Recently I have been having some shin pain. In July I bought a pair of shoes that I ran in for about a month and the pain started. I changed shoes in August and it let up bit, plus I took a week off of running to let the shin rest. Here recently it has been giving me pain again. The worst came after Saturday’s 14 1/2 miler.
I’ve had shin splints before and this didn’t sound or feel like shin splints. The shin bone hurt to the touch and it throbbed randomly after I ran. Uh-oh, I thought. Sounds like a stress fracture or at least something on the way to becoming one. Since I’ve been around a lot of injuries lately, I’ve become quite paranoid and so I scheduled an appointment to see an ortho on Tuesday.
After what can only be described as an obnoxious doctor’s visit (long wait, Doogie Howser style intern, and a doctor who didn’t listen when I talked), I was prescribed an MRI. The doctor thought it was a possible stress reaction. Fortunately, I got the MRI yesterday as well and had the chance to go back today to have it reviewed.
The good news is that it’s not a stress fracture or even a stress reaction. It’s apparently inflamed tissue right over the bone and right around the bone. I guess that’s why when I pressed the bone it hurt. I had similar symptoms of a stress reaction but thankfully it wasn’t the case. Damn sheep in wolf’s clothing!
I was given clearance to run Augusta (seriously – THANK GOD! I would have hated making my team bail!). And I was given some prednisone to help with the inflammation. (Side note: My mom said prednisone makes you hungry and reminded me of when we had to give it to our family dog and she got so fat in like one week. Eek! Just roll me through the streets of Augusta! Heh.)
Ok, so the only bad news here is that after Augusta I was told to rest. And of course, when I asked for how long, he just said, until it stops hurting. Uh, does he not know that runners need definite dates for resting? I am going to attempt a full week off after Augusta and then I’ll go from there.
Happy, happy stress fracture free Wednesday!
ugggggh. shins are stupid. my shin went away but the scary place on my foot hurts now. v.v.worried about the big S.F.
I am beyond relieved.
Doctor Jamoosh says give it at least two weeks…
Thank goodness!! I have a great idea. When you get back from Augusta, you can do the DWYLLC all over again. What do you think?
Have a great time at the race!
I agree with Jamoosh. Give it two weeks. Or just stop getting injured. That's my trick. Cheers!
Shins are stupid! So glad to hear your second time at the docs because of the stupid shins turned out to be a "Sheep in Wolf's clothing!!"
What a relief! I am SO happy for you that it's not something serious. Good call on getting it checked out.
Outstanding! I am so glad you get to do the race.
I was worried what your team would call themselves if there were not two chicks…
I agree with KC now you can just ride the bike more while waiting on your inflamed tissue to heal!
Great news! I say not only some rest but ease back into after that…
Thanks goodness you have been working on the biking as a sideline activity 😉 SO GLAD Augusta is still a go for you… that would have been the worst.
Performance Enhancing Drugs, has it gotten to that????? Get Well….
Very glad to hear that the word stress is not involved in your diagnosis! Hopefully that infection will go away soon.
Phew – that must be a relief. I mean I'd rather have inflamed tissue versus something with the bone. I agree though – they need to give us runners set dates! Hopefully it stops hurting before that week that you are giving yourself is up!
yay! i'm glad it wasn't worse. hope it holds up OK for augusta and then, rest up!
I held my breath through that post! Thank god it's not a fricken Stress Fracture!!! Yeeehaw! I swear, the majority of running bloggers are all fx'd up right now. If I see one more xray on my news feed or what ever it's called I'm gonna cry! But take some easy days!! Those things scare me.
I just had my first 2 mile come back run in 7 weeks yesterday. VERY humbling..2 more today..ahhhh. Well, congrats on the negative mri!
Not only do we need definite dates but we can convince ourselves that it doesn't hurt s well.
All this to say kick the living sh*t out of Augusta
Thank goodness it's not a stress fracture. But *whatever* you do – do rest until it doesn't hurt anymore. Don't rush back too soon. I came back from my knee tendinitis too soon, and eventually had to back off for several months. Talk about discouraging and de-motivating.
Maybe I should say – thank goodness it's not a stress fracture *yet*.