Today I received an email from a H.S. coach who has an injured x-country runner. It definitely sounds like shinsplints (pain and burning along the front of the athlete’s lower leg), but he also has pain on the outside of his leg and some calf pain. The coach said the runner stepped on a stone about a month ago and he doesn’t think it’s a sprained ankle.
Even a small twist in your ankle can cause the muscles of your lower leg to go into spasm, and if it’s only a slight twist you may not feel it in your ankle, but it’s still putting a strain on your ankle and foot. Plus, like this athlete, the lower leg muscles are tugging on the bones of the lower leg, so you feel shinsplints, and a long list of other aches, including plantar fasciitis in your foot.
If you grasp onto your lower leg, and then move your foot around, you’ll see how the muscles are causing the movement. So you can see that when these muscles are contracted, either by repetitive movements or by spasms that are causing knots in the fibers, you will have pain.
If you do a lot of running, or if you drive a car for hours at a time, your lower legs need to be deeply massaged to flush out the lactic acid that is building up during the movements. You’ll be pleased when you see how well this works and how much relief you will get.
Have a great weekend,
Julie