For a while I've been having pain in my legs. The pain occurs exactly between my calf muscle and my bones. I feel this pain when I jog or run. Sometimes long walks also trigger this pain.

I haven't been training or played badminton since my last LIBA workshop and as it is only two days to go for my next LIBA workshops I thought I will go for jogging and prepare myself for the LIBA weekend. I went for jogging with my friend and after 5-10 minutes into the jogging I started to feel the pain in my legs. Initially the pain was bearable but the pain gradually started to increase and after 15 mins I couldn’t stand it anymore. It was so painful and it started to paralyse my legs. The pain is on both my legs right between my calf and the bones. It was so painful I couldn't even walk properly.

My friend asked me which part in my legs are painful and explained to him where the pain is. Finally he said "You can kiss your LIBA weekend good bye" :eek: I was bloody surprised and I told him its just pain probably because of lack of exercise and asked why did you say that. He replied it could probably be "Shin Splint" and he advised me to go and see a doctor.

Two days to go for my LIBA workshop and this is the last thing I ever wanted to hear from him. What the heck is "Shin Splint?"

I'm really disappointed with myself. I'm disappointed because I hate to give all kind of excuses to the coach. He is going to tell all of us to run for warming up and I'll be the only one there saying to the coach I can't run because of blah blah blah. I did the same thing in my last workshop and I will be doing it again this weekend. He is going get annoyed and sick with all my excuses. He may think I'm not dedicated and just a time waster. :(

oh well I have to face this situation this weekend. I just have to be brave and give my best. There is another workshop by end of August and that will give me a solid one month time to get fit and prove that I love badminton and I'm dedicated as everyone else who attend the workshop.

See this link

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/shin.html

Usually, you have a micro fracture/tear and should rest. Definitely see a doctor. You don't want to aggravate the fracture/tear and have it turn into a bigger problem. Yeah, you can kiss your LIBA workshop good bye.

See http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0161.htm for treatment but as always consult your MD.

See this link

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/shin.html

Usually, you have a micro fracture/tear and should rest. Definitely see a doctor. You don't want to aggravate the fracture/tear and have it turn into a bigger problem. Yeah, you can kiss your LIBA workshop good bye.

See http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0161.htm for treatment but as always consult your MD.

Thanks Winex West Can,

I checked the links you have provided and the symptoms they have posted and the problems I have are the same. I've an appointment with my local GP (doctor) today.

I will be taking rest for the next two days and will somehow attend the LIBA weekend. The fact is I have to give excuses to my coach once again :( I really hate giving excuses but I can't do anything about that. I will sit out the running sessions and probably won't play games. But I still want to attend but will take things easy this weekend. Don't want to miss out all the techniques he is teaching.

Thanks for the links once again

cheers
sunny

Shin splint should be pain in the FRONT of the leg, not between the calf and the leg. Between the calf and leg could be the soleus (sp?) muscle, which is like the calf muscle for when your knees are bent (and is used much in badminton, but often overlooked in stretching).

Shin splints occur when your calf muscles are too strong compared to your shins. When doing strenuous exercise that causes your calf to tighten up, if it is too strong (or shins not used to it), this unbalanced contracting on one side of your leg bone causes great pain. (or something along these lines)

The crappy thing about shin splints is that once you get them, theres nothing you can really do about them, aside from putting your lower legs in ice water for 15 minutes a few times a day right after you get them, to try to stem the damage. If you keep exercising while you still have them, it will just get worse, and quite painful.

To help prevent shin splints, theres only one stretch I know of that can be done. What you do is stand in a half lunge (like, a lazy, almost-standing upright lunge) and you rock back and forth, each time rocking forth you try and "push," your foot downwards and forwards through your shoe. Do this for each leg. When doing this, the part of your body that should be moving the most is your hips. Hope you get the idea from the description. Stretching after you get shin splints doesn't help them heal.

To strengthen your shins, I think that backwards sprinting helps, although I'm not too sure. Basically, if you're training hard at least twice a week, you won't have to worry about them after a while. Just remember to do the stretch I've written above; the coach I learned it from said it is the most important stretch before playing/training badminton.

Phil

Running on concrete leads to getting shin splits i heard...

So i guess it's a good idea to run on grass or something, whevever it's around

The term "shin splints" seems to designate any of several injuries to the lower leg area. The kind I had many years ago are the ones Phil described. The pain was on the front, inner part of the lower leg bones. I got them by rope jumping on cement because a wood floor was not available when I was young and stupid and didn't pay attention to what my body was trying to tell me. Thankfully, I didn't have to stop playing badminton for long, but I could only run on grass for a few months, and it was maybe a couple of years before I could jump rope without some kind of pain, but never again on a hard surface.