lower back pain/shin splints

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Bruce Kidd
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lower back pain/shin splints

Postby newbie » Thu Nov 17, 2016 9:35 am

I am trying to see if I can get some advice here since I am getting very frustrated that I ran a marathon only 6 months ago and now I can't make it past 3k. I ran my first marathon back in May and didn't seem to have any issues afterwards but I developed a pain in the left foot and just thought it was planter Fasciitis (Sp). I rolled it a lot like I have in the past and it didn't get any better. I didn't run much over the summer because I was busy and just wanted to take it easy. I started running again in Sept with the 1/2 marathon clinic and wasn't too bad but the foot pain was still there. I went to my dr because I had some ankle swelling and she thought maybe I had a stress fracture since I had one 5 years ago, after a x-ray she recommended physio. I have been seeing my physio 2 times a week and the foot is better but now the pain has moved to my right hip/lower back and I can't run more than 2-3k without getting really bad shin splints. When I get up in the morning my back is really bad but once I get moving it's fine, yesterday was the first day in about a month that I had no pain when I got up so I tried to run last night and the shin splints are still there. I am running in neutral shoes and always had, up to a year ago I also had orthotics but after a gait analysis was told I did not need them anymore.

I
Next up:

Feb 2015 - Castaway Key 5k
March 2015 - St. Patrick's Day 10k
May 2015 - ORW 1/2 Marathon

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eme
Lynn Williams
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Re: lower back pain/shin splints

Postby eme » Thu Nov 17, 2016 9:38 am

This past year, I had knee pain. Not really a surprise, since I had surgery on that knee about 10 years ago. It turned out that my pelvis was misaligned and putting stress on my knee.

I was lucky that my physio looked at my whole body to figure out what was going on and found the root cause. He also does ART, so he was able to fix the hip issue and my resulting leg (and back) issues.

Maybe get your physio to do some more "exploring" to see what is going on?

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Bruce Kidd
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Location: Ottawa

Re: lower back pain/shin splints

Postby newbie » Thu Nov 17, 2016 10:59 am

I have a apt tonight and think we need to sit down and decide where we are going with this. I am starting to get frustrated that things are getting worse than better
Next up:

Feb 2015 - Castaway Key 5k
March 2015 - St. Patrick's Day 10k
May 2015 - ORW 1/2 Marathon

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eme
Lynn Williams
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Re: lower back pain/shin splints

Postby eme » Thu Nov 17, 2016 12:54 pm

newbie wrote:I have a apt tonight and think we need to sit down and decide where we are going with this. I am starting to get frustrated that things are getting worse than better


Yeah, it sounds to me like your physio hasn't found the root cause and is only treating the symptoms. Maybe time for a different physio?

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Bruce Kidd
Posts: 797
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 2:43 pm
Location: Ottawa

Re: lower back pain/shin splints

Postby newbie » Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:03 pm

I hate to leave, she is good and the whole office is. A lot of the people I run with go there so they are competent. I haven't really pushed it with her to figure it out because I trusted that she knew what was going on. I guess I will see what she says tonight.
Next up:

Feb 2015 - Castaway Key 5k
March 2015 - St. Patrick's Day 10k
May 2015 - ORW 1/2 Marathon

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La
Kevin Sullivan
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Re: lower back pain/shin splints

Postby La » Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:10 pm

eme wrote:
newbie wrote:I have a apt tonight and think we need to sit down and decide where we are going with this. I am starting to get frustrated that things are getting worse than better


Yeah, it sounds to me like your physio hasn't found the root cause and is only treating the symptoms. Maybe time for a different physio?

From personal experience, I will agree with this.

Our bodies are so complex, and everything is connected. If I were to guess, your shin splints are probably being caused by a change in your gait that you developed from the foot pain, or changes you're making to your gait to protect your back.

In my case, my back pain is likely disk related (will find out when I go for an MRI in 2 weeks), but it's also due to poor pelvic muscles that cause my trunk to rotate, putting stress on my spine and aggravating my disk.

Likely, if you do core exercises to strengthen your pelvic muscles, that will help stabilise your back. Movement is GOOD for your back (as evident by how you feel better later in the day as your back muscles warm up). Rest is not your friend when it comes to back pain. The key is in figuring out how much activity (what load level and frequency) you can tolerate and then build from there. Pain means you overloaded, but that doesn't mean that you should rest entirely the next day, it means that you should simply load "less."

A good physio will give you progressive exercises to do, each one increasing the load slightly. The feedback from you (in terms of pain) will determine when you're ready to move onto the next exercise and when you need to stay at the same level (or even step back).
"Maybe I will be my own inspiration." - UltraMonk (Laura)
"Everywhere is walking distance if you have enough time." - Steven Wright

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La
Kevin Sullivan
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Re: lower back pain/shin splints

Postby La » Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:10 pm

newbie wrote:I hate to leave, she is good and the whole office is. A lot of the people I run with go there so they are competent. I haven't really pushed it with her to figure it out because I trusted that she knew what was going on. I guess I will see what she says tonight.

She's only good for you if she can help solve your problems.
"Maybe I will be my own inspiration." - UltraMonk (Laura)
"Everywhere is walking distance if you have enough time." - Steven Wright

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Bruce Kidd
Posts: 797
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 2:43 pm
Location: Ottawa

Re: lower back pain/shin splints

Postby newbie » Fri Nov 18, 2016 8:38 am

I had a very productive apt last night and we both agreed that this is going to take time to resolve and there is no quick solution. I am responding to treatment, she did some work on my foot and it seems to have relieved some of the back and hip pain I was having so we will focus on that for awhile. I also have to be better at doing my exercises and stretches. We also agreed no running till things improve more. I can walk all I want to so I will focus on that
Next up:

Feb 2015 - Castaway Key 5k
March 2015 - St. Patrick's Day 10k
May 2015 - ORW 1/2 Marathon

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Avis
Jerome Drayton
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Re: lower back pain/shin splints

Postby Avis » Sun Nov 20, 2016 6:37 pm

I agree with the advice given above, and it sounds like you are on the right road now. I know that my back originally caused problems in my calf...And it's true that you will subtly change your gait to protect something that hurts, thus causing yourself new issues. It is very frustrating!

My physio did tell me once that most problems with the knee, lower leg, or foot are usually caused by hip or back issues. In any case, it won't hurt to work on strengthening your back, hips, and core while you're resting up. Your physio should be able to give you some good exercises for those areas. Good luck, and feel better soon!
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