Kiel’s shin pain is an irritation of his pes anserine bursa

March 2, 2016

Hi Guru

I developed a pain a few days ago just below my knee, on the medial side of my right leg – at the top of my shin bone.

It started after I had just finished ‘foam roller-ing’ my right quads and initially felt as if something was twisted. The pain is mainly present when bending and extending my leg when not under load, i.e. walking up stairs. It does not hurt to bend/crouch/squat.

I was stretching after a 30 min HIIT turbo trainer cycling session and having not stretched or cycled all week (I try to stretch 3-4 times a week as I’ve had musculature issues before through cycling).

I have had a similar pain in the same location previously whilst cycling which turned out to be cramping in my hamstring and went away with stretching, however this pain did not go as quickly. After an hour my leg felt normal again but I was woken up in pain the next morning and could barely stand. There is no visible swelling but the area is tender and I have been applying ibuprofen gel to the area and resting it for the last 24 hours or so and the pain has almost completely gone. I still have some discomfort to the back and medial side of my knee now when bending/extending.

What do you think it is that I have done here? Is it likely to be my hamstring or my knee joint/ligaments?

Should I continue with my standard exercise routine (gym 3 times a > week/cycling 3 times a week) or ease back into it?

Kiel’s
March 2, 2016

Hi Kiel

Sounds as if you’ve miffed off your pes anserine bursa.

You’re doing all the right things – rest, ice etc but give it another few days off before you get back into your gym program.

I think I’d also start back on 50-75% of what you’d normally do.

Stretching funnily enough will always make you feel better and easier, it won’t however get rid of why you feel stiff in the first place…

Easy does it.

The Guru

Following the Guru comments re stretching, Kiel responds:

Thanks for the response.

I had quite a while off from cycling over winter and have jumped back into it pretty full on. Do you think I’ve just done too much too soon?

I’ve had issues in the past with my vastus medialis in the same leg – could this be related?

Should I wait a few more days before stretching again?

The Guru replies:

Yes – sounds very reasonable. The body really hates going from nothing to everything – it needs to have a few incremental, controlled ramps.

VMO is a funny, over hyped muscle which is usually dysfunctional due to something else, somewhere else.

I think you’ve just done too much, too soon.

Have a breather until Thursday.

The Guru

Guru Responded

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