Eating To Lose
Older
Adults
Mind, Body, Motivation
Stength,Flexability,
Endurance
Injury Prevention,Fitness Performance |
If you have pain in your lower leg, your training should be moderate and always at an intensity below the level of your symptoms.
Visit your doctor to find out exactly what your ailment is. You might have a stress fracture, compartment syndrome, tibial stress syndrome, or a sprain or strain. In any case the treatment depends on your diagnosis.
If the pain in the front of the bone on your lower leg (tibia) was sudden, you might have a fracture, bruise, tear, abrasion, or laceration. A gradual onset of pain however, may simply be overuse.
A sharp, focused, site of pain on the bone of your lower leg might indicate a stress fracture. Pain along the entire shin might be medial tibial stress syndrome a.k.a. "shin splints."
If your leg is pain free at rest, but hurts when you walk up and down stairs, you might have a stress fracture. Find a tuning fork and try this test. Pass a vibrating tuning fork along your tibia. If you feel a sharp pain, that indicates the possibility of a stress fracture at that site.
If your lower leg is painful at night however, even when you are resting, talk to your doctor immediately because these are symptoms of a tumor.
Stress fractures are caused by repeatedly overloading your tibia, sometimes by changing shoes, or increasing your intensity. Take a look at your shoes. If they are more than 6 months old, and you train daily, they may have lost some resiliency. Limiting impact is your first step to curing your stress fracture. Replace high impact activities with cycling or swimming. If your injury is severe, a splint
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may be required. Durakold is your next step to help relieve inflammation and pain.After your inflammation subsides, and your doctor gives you the okay, try this exercise to strengthen the muscles on the front of your shins (tibialis anterior): Walk on your heels with your toes up in the air for a minute. Add 1 minute a week until you can walk comfortably on your heels for 3 minutes.
Another strengthening exercise is to sit on the end of a leg curl machine. Place the top of your toes underneath the curling pad. Without moving your upper legs, raise your toes toward your knees (dorsiflexion). Do 20 repetitions with a very light weight 3 - 4 days a week. Always stretch both your calves and tibialis anterior after you complete these strengthening exercises.
Besides strengthening and stretching your lower leg muscles, research has demonstrated that females with menstrual irregularities, lower bone density, or less lean mass in the lower leg, are predisposed to incurring stress fractures.
If there is non-union of your tibial bone at the fracture site, and this is demonstrated by a black line on your x-ray, this fracture should be treated aggressively by a doctor. Usually a cast or immobilization is required. Sometimes a rod is inserted which would allow you to return to martial arts in 6-8 weeks. As you get older there is not as much oxygen rich blood to deliver nutrients to your working muscles for your punches and kicks. Aging causes blood vessels to become more rigid, restricting their ability to accept blood from the heart, resulting in high blood pressure.
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