I thought I had been battling a bout of shin splints, but have been informed that it most likely is compartment syndrome. I took 3 weeks off from all training, except yoga, and went back to running. The first few runs were ok. Today I couldn’t get through the first 1.5 mile before I walked home. It sucks, because the pain goes away relatively quickly. If I can get through the first 2-3 miles without the muscle totally seizing I can run hard and long without any ill effect until the first couple miles the next run.
Anyone out there with some experience with this? I am cool if it is extended time off, but like the Armstrong qoute, a day without a run is an empty day for me, so if there is something I can do to help it along…
I emailed Tim Noakes yesterday, making note of the fact that anterior compartment syndrome is often caused by overstriding. And wondering why he left this out of the anterior compartment syndrome section in his book.
I highly suspect this is also what is causing yours. If you land on the hell with your leg well out in front, then the measly anterior tibialis is working very hard through an eccentric contraction to keep your forefoot from flopping down on the ground.
Get rid of the overstriding and you will get most likely get rid of the anterior compartment syndrome.
A lot of folks say you shouldn’t mess with your run form too much but in cases such as yours (and formerly mine) you must change it or give up on running.
Overstriding is covered pretty well in Time Saving Training for multisport athletes. He has good pictures of it.
The basic idea is that you need to put weight on your foot only when it is underneath you. Or maybe you could say your foot lands directly underneath your center of gravity. If you are now a very bad overstrider thinking that way will bring your feet back underneath you.
You will find it easiest to work on this on slight uphills at first and also in the grass.
I’m not sure what it is about runing on grass that makes one less of an overstrider but it happens. Runnigbarefoot on grass even more so.
If you look around the net for overstriding you’ll lots of ways to work on it. If you go by the suggestions in the pose technique book you’ll get rid of your overstriding. Although I don’t remember it exaclty I’m pretty sure overstriding and how to avoid it is covered in “Explosive Running.”
Hey Pedalincostal, sorry to hear about your troubles. I can sympathize since I had it back in ’97 and it sucks. There was a thread here a while back with some info including a post where I vented.
I’d agree with the comments about over striding, it may be the cause, and although you may need to change your stride, you may need to also consider some aggressive therapy or surgical options.