Injury???

Benbaz

Just looking for a bit of advice on a suspected calf injury I’ve just gotten while training.
I’ve been doing a lot of running on the thread mill in the last while, mind you, when I say a lot, compared to a lot of people it’s probably not that much, 20mins after each weights session. Anyway, in the last about 3 weeks I’ve been upping the time on the thread mill to about 25mins, but the only thing is, I’ve been experiencing a kinda of cramping/tight/sore pain in my calf spreading around to my shin in both legs that has been getting worse.
As I’m quite new to training I wasn’t sure whether I’d injured myself or whether I just needed to break through the so called “pain barrier” you hear fitness buffs talk about!
I asked a friend of mine who happens to be a fitness instructor for advice on the matter and he reckoned that I’d injured myself and just hadn’t given myself enough time to recover and just needed to lay off the aerobic exercise for a while and then slowly introduce it back into my training.
I was just wondering what people’s views/experiences were of injuries/training procedures for running, and whether this type of injury if it is an injury was common or if it was specifically related to running on a thread mill?
I’m very interested in peoples’ views on this as I would class running as my prepared method of aerobic exercise.

Looking forward to any suggestions/advice on this matter.

Cheers
Benbaz.

Saruman

Try some muscle rub or deep heat or something to reduce the swelling (if any) and pain.

As you said you have not been doing as much running as this before so its more likely you are just using muscles not used before.. sort of like me when i was training, i jog on the treadmill.. but then we all startd playing fotball after work and for the first time in years i actually ran at my top speed and my upper legs were in bits the next day for about a week!!! The following week i started running at kick off and almost fell to the ground.. my right leg was in bits so i went into goal for the rest of it.. But after another week i was fine... it was simply i had not used those muscles before!!

A Good way of working those muscles you are complaining about it not so much to run, but to walk fast on a high slope setting on the treadmill... that works those muscles pretty well and prepares them.

logic1

Sounds like shin splints (periostitis).

Is the pain at the front of the lower leg? Bottom shin area. Can feel like it's spreading around from the back of the calf. Commonly got from overtraining or running on hard surfaces.

It's an inflammation of the periostium around the tibia. Have you had a professional look at your running technique? It may justbe that you over pronate when you run or have a bad gait.

If youget it every time you run do some RICE and rest. Don't run for a week or two. See a sports doctor if pain persists.

Daveirl could probably tell you more about it.

.logic.

Makaveli

Does sound like shin splints alright.
I get this every now and then, you should probably just give yourself a break from the threadmill for a while.
Also make sure your are stretching properly before going onto the threadmill. Every time I've suffered from this is because I havent done enough stretches.

Benbaz

Cheers lads.

A friend of mine who use to play a lot of football in his younger days suggested that it might be shin splints too!!

Is the pain at the front of the lower leg? Bottom shin area. Can feel like it's spreading around from the back of the calf

Yup!!! that's exactly what it feels like!!! The thing is, the pain happened gradually rather than directly after one session.

Also make sure your are stretching properly before going onto the threadmill. Every time I've suffered from this is because I havent done enough stretches.

I'm quite particular about making sure that I stretch before each session so hopefully it's not that!

Have you had a professional look at your running technique? It may justbe that you over pronate when you run or have a bad gait.

I think there might be something in this because it does sometimes feel awkward when running on the Thread Mill.
Maybe running outdoors might cure this?? Maybe??

But in the meantime I'll be giving myself a wee break from running!

Thanks again.

Benbaz