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We seem to have several here. Want to take a stab at diagnosing mine?
I have not had good success running as what seemed so effortless when I was 18 to 21 is now tearing my legs apart whenever I try.
I was running regularly a few years ago until I developed what I believed to be shin splints - pain in the front of my lower leg. I think I got it from doing a lot of downhill running.
I gave up running for some time, but then started again but too fast. The first times out I was running 3 to 4 miles at a time, and I quickly started feeling pain in the outside edge of the bottom of my foot. It was very tender, and I quit again.
This last time, I started with shorter distances, only running 2 miles at a time. I've been doing okay, with just some tenderness in the lower calf, on the inside of my leg. Unfortunately, last night I decided to pick up the pace while still limiting myself to two miles. (I was running about 8:30 miles). At the end, my lower calf muscles were very tight and painful. Concentrated on the inside of my leg, but I could feel it almost like a ring around most of my left leg. This is down low in the calf, maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down from my knee to my ankle.
Looking at a diagram, I would guess it is a problem with the soleus muscle:
Any ideas how to treat? Ice after running and/or stop running? I wonder if this is something that could develop into microfractures in the bone?
I have not had good success running as what seemed so effortless when I was 18 to 21 is now tearing my legs apart whenever I try.
I was running regularly a few years ago until I developed what I believed to be shin splints - pain in the front of my lower leg. I think I got it from doing a lot of downhill running.
I gave up running for some time, but then started again but too fast. The first times out I was running 3 to 4 miles at a time, and I quickly started feeling pain in the outside edge of the bottom of my foot. It was very tender, and I quit again.
This last time, I started with shorter distances, only running 2 miles at a time. I've been doing okay, with just some tenderness in the lower calf, on the inside of my leg. Unfortunately, last night I decided to pick up the pace while still limiting myself to two miles. (I was running about 8:30 miles). At the end, my lower calf muscles were very tight and painful. Concentrated on the inside of my leg, but I could feel it almost like a ring around most of my left leg. This is down low in the calf, maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down from my knee to my ankle.
Looking at a diagram, I would guess it is a problem with the soleus muscle:
Any ideas how to treat? Ice after running and/or stop running? I wonder if this is something that could develop into microfractures in the bone?