Shin splints/Leg cramps from exercising

Hi Elfay,
I get shin splints often when I come back to exercise as I like to run. Being overweight and coming back to running/jogging can be a bad mix.

Often I will use a compression bandage to help support my ankle which gives much relief. (It's all in the wrapping making sure to go around the arc of the foot and not too tight) I also reduce the amount of running and walk/Jog/walk/jog ... making sure my shoes fit properly and avoiding tightening the laces on your upper foot will also help.

I now use a tread mill to get back into my running. I am currently obese and felt the old shin splints kicking in the other day. I bought some new inner soles for my shoes, have check my running form ... to ensure my feet strike the ground with and even distribution of weight ... Eating healthy will of course help.

If unable to use high impact exercises such a running .. try low impact such as riding a bike, swimming or even weight training with high reps.

Walking as you know is a great way to assist with healing.

I may yet need to do all these things as I carve into my mass of fat!!!

Wishing you well.
Dave ;)

[Elfay]

Hi Dave!! Love your avatar!! I love Ladybugs!!

Thanks for the tips!!

[Elfay]

I'm back again with very bad leg pains, agonizingly bad. I've been in off and in pain for going in 4 months. It stopped completely when I started drinking over 8 glasses of water a day but started hurting when I stopped drinking enough water, so I'm going to go overboard here, not self diagnosing but it seems it's due to dehydration or sorts. The lack of drinking adequate amounts of water. It has to be water since I was drinking plenty of other beverages just not enough water. I've tried to drink more water and I do but it seems it doesn't work after the fact.

No I still don't eat healthy. I was homeless for 6 months and had to eat what was served in the cafeteria. I need to take vitamins, calcium and other minerals including magnesium and potassium but I really cannot afford there right now. Nor can afford to see a Dr though I really need to visit a free clinic and perhaps they can give me something -- anything since the pain is so bad I can't sleep. I've taken things like Aleve which will help but again it's very expensive.

I guess I'm afraid to see a Dr, I may find out it's something worse. I even have a friend who is a Dr -- in another state, I don't like asking him medical questions... So I suffer with this agonizing pain. And it's worse walking than it is sleeping and I can barely sleep.

I am under a tremendous amount of unnecessary stress with this job and I sleep on a expensive type air mattress which I know hasn't helped. I've made it firmer which made it worse, I've let it get a little less firmer and it's still really bad. It's rather comfortable but not good for my back or leg.

It's only my right leg. It's not RLS since walking doesn't help it. I can't find a position so it won't hurt, with RLS I could eventually.

I've had leg pains before but ever since I got to Texas even a little bit if exercise has hurt my legs. Is it the heat? Though the times I've walked it wasn't hot.

And I can't take a hot bath to relieve it... Maybe when I move I will be able to. Hopefully I will be moving over the weekend. And even when I had leg cramps/pain this is the first time it's been this bad. Since I've been working this job. And sleeping in the bed I am on.

I had this the first time when I first started this job but it wasn't this bad, I was able to sleep and I could walk the cramping off now I can't sleep and barely nothing works to ease the pain outside of strong over the counter medications like Aleve.

I haven't slept well in 3-4 days and I'm exhausted and I know that's not helping my leg. It's mainly in the joints, calf and my ankles the worst us in my calf.

I've suffered over the years when I was younger with very disabilitating leg cramps/shin splints and when I was pregnant with my son I had trally major bad leg cramps. And after me son was born, about 4 months later I developed the RLS. And it will go away but returns every 5 years and is worse every time it returns. RLS never lasts this long. Maybe 2 months at the most. And most times I can stretch it out or walk it out enough to sleep. This is a lot more painful.

Right now it's tolerable because of how I'm listing in bed but it's getting rather uncomfortable and I'll need to reposition my legs son but it'll start to hurt again...

I'm pretty desperate here, I'm not too proud to admit that. I may end up in the ER it's that bad. But I don't have that kind of money to pay for an emergency room visit...

Like I said stress is a a huge factor why I'm in so much pain, and not eating healthy. Scurvy comes to mind. Though I know very little about it and what the symptoms are, I know it's lack of vitamin C which I have.

If y'all can send some much needed healing to me I'd appreciate it. I've tried healing my self but I'm too stressed to be of help to my self right now.

Thank you again!!

I apologize if it has been mentioned, I didn't read the entire thread, but felt compelled to tell you to take magnesium daily.

Originally Posted by Elfay

I get them bad, I will wake up from a deep sleep with my legs feeling like they are on fire !!! It. Doesn't matter how much I warmup before I still cramp terribly. I had terrible leg cramps when I was pregnant and I took an extra calcium and it worked, extra calcium doesn't do anything now ... I developed RLS after my son as born but it goes away in a month or 2 but will come back every 5 years since 1999.

I walked harder and longer today and my legs have been hurting all day and they are starting to cramp up since I've been relaxing. I worry its going to be a painful sleepless night. Not going to quit walking or exercising but it sure is VERY painful !!!!

The only thing that works is walking around the room sometimes 15-30 mins and I can go back to bed but there are times the cramping returns multiple times in a night.

Anyone else experience similar leg cramps or shin splints ? Anything work for you?

Thank you !!!

Originally Posted by Elfay

I get them bad, I will wake up from a deep sleep with my legs feeling like they are on fire !!! It. Doesn't matter how much I warmup before I still cramp terribly. I had terrible leg cramps when I was pregnant and I took an extra calcium and it worked, extra calcium doesn't do anything now ... I developed RLS after my son as born but it goes away in a month or 2 but will come back every 5 years since 1999.

I walked harder and longer today and my legs have been hurting all day and they are starting to cramp up since I've been relaxing. I worry its going to be a painful sleepless night. Not going to quit walking or exercising but it sure is VERY painful !!!!

The only thing that works is walking around the room sometimes 15-30 mins and I can go back to bed but there are times the cramping returns multiple times in a night.

Anyone else experience similar leg cramps or shin splints ? Anything work for you?

Thank you !!!

Everyone gets 'irritable leg syndrome' sometimes, but if it is very painful, then you really must tell a doctor and get examined properly. There can be any number of causes, some trivial, some very serious, and everything in between. It is probably nothing to worry about and will ease over time, but if you have a blockage in an artery resulting in insufficient oxygen reaching the muscles, then you'll want to get that identified and fixed.

Most likely though, if you've been exercising hard, most likely it is nothing more than lactic acid accumulating in your muscles (a byproduct of glycogen, ie muscle fuel, having been burned). That will go away as your fitness improves, and as your arteries, having got used to the idea that they need to carry more blood for the greater demand, widen to allow muscles to fuel quicker and lactic acid to be carried away quicker. Massage can help if that's what it is, and a COLD bath (the instinct is to run a hot bath for muscle pain, but much of that pain is inflammation, and inflammation is made worse by heat).

Incidentally, kind of an aside, but related seeing as we're talking about muscle pain and exercise and acid build up etc. There is nothing in the human body that can detect oxygen levels in our blood. Yet obviously our brain knows when we're in oxygen debt because our respiratory system is sped up to compensate. So how does it know? Well, when we exercise, CO2 is released into the blood, and this turns the blood slightly acidic. When the CO2 is removed, the blood pH heads back towards normal. The more CO2 is in our blood, the more acidic it gets. The body can detect acidity, and it deduces the oxygen level based on the fact that if its acidic, it is high in CO2, if it is high in CO2 then cells are burning fuel faster than the CO2 can be removed, if the cells are burning fuel faster than the CO2 can be removed, then they must be burning fuel faster than oxygen can be supplied, so we get out of breath. So why am I relaying this seemingly pointless technical detail? Because knowing this enables us to trick our natural responses. If we get out of breath, we're already well and truly in oxygen debt and on the road to pain from acid accumulation in the muscles. If we make a conscious effort to breath deeper and a bit faster BEFORE we need to, then we can do more, and suffer less afterwards.

[hannah]

Make sure you have enough salt especially if you are sweating a lot. A good exercise is to stand on a step with your heel over the edge then press down to stretch the calf muscle. Do maybe ten reps on each leg. Another is to walk forwards and backwards across a room, first on tiptoes and then on your heels with toes in the air