Another Shin splints question...sorry

[alophysio]

It all started a year ago when i began to get the pain on the inside of my shins so visited my doctor who told me that my problem with my shins was due to me having slightly flat feet so got me to get some insoles. He said this would aid with my shins and also with my knees (i go through fases of getting really bad pain in my knees which gets worse when i do less with them i.e if they stay bent for a while like in a car they get very painful) Un suprisingly however the pain didnt subside. I then took 8 weeks out to give them time to heal so that i was ready for football when i got to uni. The pain came back straight away, i carried on playing through the pain until it got so unbearable

Hi,

All the above responses are all good and valid.

Just wanted to mention that the pain can also be referred from the back and pelvis.

For example, if you don't stabilise at your hip joint, then it can rotate which causes the femur to rotate (for example inwards (medial rotation)). This then twists the knee inwards and so the tibia also turns inwards. THis drives the ankle and foot into a pronated position.

And that is just one of the problems from the hip, nevermind the SIJ, pubic symphysis and lumbar spine!

I would suggest all the posters who had shin pain find a therapist who is good at looking at the whole body working together rather than just focusing on your shins and feet.

Acupuncture to the fascia of the calf can help if it is appropriate. I would say that because you have a lot of tension in the calves, it merely aggravated them.

BTW, do you have any history of back pain?

The reason i have gone down this route because in the quote above, you mention it gets worse with sitting around in a car doing nothing. Classic referred back symptoms...

Cheers

[ASCook]

No back pain, but if I hook a band to my foot, I'm EXTREMELY weak at medial rotation, and EXTREMELY strong at plantar flexion. I can calf raise 455# easy, while I can only olympic squat 255#