Running Pains

Bumps, bruises, soreness, stiffness and some minor aches and pains are to be expected when you are a runner. Especially if you are increasing your milage and training for a longer race. Most of these twinges go away with a little rest but a few like to stick around causing more pain and soreness to occur.

There are tons of common running injures. Many of us I am sure have suffered from runners knee, IT band syndrome/tightness, low back pain, achilles tendonitis, and plantar fasciitis. Well let me introduce you to another pesky issue that can affect the inside of your ankles and your feet. Posterior tibialis tendonitis.

The posterior tib tendon is an extremely important tendon of the lower leg. The main function of this tendon is to help hold your arch up in your foot and support your foot when in motion.

Those who partake in high impact sports (basketball, tennis, soccer, running, etc.) can cause inflammation within the tendon due to repetitive impact and overuse. Once the tendon becomes inflamed, over time the arch can fall placing additional stress on the tendon. Joy. Posterior tibial tendonitis is also more common in women.

So, how do you know if you suffer from this dysfunction or not? If you have pain on the inside of your ankle behind the ankle bone, the pain is worse with activity, walking and running may be difficult, to touch the area behind your ankle bone is extremely tender and standing for long periods of time may bother you. Swelling could also be present ranging from your arch up and behind your medial ankle bone.

The best way to combat posterior tib tendonitis is rest, ice and some exercises. Balance exercises will be extremely beneficial. Try standing on your injured leg for at least 30 seconds 3x. If that is pretty easy for you try closing your eyes. This challenges all the tiny ligaments, tendons and muscles in the ankle and foot to activate, strengthening everything in the process. Do some calf raises (3 sets of 10) and try spelling the alphabet with JUST your ankle to work the ankle structures also.

This is something I suffer from when my milage begins to increase. I try and bribe my boyfriend to rub the area out for me but I end up wanting to claw my eyeballs out because of how sensitive and sore the area is. For me, it feels like you are pushing extremely hard on a bruised area. Ice and balance exercises now become my best friend so I can get through my runs!!

 

Does anyone else suffer from posterior tibialis tendonitis?