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Shin Splints??

Somebody save me-

I don’t know if the term ‘chronic shin splints’ is apt, but that is the only way I can explain the situation. I have been unable to shake the pain for over six years since playing college basketball. I have all the general symptoms- soreness, sometimes extreme sensitivity on the anterior side of the lower leg- in addition, I have lost all explosiveness, and cannot do any activity where running is involved more than 2 or three times a week. I have seen MD’s galore, have worn custom orthotics for five years, have had myofascial release performed, negative bone scans, etc. What’s going on????

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    I know exactly what you’re going through. I’ve had chronic shin splints from the past year and a half. I have been wearing orthotics and shoes with extra support in order to help my improve my biomechanics. I’ve had two sports MD and they’ve said that the problem is caused by my flat feet and tendancy to over-pronate.

    Since you’ve had twice as long to deal with your shin splints I think it would be safe to say that you probably know more about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to treatment than I do, but I’ll tell you what I found helps and what doesn’t just for the heck of it.

    I’ve found that doing ice massage ASAP after I run and once an hour for the next 4-5 hours seems to help as far a pain goes. Also, try taking ibroprofin (sp?) before you go running. I have to take this before I run in a track meet or else I’m absolutely miserable. On the other hand, I’ve found that using an ace wrap or massaging only makes the pain worse.

    My most recent Sports MD suggested that I walk around on my heels for 10 minutes everyday and do a lot of ankle alphabets. Although this is very time consuming, it seems to help somewhat.

    Have you ever seen a physical therapist? I’m going in for my first round of ultrasound and strenthtening next week, so I can’t really say if that helps or not. You may find that your condition is simply caused by muscle imbalances that can be corrected by doing some stretches and flexibility exercises every day.

    Whew, okay one last thing. What type of surface do you run on? Concerte or blacktop are two of the worst surfaces to run on, try running on a track or, ideally, grass. I’ve also found that I can deal with jogging longer distances better than I can with running shorter distances.

    Anyhow, I hope that this can help offer you some relief. It’s too bad that some of us have to deal with chonic conditions like this while other don’t have any problem at all…I wonder if there’s a support group out there somewhere

    runnerchick

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