Posterior Tibialis Pain / "Locking up"?

[Slambram]

Forgive my ignorance of the biomechanics and medical terms.
I tried to do a little research, but really only came up
with the name of the muscle which i think is bothering me.
Here's the story,

I run on a treadmill at my gym during lunch, mainly to lose
weight for summer. I only get about 30 min. of quality time
on the treadmill, so rather than increase distance so much,
i increase pace. I'm up to about 3.5mi. at 7mi/hr.,
sometimes 5mi. on the weekend at a slightly slower pace.
Nothing comapred to most here, but good for me. Well, i've
been at this for probably a month now. I feel like i'm
getting failry well conditioned. Little injuries have come
and gone and i'm running relatively pain-free while
continuing to up the pace and distance somewhat. Today, out
of nowhere (and after a 2-day rest), my posterior tibialis
(i think - "shin muscle" is how i would describe
it) started burning just over a mile in, both legs. This
used to happen a lot when i would run after work, when i
was not time limited. I would try to increase distance
as fast as possible. I took a break, then ran through it
for the rest of the run. I noticed that while the pain
eventually subsided, it seemed the muscles were very
tight, not allowing my feet to pronate. Thus, it seemed
like like i was hitting the surface flat-footed. I could
feel blisters coming on, something i had big problems in
the early says. I've talked to others, and this seems to
be a fairly common problem in novice runners. Do i need
to do a warm-up mile? More stretching? Any advice
appreciated.

Thanks, -JZ

[David Hallswort]

> Today, out of nowhere (and after a 2-day rest), my
> posterior tibialis (i think - "shin muscle" is how i would
> describe
> it) started burning just over a mile in, both legs.

Why not describe the pain, as it may not be tib. post.

Where is it in relation to the large shin bone? Right over
and in front? On the inside? Behind? On the outside? How far
up from your ankle is it, and how far does it spread? Is it
diffuse, or localised?

Is it tender to press? Does it feel like muscle or bone
tenderness?

Do you get pain when you're not running?

Have you done anything that's helped it go away?

> This used to happen a lot when i would run after work,
> when i was not time limited. I would try to increase
> distance as fast as possible. I took a break, then ran
> through it for the rest of the run. I noticed that while
> the pain eventually subsided, it seemed the muscles were
> very tight, not allowing my feet to pronate. Thus, it
> seemed like like i was hitting the surface flat-footed.

If you're flat footed, you pronate too much. If you feel
that you're running flat footed, it might mean that for some
reason, you're pronating too much, which could be for many
reasons, not least because as you tire, you tend to change
the way you run.

More info!!

Best, Dave

[Slambram]

On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 20:26:01 -0000, "David Hallsworth"
<david.hallsworth@SPAM.com> wrote:

>
>Why not describe the pain, as it may not be tib. post.
>
>Where is it in relation to the large shin bone? Right over
>and in front? On the inside? Behind? On the outside? How
>far up from your ankle is it, and how far does it spread?
>Is it diffuse, or localised?

It's in the front, right in the middle of my shin. It's sort
of diffuse, seeming to spread out along the vertical length
of my shins with the most pain being in the middle.
>
>Is it tender to press? Does it feel like muscle or bone
>tenderness?

It's only tender while it's happening. Right now they just
feel a little sore, like i really worked them.
>
>Do you get pain when you're not running?

Yes, but not there.
>
>Have you done anything that's helped it go away?

Rest helps for the immediate future. It feels like a lactic
acid burn.

>If you're flat footed, you pronate too much. If you feel
>that you're running flat footed, it might mean that for
>some reason, you're pronating too much, which could be for
>many reasons, not least because as you tire, you tend to
>change the way you run.
>
I don't think i'm flat footed. Judging by cursory inspection
of my footprint in wet sand it looks like i have good
arches. My feet normally feel nice and "springy" when i run.
This feels good. Today, it seemed like the muscle in front
of my shin tired and gave up very quickly. I was able to
press on, but it affected my arch somehow and i was striking
the surface differently and not in a good way.

>More info!!
>
>Best, Dave
>

Thanks! -JZ

[David Hallswort]

All sounds pretty classic. It could be that you have a
normal arch when standing, but over-pronate when running,
but that diagnosis would be way down the line. It's probably
a case of too-much-too soon.

First thing to try is cutting your pace and distance. Have a
rest week. Hopefully that will solve the acute problem and
allow you to come back stronger. Then build up again,
distance first, then pace. These problems could a due to
overtraining, whereby you are running on tired legs, and
thus run badly.

Hopefully, this shouldn't be a problem, but for now, don't
try to run through it.

D