I have been having pain since January on the medial side of my tibia in a specific spot around 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. It has come and gone but it seems like it is always there as when pain subsides and I resume my training it re-occurs. I have taken plenty of time off training; usually I take a month or two before resuming my running however it seems to always come back shortly thereafter. It is more of a sharp pain and is aggravated by movement mainly running, if it is severe enough I feel it even when walking but I have not allowed it to get to that point again. I prefer to run with a forefoot/midfoot strike. It is upon the strike that the pain is greatest and can even disappear for the rest of the running gait. The pain does not seem to be aggravated by leg weight training workouts at very high loads nor during cycling. I’m training for Ironman St. George next year in May so its important for me to be able to run asap. Could you please help me out.
Your description/location is where one would typical see a tibial stress fracture. Sounds like you have no diagnosis, haven’t been confirmed, rest some (even 1 month - which isn’t enough to heal a stress fx), resume running, and so on. Before you continue this cycle, I’d suggest getting a good diagnosis and go from there. Best of luck!
Thank you for the response.
I had a few X-rays done in a 2 month interval however they came out negative ( I know sometimes it may not come up on x-ray). At the clinic they did an ultrasound to see if it is shin splints also negative (I found it strange that they were doing ultra sound for shin spints). My family doctor did not give me a diagnosis and just told me to rest and sent me to a podiatrist and the podiatrist also told me to rest without telling me what is wrong either.
I also purchased portable ultraound 1mhz and used it irregularly might have helped and/or might have been the rest period and i was able to run for a slightly longer period of time without re-occurrence.
you have a stress fracture. You need to take a complete 6-8 weeks off running, otherwise it will never heal. A bone scan will confirm (x-rays are insensitive), but not necessary- you’ll still need to take 6-8 weeks off running. A walking boot might help with pain with walking.
As for physio, you need to strengthen your inverters, and improve your calf/achilles flexibility.
I would not want to contradict anybody as i am no expert but when i started running forefoot (too much in fact), i noticed the exact same pain you are describing. It kinda makes sense that it would be coming from the flexor digitorum longus because of the repeated stretching induced by too much forefoot striking. Anyway best of luck with that as i know it hurts a lot…
You may have what’s called a ‘stress reaction’, a precursor to a stress fracture. A bone scan is the gold standard for this kind of diagnosis. Essentially you have to treat it like a stress fracture. That means wearing an air cast during the day and no running at all for 6-8 weeks. You can cycle, water run and do elliptical during that time. You need to be disciplined about the use of the air cast and zero running. If not, it may not heal for months.