stress fracture.

[KirkB]

... Never train under the influence of painkillers. Pain is the body's reaction to something gone wrong, and continuing to stress the joint or muscle in question, will be a showstopper at some point. ...

This is excellent advice, which should ALWAYS be heeded ... except perhaps (PERHAPS) if you're in a do-or-die competition, where your season is over if you don't make a qualifying height ... or if you're in an NCAA Final (or something like that).

Kirk

[golfdane]

... Never train under the influence of painkillers. Pain is the body's reaction to something gone wrong, and continuing to stress the joint or muscle in question, will be a showstopper at some point. ...

This is excellent advice, which should ALWAYS be heeded ... except perhaps (PERHAPS) if you're in a do-or-die competition, where your season is over if you don't make a qualifying height ... or if you're in an NCAA Final (or something like that).

Kirk

I agree. Only then, and when you are prepared to face the consequences of such (like going into a period, where you'll get the rest the injury needs).

[VaultPurple]

if inflammation is the body healing, then why do you ice an injury, which reduces inflammation?

[rainbowgirl28]

if inflammation is the body healing, then why do you ice an injury, which reduces inflammation?

I don't know how much the applies to shin splints, but in joints like your ankle, the swelling stretches out the ligaments, making you more prone to future injury.

[kcvault]

reasons for icing

* Constrict blood vessels and flush waste products, like lactic acid, out of the affected tissues
* Decrease metabolic activity and slow down physiological processes
* Reduce swelling and tissue breakdown

Then, the increased blood flow that is a result of your body trying to warm the area that was iced results in increased circulation, and in turn, improves the healing process.

[VaultPurple]

yeah I see the benefits of icing injuries. And that is the first step with any injury. So I'm not understanding how a anti-inflammation medicine like ibuprofen can hurt since it basically just reduces inflammation like what would happen in icing?

[golfdane]

Ice also makes the blood flow (your body tries to warm up the cold area). Bloodflow is the mother of healing. It carries nutrients as amino acids to damaged tissue and removes waste products. This is why meniscus injuries take so long to heal. Almost no bloodflow.
Ice numbs the tissue, but doesn't hinder the healing. In other word, pain killers without the negative aspect.

In regards to injuries. One of the most important aspects is compression. The faster you put compression on a sprained ankle or muscle tear, the better. If allowed to swell, will it decrease bloodflow in the damaged tissue for some time, prolonging the healing considerably.

[golfdane]

Bit more info on NSAID in regards to muscle recovery (why IBUPROFEN shouldn't be a part on an athletes diet):
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0801/is_5_69/ai_n25358368/

[VaultPurple]

The take-home message from these studies on NSAIDs is simply that you should avoid taking them whenever possible. Of course, there are times when NSAIDs are helpful and even necessary, such as when you have a headache that won't quit or an injury that's inflamed. At those times when you must take an NSAID, consider taking it with an antioxidant supplement such as 500-1,000 mg of vitamin C.

So what I take from this article is that you should not take NSAIDs for regular soreness from a workout, but they can still be used if you have a torn muscle or something.

From what I have heard and read from other sources, your body naturally attacks all injuries with . white blood cells that release chemicals that cause inflammation that are meant to fight off bacteria and bad stuff. So in the case of a cut or something it is good because it can help clean out the area. But in the case of a torn muscle it is not always needed and can slow the healing process. Some theories are that a torn muscle inflames and hurts to keep you from using it and hurting it worse, not really to fix anything. So in the case of a torn muscle you need to try and get rid of the inflammation.

And every athletic trainer or doctor I have gone to about an injury has told me to take ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation. So my theory is to Ice and Ibuprofen it for a week or two until the swelling is gone, then not use it while it heals.

In the case of an ultramarathoner, they would not be running an ultra marathon if they were injured so i guess it just depends on the type of pain you are trying to fight and why...

[talley33]

what are some good supporting spikes? i already have the nike pole vault spikes and im not sure if it gets buch better than that but i want some new ones that i can practice in but wont tear up my shins. and i dont want to spend a whole lot of money on em too.

[VaultPurple]

what are some good supporting spikes? i already have the nike pole vault spikes and im not sure if it gets buch better than that but i want some new ones that i can practice in but wont tear up my shins. and i dont want to spend a whole lot of money on em too.

I just use the PVIIs and some full foot orthotics I got from having my arches measured with one of those scanning things you stand on, those are not the best (like made just for my foot) but they are really comfortable when vaulting and sprinting. I have another pair of hard orthotics , that just go from my heel to ball of feet that were made by a podiatrist, that I keep in my regular shoes and trainers.

Also for shin splints make sure to really stretch your calves out after your work out (with knee straight, and bent). Also if you have a tennis ball or something and massage your arches with it after every workout, that can sometimes help.

[superpipe]

Here's comments I posted in another forum on this site:

Guys,

Shin splints are caused by 3 things and are fixable and preventable:
1. You have pronation issues with your feet ( lots of people have this problem including myself )
2. Your doing too much hard training too quickly
3. Over training

The first thing to do is see a podiatrist ( specialized foot doctor ). They can tell you if you have foot problems and how to fix them. Usually they can custom mold an orthodic for you. You will need 2 sets, 1 for your training sneaks and one for your spikes. The spike ones will be very low profile obviously. I wish someone told me about a podiatrist when I was in high school or college. I personally think every track athlete except maybe throwers, should see a podiatrist just to make sure your feet are correct or not.

After a podiatrist's diagnosis, the rest is easy, adjust your training based on the diagnosis. Except finding the right running shoe for your orthodic is very difficult.

Note -> The only negative about a podiatrist, in my experience, is they don't know footwear very well and can't tell you what kind of running shoe ( neutral, stability, motion control ) to use with an orthodic they have created. Very annoying. You'd think you could use a neutral running shoe since the orthodic, in theory, keeps your foot positioned correctly. Not so, as I eventually found out by experience and seeing a very educated Physical Therapist who specialized in running ( Very hard to find good PT's ). My PT confirmed my findings, but explained very well why you can't just use a neutral shoe after having orthodics made. He said your orthodic works perfectly when you heel strike and roll your foot to flat when running, but it does not work very well when you transition to the balls of your feet when running. Sprinting and jumping, where you're really ripping off the balls of your feet intensify this problem more of course. Made perfect sense. Just wish I found the info earlier. I was amazed I couldn't find this info anywhere on the web during my research about it. The point is, the orthodic does help a bit on that transition to the balls of your feet, but not alot. So depending on how bad your foot problems are, you need to figure out what type of running shoe you need with your orthodics.

Also, don't ever use any orthodic not made specifically for you by a podiatrist. They are specifically trained in this. PT's are not. Any off-the-shelf orthodic is useless because it's not 100% correct if it's even close. It's expensive, but worth every penny.

Some advice for figuring out what type of running shoe to get after getting orthodics is to go see a PT or running store that specialize in running, but most importantly, they have a treadmill setup with video to analyze your foot contact while running. My PT did this for me to confirm I finally bought the right running shoes for my orthodics. They can slow motion the video so you can see your foot position during heel strike, transition to flat, and transition to the balls of your feet.

Sorry for the long post, but this was one of my biggest issues that started in high school and I didn't get it figured out perfectly until this year. About 14 years, though I stopped vaulting for 7 or so years.

Shins splints have been around forever, yet the podiatrist part never seems to be apart of the solutions in all of the research I did on it for years.