My feet are the problem with my shins

It took me 41 years to figure out why I have continual shin problems, but I finally did! It's all about my feet and how they work when I walk.

Let me back up. in 9th grade I was a cheerleader and I got terrible, TERRIBLE shin splints. And I was super fit at the time as I had just finished swim season where I was swimming 4 hours a day. Once the season stopped, they healed, but I can still remember 25 years later how painful that was.

Next time I had serious problems was when my husband and I started running shortly before I got pregnant with our first baby 15 years ago. I tried everything to help with them. I stretched like mad. I got fitted for shoes. I would even bike for 30 minutes before running to try to help with warming up the shin to avoid pain/problems, but what would happen is that I would run for a bit and then would have to stop because of severe pain (like too painful to cry pain) in my shins. They would be rock hard and the only way to ease the pain was to point my toes and rotate my ankle until the pain subsided. Sometimes I could run after that, sometimes I couldn't.

With that, I went to a physical therapist as we feared I had compartment syndrome which is where the sheath around the muscle wouldn't expand and was basically starving my muscle from oxygen. I don't remember why, but I stopped going to PT fairly quickly as it seemed to be leading to nowhere as they couldn't help. Or maybe I got pregnant? That's probably it.

To this day I think childbirth isn't as painful as that pain in my shins could be. So, since then, I have always babied my shins. I learned through babying the shins that I can increase fitness slowly so that the shins don't hurt. I just have to STOP when I feel the shins start to ache. I have to slowly, very slowly increase the distance and pace so that those muscles can get stronger and handle what I am trying to demand from them. Which means, I probably don't have compartment syndrome, but something else wrong with the shins. I figure they are just a weak spot for me and just have to deal with it wisely.

Well, the other day I walked 4.5 miles and this time could walk as fast as my heart would allow me. I have been building them up for 3 months. My shins didn't bug me much - only after the first 20 minutes I felt a tinge. Well, I was trying to pace myself, so I didn't want to stop, so instead of stopping to stretch the shins like I usually do, I just exaggerated the roll of my step, I forced my foot to roll all the way to my toes, which then gets them pointed a bit instead of rolling off the ball of my foot like I usually do. The pain started to go away. And then it hit me. The problem with the shins is that they NEVER get to a relaxed/stretched out position. They are always slightly contracted and are getting overworked. Light bulb moment!

The problem is my feet. Take a look. See something odd?

My toes, other than my big toe are very, very short. So, when I walk, only my big toe can really grab and help with a push off. The rest of the toes 'try' to but can't reach/grab the way they should. What this means is that when my heel strikes, I roll off to the side and roll off the ball of my foot (which will also start to ache if my shoes are beginning to wear out). They roll so much too because of these high arches:

So, every step I take, I am hitting the heel, rolling to the ball of the foot and push 'mostly' from there. My big toe does some push off, but can't do much, as well, it's hard to push off on one toe. It's very unbalanced because the rest of the top of my shoe is empty.

Now that I know what is going wrong, I am going to contact a podiatrist to see what I need to do from there. Maybe it's all about strengthening those little toes (which are pretty useless and weak) or getting an orthotic which will help me get a more proper form or push off when I walk.

My poor shins! No wonder they always give me trouble! They don't used properly!

Stats for 4/10/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 222.6 (33 pounds lost)