Sore shins

who_ru

Hi all,

recently took up running and now have fairly sore shins, particularly my right shin.

i'm about 90kg weight, 5ft 10", avg build.

at the mo i'm using asics runners, don't know the actual type.

i presume some of you here have had similar problems, what type of runners do you recommend?

thanks.

joconnell

It's two things. One is that you're pretty much just pounding your legs. Every time you land on each foot after a stride, all of your weight comes down on your leg, the impact travels up through the leg and normally hurts whatever the weakest part of the chain is. It's normally known as heel striking where the foot lands out in front of the body with the heel hitting the ground first. It's pretty much the same as kicking a wall a few hundred times if you wanted to generate the same impact. You can look at loads of running techniques to try and get rid of this like pose running or chi running which attempts to give you slightly better posture while running and also lean forward so that your foot lands under you instead of in front. Here's a wee vid that explains it:

The second thing is that your legs just aren't used to the impact. What'll happen over the first while is you'll get tiny little shatters along the length of your shins which will heal and repair. It's totally normal, and it'll go away over a few weeks. If you can, try running on tarmac, or grass or sand instead of the ubiquitous concrete.

The runners don't really matter as such - if you get a lot of cushioning in your runners, you're giving your foot a lot of extra help and it atrophies, kind of like when someone has a cast of a broken bone removed, and the muscles around that bone are weak since they've been supported so much. Christopher mcDougall's book Born to run is a brilliant book as a story, and has a tonne of other good insights into running technique about these exact issues.

Hope this helps!

who_ru

Hi and thanks for your detailed reply.

you pretty much nailed it there when you said i land on the heel but it's the only style i have at the moment, i do notice that when i start off my shoulders and chest are more upright and i lift my feet higher in my stride but the more i go on and as i tire then the posture goes, heel smacks off the ground then pain starts to become an issue with the shin.

i'm hoping as you say that this will go over time, maybe as i get that bit fitter i'll be able to keep the better posture for longer but it can be a very nasty pain when it kicks in. As for the surface i'm running on it's a mixture of tarmac and concrete.

Your video didn't show there.

Naos

How old are your runners op?

I used to get similar pains (@ similar weight + height). I done three things:

1) Got new runners - I don't know where you're located but if near Dublin City pop into Runways on Parnell St and speak to those guys, very knowledgable.

2) Run on grass where possible - I see you run on tarmac + concrete mainly, try hit up a local park and run there.

3) Lose fat - Running becomes a whole lot easier when you drop unneccessary fat.

Although I hate to say this, don't push yourself too much at the start or it will impede your progress going forward as you'll be unable to run for a few days.

joconnell

who_ru wrote: »

Hi and thanks for your detailed reply.


i'm hoping as you say that this will go over time, maybe as i get that bit fitter i'll be able to keep the better posture for longer but it can be a very nasty pain when it kicks in. As for the surface i'm running on it's a mixture of tarmac and concrete.

Your video didn't show there.

Oddly enough the posture taught in the pose and chi method make you lazier / more efficient and it's a little bit harder to fall out of. If you run totally upright, you're constantly pushing off your back leg to propel your weight forwards, and the your front foot lands and acts as a brake, so you're taking the impact of the land and also stunting your own momentum.

The pose system is based around two things mainly:

1. The posture is based on getting your bones to do more work than your muscles. If you stand with your spine curled forward so your chest is out further than your hips, it means that the muscles in your back are being engaged to hold you up. If you stand upright so that your ankles, hips and shoulders are all in a straight line, your skeleton takes most of the load, and your muscles can relax a bit more. This uses less energy so you either get less sore, or use less energy. This translates into either more comfort, or longer distances for the same amount of effort.

2. Once you've got your posture sorted, the next thing is NOT to stand totally upright. As above, if you're arrow straight, you're putting yourself into a situation where you've got the constant propulsion / braking thing happening. The next thing to do is lean into your run slightly. You've got to lean / tilt from your ankles though and what ends up happening is that you're constantly falling forward, and using your feet to catch up with you and stop you going on your snot. You get two benefits from this. One is that it's far harder to land with your foot in front of your hips, and second of all, gravity is acting on you to make you fall forwards and this is free propulsion as opposed to your pushing leg making all the effort to shift your bodyweight.


They're very small little things, but you could try doing one of catriona McKiernan's running courses on this technique. They're cheap and they'll stand to you a lot in terms of ease of running and reducing injury!