I have been following a Beginner's guide to running-- and I am just beginning week 4. Week three had me running for 1 minute, then walking for two. Week 4 is running one minute, walking one minute. When I first started the program I noticed a lot of muscle tightness in my lower leg/shin area.. but that eventually went away. When I was at the end of week 3 and beginning week 4, I noticed that there was a different kind of pain directly below my knees on the inner parts of my lower legs. I looked up a leg diagram, and it looks like where my Fibula meets my Tibia is where the pain is occurring. It doesn't feel like muscle pain, just a very intense achy pain that is excruciating when I try to run.
Is this a common occurrence in beginning runners? Is there anything I can do to alleviate the pain? I really don't want to have to take time off from running because I want to keep up with the program. Any information would be helpful!
The brand of shoes I wear is New Balance. I run on a treadmill because it's just too cold out right now! And I've been trying to follow the correct form of running by landing on mid-foot. Hope that helps.
sounds like what is known as shin splints. Very, very common. Good for you for buying good sneakers, New Balance is a quality brand. I think that by trying to correct your stride, you are hurting yourself.
Last edited by sweetpotato13; 01-28-2013 at 10:54 AM.
Yes. you will need to stop running until they heal up. I have had them twice and they healed up quickly and after the second time they never came back. If you belong to a gym may I suggest using some of the lighter impact machines like the eliptical or the stairmaster until you heal up. You will get similar benefits as running.
I have been following a Beginner's guide to running-- and I am just beginning week 4. Week three had me running for 1 minute, then walking for two. Week 4 is running one minute, walking one minute. When I first started the program I noticed a lot of muscle tightness in my lower leg/shin area.. but that eventually went away. When I was at the end of week 3 and beginning week 4, I noticed that there was a different kind of pain directly below my knees on the inner parts of my lower legs. I looked up a leg diagram, and it looks like where my Fibula meets my Tibia is where the pain is occurring. It doesn't feel like muscle pain, just a very intense achy pain that is excruciating when I try to run.
Is this a common occurrence in beginning runners? Is there anything I can do to alleviate the pain? I really don't want to have to take time off from running because I want to keep up with the program. Any information would be helpful!
The brand of shoes I wear is New Balance. I run on a treadmill because it's just too cold out right now! And I've been trying to follow the correct form of running by landing on mid-foot. Hope that helps.
Shin splints are caused when someone runs on the uneven surfaces and this makes the leg muscles weak and wearing of the ill fitted or wrong shoes, exercising more than what your body can take. You can find for some good sneakers and there are also several exercises that would prevent from triggering of the shin splints like sitting on the floor with a rope around your foot and pull back and then move your foot towards the shin.
Did the folks at the New Balance store "fit" you or did you just buy the ones you liked? I strongly recommend to new runners - heck, seasoned ones too! - that they get properly "fitted" by a store specializing in running gear. They will usually watch you walk barefoot to determine pronation and pull the shoes appropriate for your foot and how it works. It can get expensive but now that I know which ones I should be in, I buy them from discount/sale sites.
