At a loss with shin splints! help

tamlad

hi

where to start

in a soundbyte...

about 2.5 months ago i was told i had shin splints (general term for pain in and around the shin)
i have it behind my shin bone on the inside, just below centre. IT IS NOT GOING AWAY

i have entered my first ironman event in august this year (once in a lifetime trip) ££££ spent etc

i assumed it was due to running (i stopped running from when the pain started)
having delved a bit deeper apparently people can get shin splints from cycling??

so i guess im looking for advice on what to do!? im pulling my hair out atm

doctors appointment this tuesday (12th May)
i have been to see a physio once, he told me everything i read off the internet, gave me some silly laser treatment and k taped my leg

i have been icing, stretching, compressing, not running etc.. i have been swimming and of course cycling

i assume the splints have arose from upping my training, i do remember a time doing hill repeats up a long steep climb and running out of gears with a 53 and not getting out of the saddle and pushing a big gear sitting down which is the only other thing i can put it down to

i have looked at my bike fit a bit, and everything seems fine, im 27 6ft1 75kg in reasonable shape on a 56 cervelo s5, i have read some people talking about pedal stroke which i dont know much about and dropping the heel too much at the bottom or dorsiflexing at the top :S

as i said pulling my hair out atm any advice much appreciated, what do i need to do, at the start i read that time was a healer and being naive with injuries i assumed it would disappear it hasnt and its getting close to dday! THANKS

napoleond

Could be a fit issue but regarding cleats rather than actual bike position.

diy

Any access to a wattbike or similar? - it would be worth looking at your stroke to see if you are over using the front of the leg. Ankle dorsiflexors get used between 6 o'clock and 8 o'clock on the leg in the stroke. You could try some specific stretches and strength exercises for these.

Or just slide forwards to change the knee angle a bit.

bflk

I switched to cycling from running when I got shin splints and they started to improve virtually straight away although they do relapse a bit every now and again even now. They can take ages to heal though and if you are still training hard on the other disciplines you need to be ready to bear the cost, if you are going to insist on sticking to the planned event. Is the aim just to go and get around or more? Perhaps a light month of all around training might be worth a try?

Tom Dean

The root cause is much more likely to be running IMO but hard training on the bike could well hinder your recovery, with a bad fit not helping.

Like you say, 'shin splints' covers a variety of different injuries - I would wait for a diagnosis before trying to pin down the cause to anything specific in your training.

sungod

i used to suffer from pain like this walking or running, turned out to be related to over-pronation, footbeds with extra arch support fixed it completely - have them in trainers, running shoes, cycling shoes and even some to slip into work shoes

mrwibble

It could be your foot pointing down to much when running and hyper extending your tibialis anterior muscles. Try running but concentrate on putting your heel down first and not the ball of your foot, if that doesn't help could be gait issues in your trainers. Bike has probably nothing to do with it.

cswitch

i feel you're pain, literally. I used to get bad shin splints many years ago. not from cycling but from walking and running. I found it stopped altogether after doing targeted exercises for the muscle to the front of the leg (can't remember the name of the muscle now). This was curling the toes up towards knee. You should feel the muscle in the front of the leg starting to ache (it actually felt a little like shin splints when the muscle becomes tired) Practice increasing the time of the stretch.

diy

I couldn't find any decent videos on ankle/dorsiflexor muscle workouts, but this one isn't too bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O14eqBjkIp0

cswitch

A couple of these ones helped me (the toe curling ones). I found doing them before a treadmill sessions stopped the shin splints starting during the run. Over a short period of time they totally disappeared and never came back. Certainly try doing them immediately before you ride (if you haven't already) and hopefully there will be improvement but still worth seeing a specialist.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/4-stret ... lints.html

Eag1E

Agree with Sungod, these are commonly caused by overpronation. I used to suffer terribly with running, never had a problem on the bike tho.

A decent sports podiatrist will be able to do gait analysis to determine whether this is an issue for you. Custom orthotics are usually prescribed as the remedy.

Hth

surfgod

You need to move your cleats rearwards on your cycling shoes...It really would appear that you are overusing your tibialis anterior muscles. If you are using look keo or shimano spd-sl pedals it's gonna be difficult to slide your cleats back far enough to make any significant difference..

Personally I use speedplay pedals with the fore aft aluminium baseplates... I also use Bont cycling shoes with a set of cleat holes drilled 2 centimetres further back from the original ones..

If you go down this route, then you may need to lower your sadddle...

Gen-Disarray

Hi, just reading your op and suffering shin splints on longer hard rides and knee pain I thought I would share my fix which has worked wonders for me (mainly caused I believe from over pronouncing)
1) wider shoes and not to tight on main clip
2) super feet insoles
3) Specialized pedal extenders from Evans
Hope this gives some possible ideas

hostman

I had shin splints recently, the cause for me was uncomfortable shoes at work. I started walking a couple of miles during lunch, quite a good pace, with a couple of colleagues 2-3 times a week.

I feel your pain though, I went away to the lake district for a long weekend with shin splits and kept up my cycling for a couple of days with the pain, this probably prolonged recovery! I was elevating my leg at work and wearing more comfortable shoes, I stopped riding and two weeks later it was virtually gone.

Interestingly I did feel a twinch again a week or so after no pain, not felt anything for a good for weeks now, I've cycled and walked lots since.

keydon

I developed agonising shin splints in February, I was pretty much a hospital case. I made a pop video in Whitehall, on concrete/tarmac, I was hopping around like a bunny all day. I got hardly any sleep and it was very hard work, by about 3 hours in, I was bouncing up the steps outside Charing Cross station and my legs buckled under me, my brain could not take any more, but more had to be done because there was 10 man crew and I had to do it. Stop, don't ever continue when this befalls you. A week later I had to do some continuity shots and the pain returned very quickly, I grinned and bore it.

The last two runs I have done were in March and the first one I had to stop after 2 miles, second one, half a mile and walk home in pain. My friend did an impromtu massage on the lower legs and I screamed for ten minutes, the passers by In Regents Park tried to pretend I did not exist, it made a difference in that I've never touched the damaged area since, it was very traumatic.

I have ridden to Aldershot and back, never a problem riding. I wouldn't dare run now.

I also did one run on a treadmill and gave up after about 8 minutes.

I still have a ferocious kick and can stand on the pedals for minutes on end, but I blame the new R5 for that.

I may try one more run and then go to see my genius osteopath if there is no improvement.


My legs are a very solid 52 years old, my brain is about 12!!

RichiePortly

The one thing I found when I suffered from shin splints was that there are a gajillion different people with different solutions, most of which won't work. So I'll offer mine anyway....

As said above, shin splints just describes any pain around the shins. For me, it was the muscle on the outside that would feel as hard as a rock, and I couldn't run at all.

After physios, custom moulded insoles and suggestions of acupuncture, loosening my shoelaces and all sorts, a friend sent me a link to this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkUqkdPQHis) and I realised that I was heel striking. I went to see a Chi Running coach (although you can mostly dispense with the 'Chi' bit - the mechanics is the important bit) and I don't suffer any more from shin splints. I've never had them on the bike though.

I've also gradually moved from 'traditional' running shoes to ones with less cushioning, and my main shoes are vivobarefoot. You have to do it gradually though, to avoid injury.

pentagonx

surfgod wrote:

You need to move your cleats rearwards on your cycling shoes...It really would appear that you are overusing your tibialis anterior muscles. If you are using look keo or shimano spd-sl pedals it's gonna be difficult to slide your cleats back far enough to make any significant difference..

Personally I use speedplay pedals with the fore aft aluminium baseplates... I also use Bont cycling shoes with a set of cleat holes drilled 2 centimetres further back from the original ones..

If you go down this route, then you may need to lower your sadddle...

Sorry to revive an old thread but hopefully it may help someone.

I'm a longtime sufferer of shin splints when running but have never until recently had an issue on a bike. My last few rides have left me with a familiar pain down the inside of my shins, though.

My last ride prior to these were on a wattbike and I had a bit of aggro getting unclipped and had to re-tighten my cleats afterwards. Obviously I wasn't paying attention when I did it as I later realised they were nowhere close to where they should have been (for me).

For what it's worth, my shin splints from running went on for years and no amount of stretching, foam rolling or physio sessions made any difference. The only time I was ever able to run pain free from that point was when I switched to running barefoot. And it wasn't so much being barefoot, it was the fact that I was attempting to change the way I ran using the pose method (identical to the chi method mentioned earlier) and running barefoot more or less forces you to run in they way that they teach you using those methods.

Suspect if anyone has persistent shin splints from cycling, as with running, it's much more likely to be a biomechanical issue or setup problem that needs addressing than it is you needing to stretch your calves or some tib anterior exercises (although I'm sure they couldn't hurt!).

Hopefully the op is now pain free anyway.

thejames

I heard that shcok absorbing insoles the gel kind will really help morethan anything with this sort of thing.. worked for my running mate.