make sure all of the bones are aligned in your ankle/leg. If the bones aren't aligned, the joints won't function properly.

sounds right.

well i switched to bike/stairmaster/elyptical, did high intensity for about 45 minutes yesterday total and I sweated like a bitch but i didn't feel like i had worked out. just used to running hardcore.

I used a new pair of shoes, they actually weren't bad, I didn't feel my shin at all as I was working out so that was a good sign. i could this time notice a difference in the sole of the shoe. way more cushion.

I'm going to make an appointment with a specialist and get my leg checked out, and have some x-rays done.

in terms of impact though, the bike was nice, am i ok to do bike for now if it doesn't aggravate my shin while i figure out what's wrong? If I don't do some cardio I'm going to go out of my mind, it is my drug and I have to get my fix somehow

Do you have any muscle weakness, or numbness, tingling, burning in top or bottom of the foot? Also possibly in the calf?

Is the pain relieved with rest, esp at night?.

Most likely it is shin splints, but it could also be a stress fracture or compartment syndrome.

Have the bone alignment checked out to make sure all of the bones are aligned in your ankle/leg. If the bones aren't aligned, the joints won't function properly.

none at all highlife. the only numbness I felt was in the first few days when i thought it was just a small pain that would go away. I ran right through it until around 7 or 8 minutes it just went numb and went away. But in the long run I realized that really has made it worse. But the truth is my whole leg feels normal, there is localized pain on the right side of my 'shin bone' and that's all.

bike is fine. that's what I do if I over do it one week and my shins start feeling the burn. I do a ton of jump rope, most of which is barefoot since it's done in karate class, so from time to time I need a break and I use the bike for that.

I will stick to bike for now, I want to be one of those guys who is able to run right into his old age. But I am taking this injury very seriously. I've always been the guy who "got lucky" and never got injured from working out, no matter how intense. but apparently I wasn't "knocking on wood" hard enough, so here I am. I really appreciate all the input guys, as well as any future input. I will keep this thread updated

I'd agree you have shin splints from what you've told me.

If there isn't anything you can do with bone alignment (probably is) then stick with some ice and elevation of the leg after you work out, even if you are doing low impact cardio.

Let us know the xray findings.

shin splints is something you can't avoid for ever if you keep running alot.
preventation is the best cure for that, flexing that tendon will help it absorb the hits much better and it might never get sore. only problem is that it's a bitch to flex, hard to get there with regular stretches.

lucky for you it heals with rest, you just gotta let it rest enough. (the specialist will tell you how long that will be).

update**

so x-ray results came back fine, everything is normal, i'm in canada so it was 2 weeks before my appointment and about as long for the results

went to specialist, looked over my legs, watched me walk/jog/run from all angles and basically concluded that i am pounding with my heels and said the cushion in my old shoes had a lot to do with it. he said give it 2-4 weeks depending on how it feels..

further update***

So I didn't run for almost 4 weeks, I gave it a nice rest. My workouts all consisted of heavy bike/ellyptical and the rare occasion stairmaster. I ran last week twice, i changed my form to put about 85% more pressure on the ball of my foot rather than on my heel. I also upgraded my shoes.
As far as shin splints go everything seems fine, but the new way I'm running makes my shin area sore as a motherf***, but it's not at all from shin splint... Im not used to the new motion and after about 10-15 minutes at about a 9 minute mile(very slow for me) I have to stop and stretch.

update****

I realized a large part of that was due to not stretching the shin properly, In fact i was doing a shin FLEX instead of a shin STRETCH.
I have adjusted my stretching and its helping quite a bit. The specialist showed me one good stretch, among others, it's sitting with your knees tucked beneath you, then leaning back as far as you can go for the stretch, works wonders.

If things go bad I will let yall know