Why do my legs hurt so bad while running?
I am a 20 year old male. I never had this problem before. I stopped running for almost a year, but am now again starting to jog to remain fit. I have been running now for almost two weeks, but I get this weird pain in my legs.
It feels like my bones are hurting. How do I treat it?
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Other than stopping running and using cold Ice, you could stretch your tibialis anterior every now and then to compensate for the over used calf muscle.
To stretch it try pulling your foot up and dow using your own hand, then massage it or sit on your knees and slowly push your butt over your feet.
Glute ham raises are a great way to stretch the front of your leg while working out your glutes.
One way is to stop running, at least for a while.
Like other bone injuries shin splints can take a long time to heal, several weeks or longer. Try stopping for a week and see if your legs feel better.
This is why it is important to start slowly when you start running again and not do too much too quickly. Start off running one day a week, then slowly increase to 2 days and so on. You can do other activities on the other days to vary your fitness routine.
Otherwise you may end up with injuries like shin splints or tendon injurues.
The lack of magnesium you mention can cause muscle cramps which are quite different to "bone pain" Muscle cramps are a short term but etremely painful tightening of the muscle. You will not be able to walk at all if you have a cramp. Massage it and it should pass in a minute or two. I have had some success myself with eating a handful of almonds every day to prevent muscle cramps because they are high in magnesium.
If it is shin splints, as per your picture, the first step is to stop running for a bit and to ice the area to reduce inflammation. To be perfectly frank, the pain you're feeling is due to injury, and continuing to operate despite the injury is courting greater damage. This is also important because stress fractures are sometimes mistaken for shin splints, and you definitely do not want to keep running on one of those.
Outside of that, stretching can sometimes help:
Gently stretch your Achilles if you have medial shin splints, and your calves if you have anterior shin splints. Also, try this stretch for your shins: Kneel on a carpeted floor, legs and feet together and toes pointed directly back. Then slowly sit back onto your calves and heels, pushing your ankles into the floor until you feel tension in the muscles of your shin. Hold for 10 to 12 seconds, relax and repeat.
In a sitting position, trace the alphabet on the floor with your toes. Do this with each leg. Or alternate walking on your heels for 30 seconds with 30 seconds of regular walking. Repeat four times. These exercises are good for both recovery and prevention. Try to do them three times a day.
Lastly, the Runner's World article I posted said that some people have luck with wrapping their legs during running. According to Dr. Sheldon Laps, DPM, a podiatrist, "What you're doing is binding the tendons up against the shaft of the shin to prevent stress."
I am far from an expert on the situation, so this is largely regurgitated material I've found elsewhere, but I hope that it is helpful to you.
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