So over the last 20 months or so since I’ve started running, I deal with occasional foot, shin, and hip pain. Usually nothing insanely bad, but unfortunately bad enough that I’d typically take some ibuprofen to ensure a pain free run. I have been unable to get above 30 miles a week without running into issues that would make me need to cut back.
I finally buckled down last week and went to a specialist run lab for a full consultation/analysis by a chiropractor that focuses on running, in addition to a full evaluation of my running on a treadmill. They took countless slow motion videos, evaluated, and then emailed me a detailed 15 minute analysis and a 14 page pdf. It was honestly the best $170 I have spent on fitness.
What I thought were shin splints, she immediately diagnosed through a series of evaluations, were actually major muscle tightness issues between my calf and tibia. She recommended very hard, regular massage of those areas. I have since been doing exactly that, 1-2x a day, and within a few days the shin pain was 90% gone! I haven’t taken any ibuprofen/Tylenol on my last two runs and had zero shin issues and minimal foot issues!
During the run evaluation, they pointed out a lot of very interesting things I never would have noticed. Such as, sometimes my left leg slightly crosses over my body instead of going straight. This puts excess strain on my foot, knee, hip, etc. It was also identified from the rear that I have a hip drop on just the right side, and need to work on my gluteus medius to help support this (this will also help my left leg crossover). As a whole, about 90% of the running evaluations he said I’m doing perfectly in, but there’s just a few small tweaks that will (and already have) gone a long ways! Excited to continue implementing these things and hopefully can continue progressing in my miles.
