Can you get cramp in your shin muscles?

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Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
A couple of days ago the muscles in my left shin suddenly started really hurting quite badly. I was however, in the space of a few minutes, able to massage and stretch the pain away. It has been back intermittently (say twice a day) over the past few days and I'm always able to get rid of it. At first I thought "shin splints" but I've been running regularly for a while now so it can't be that. As I can get rid of it pretty easily it seems to resemble cramp. Can that be so and what can bring it on? The shin is the last area in which one expects cramp.
 
It's got to be something to do with the running. I'd say stop running :cry:

However, you may want to talk to a podiatrist as well - could be to do with your gait, if you are running a lot.
 
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Andy in Sig

Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
Kirstie said:
It's got to be something to do with the running. I'd say stop running :cry:

However, you may want to talk to a podiatrist as well - could be to do with your gait, if you are running a lot.

:biggrin: I fought dey woz illegal innit?!!!
 

PaulB

Legendary Member
Location
Colne
DON'T stop running. It's quite lidderally the best thing you can do.

It could be tibial compartment syndrome. This occurs when the sheath surrounding the muscles in the shin can't cope with the speed of muscle growth and the fibres begin to streeeeettttccchhhhhh and this causes pain. The cure? You can run through it as despite the discomfort, the sheath will eventually begin to cope with the muscle growth.
 
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Andy in Sig

Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
Thanks for the tips. I also looked up shin splints on wikipedia and that was quite informative. It's only my left shin which makes me wonder if Kirstie has a point about gait. I went for a run last night in my brand new running shoes and the run itself was fine although the shin is hurting a bit as I type. The odd thing is that I know the pain will go away as soon as I massage it/change leg position, which is what made me wonder if it was cramp.
 
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Andy in Sig

Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
That's very sound advice. Unfortunately when I bought the new pair I said to the bloke, "Can you get rid of these for me please?" meaning my old ones, as I didn't have enough space in my rucksack and didn't want to have any hold luggage on the flight back.:rofl:

What I did do though was to get shoes from the same manufacturer (Asics) and the one run so far has been OK and the bouts of pain do seem to be getting shorter and milder. I did wonder if the relatively cramped space in the aircraft might have been a contributory factor.
 
Have you tried any anti-inflammatory stuff? The gel would be quicker to react. As for shoes, If you are doing any mid to high mileage, you need to use more than one pair.
Do you know what your "foot-plant" is? If you have any sort of irregular heel strike or as your foot strikes the ground, it could roll inwards (over pronate) or outwards ( over supinate) or if your really lucky you could have a neutral foot plant:laugh:. Don't know if I've spelled this stuff correctly, but I'm sure you'll get the jist of it!!!!:girl::wacko:.
Another thing to consider is your old trainers, just how "worn" were they? You may find that the problem will now resolve itself with the new pair :headshake:
You could also try running off-road for a while as this is so much kinder on the joints, the majority off my mileage was off road and track session, so when it came around to competing on the road I found it easier.

Al;)
 

PaulB

Legendary Member
Location
Colne
Andy in Sig said:
That's very sound advice. Unfortunately when I bought the new pair I said to the bloke, "Can you get rid of these for me please?" meaning my old ones, as I didn't have enough space in my rucksack and didn't want to have any hold luggage on the flight back.:headshake:

What I did do though was to get shoes from the same manufacturer (Asics) and the one run so far has been OK and the bouts of pain do seem to be getting shorter and milder. I did wonder if the relatively cramped space in the aircraft might have been a contributory factor.

Asics are (to my mind) the best running shoes you can buy. You also MUST MUST MUST, I can't emphasise this enough, get Sorbothane inserts. Do it today and use them and feel the INCREDIBLE difference they make. You'll feel you've done a quarter of the distance compared to running without them.
 
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Andy in Sig

Andy in Sig

Vice President in Exile
mad al said:
Another thing to consider is your old trainers, just how "worn" were they? You may find that the problem will now resolve itself with the new pair :biggrin:


Al;)

I think it may well have been that the old pair were a bit too old and had noticeably lost their cushioning effect. The new ones seemed to have done no harm on their first try out last night. Most of my running is on gravel and clay which I don't find to be to hard on my legs.

PaulB,

thanks for the tip. I shall try them.
 
Andy in Sig said:
That's very sound advice. Unfortunately when I bought the new pair I said to the bloke, "Can you get rid of these for me please?" meaning my old ones, as I didn't have enough space in my rucksack and didn't want to have any hold luggage on the flight back.:becool:

What I did do though was to get shoes from the same manufacturer (Asics) and the one run so far has been OK and the bouts of pain do seem to be getting shorter and milder. I did wonder if the relatively cramped space in the aircraft might have been a contributory factor.

Yess, running in an aircraft is always going to be difficult.
 
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