I’ve been dealing with a persistent calf (soleus?)/shin issue for about 5 weeks now. I am feeling almost constant tightness in both legs on the inside/back a few inches above my ankle - this is accompanied by tingling/itching sensations up my calves, near the bone. Sometimes it’s gone as high as my knee, usually it’s not quite that high. On occasion the pain around my soleusgoes down as far as my ankle. I’ve had ART, graston, etc with little result.
Strangely, I think it started out as a running injury, and I’ve cut back my mileage drastically, but recently I’ve been running every 3 days or so and my runs have all been pretty good. Last night I sat on the trainer for an hour and could really feel the ‘strained’ area. This morning the itching/tingling in the front of my legs was especially pronounced.
Any ideas as to what this might be? The usual running injuries don’t seem to fit, as I can get through a 10k run with only the occasional twinge at this point.
You are likely right with the soleus muscle/aponeurosis strain - often made worse on the bike since the knee is in almost constant flexion (thus using the static soleus more than the stronger gastrocneumius as in running).
Since you have already been doing therapy, stretching, A.R.T. (but only for 5 weeks - I know that seems like a long time, but it is not), rest is the hallmark treatment that few, if any, triathletes do. Next is assessing what may be slowing down your healing (besides the obvious you haven’t stopped running) and address simple things like moving cleats all the way back, lower your seat a little, etc.
Have you tried moving your cleat position around to see if that gives some relief?
Maybe you’re putting pressure on a nerve or something when you cycle.
I have no definitive answers for you, but:
(1) Inside, a few inches above the ankle, is where my tibial stress fracture occurred. I did Columbus Marathon in mid-Nov ‘99, and for about four weeks after that my shin was quite sore. On Jan’ 1 '00, I ran about 200 meters and it was painful enough to have me turn back. A fe days alter my doctor did a whole range of diagnostic tests, and none of them indicated a stress fracture; an x-ray was negative. He pronounced it to be “shin splints”, advised rest, and every 5-7 days I tried a run, but had to stop almost immediately. He finally got me lined up for a bone scan, and that was positive for the stress fracture. So, my advice to you is to get it diagnostically checked - and hope that it’s not a s.f. The time off from running for me was about 3 months, but that’s largely because I kept running due to an incorrect diagnosis. (Not the doc’s fault, by the way, as he did all the right things and I just didn’t “display” properly.
(2) In '01, other leg, I spent about 4 weeks with numbness on the inside of my right calf. Nobody could really figure out why this happened, or why it extended only from ankle to knee. With each day, it seemed, the extent of the numbness decreased, but the symptoms were there to some degree for about a month. I had lots of physio done, mostly geared to lower back in the thought that somehow my sciatic nerve had been compromised. But as with the stress fracture incident, I did not correctly display the symptoms of sciatica, which generally cause discomfort through the buttocks and down the back of the thigh - and maybe extend done the calf as well.
Just a couple of things to think about, anyhow. Hope some of the above is useful.
i could be totally off here but i have had a post tib tendon issue for a little while and it runs up the ankle along the inside of the calf. I do often get a sensation in my calf. Just my two bits.
You are likely right with the soleus muscle/aponeurosis strain - often made worse on the bike since the knee is in almost constant flexion (thus using the static soleus more than the stronger gastrocneumius as in running).
Since you have already been doing therapy, stretching, A.R.T. (but only for 5 weeks - I know that seems like a long time, but it is not), rest is the hallmark treatment that few, if any, triathletes do. Next is assessing what may be slowing down your healing (besides the obvious you haven’t stopped running) and address simple things like moving cleats all the way back, lower your seat a little, etc.
Thanks for the input - does the itching/tingling on the shin make any sense as a sort of secondary symptom of the same issue?
Nope - your differential list is very long. Can only offer the most likely culprits based on your description and odds ratio treating hundreds of runners/cyclists.
Occasionally, tarsal tunnel syndrome will present similar with the proximal radiation/paresthesias. Would be quite rare on both sides though at the same time.
No, but I have been riding my road bike a lot more in the past few weeks. However, when the injury first started bothering me, I was taking a break from the bike. It’s only more recently that I’ve been riding more again, and only very recently that I’ve been feeling the injury more on the bike than while running.
I was at the point for a bit where I couldn’t run. For a couple weeks I didn’t run at all, and had a couple ‘false starts’ where I had to turn around and go home after a kilometer or so. At that point my symptoms were a lot more like MTSS (shin splints). Now, they’re more concentrated in the soleus area and running is almost 100% pain-free - but I can feel the tingling and occasional pain while driving, sitting at my desk, and on the bike.
Keep up with the ART. I would consider switching to another shoe as well. I ran in the Creation for about 5 years until about a year ago when they changed the structure of the shoe and added entirely too much to the heel. I had the worst soleus pain even after really short runs. I tried an older pair of Creations that I had and ran pain free but I eventually just had to switch. I would at least try a different shoe and see if that doesn’t help.