ozzy

Kenny,

no worries, I'm no expert just passing on my experiences of being dehydrated. Not having enough water is a hundred times worse than having too much.

'chelle,

I've been dogged with shin splints for about 2 yrs now, so there is no easy cure if it's bad. Determination will get you through to the end of that 9-mile run, but don't expect to walk the next day. No amount of motivation will get you through day-in, day-out of running when your muscle is literally tearing itself off your tibia - trust me.

I had two problems - one was Anterior Compartment Syndrome (which was the worst and stopped my Marine training after 12mths); the other was shin-splints. I had an private op about 18mths ago to release the anterior (outside-front) compartments of both legs and this cured the first problem.

The first and easy treatment for shin-splints is simply to stop running. After a couple of weeks, the tendonitis across the tibia will reduce and hey presto no more pain. Trouble is as soon as you start running, it'll return.

Ongoing treatment is plenty of ice on the inside of the shin. Don't leave it on too long (say 5-10mins) just enough to get the area numb'ish.

I had some custom orthotics made about a year ago and although I was recommended to this particular podiatris, he just didn't do a good enough job. I've switched to another and she has told me a few things the first guy missed (and all physio's I've seen I may add) - namely my left leg is a good 4mm shorter than my right (giving me some lower back pain) and my feet are about 20 degrees out when my legs and knees are in their natural (face forward) position. This means that although my old orthotics helped stop my arches collapsing, they didn't correct the shortness of my left leg and they didn't keep my legs and knees aligned correctly.

I've only had my new orthotics for about 3 weeks and I'm still treating my current sore shins, so the jury's still out on a positive result.

When you see your podiatrist, make sure he/she measures your leg lengths and also measure's the angle your feet rotate. He/She should use a special potractor to mark various reference points on the backs of your legs to work out how much your feet rotate inwards. This is vital to work out how much support you need in your orthotics and only something I've recently learned myself. I've wasted months of effort just to get this far, so if you need any advice I'll gladly share my experience so you don't waste any time like myself.

As for hard surfaces, you should avoid these at all costs if possible. Generally, they'll just exagerate any pain or problems you already have and may give you some more. I'm terrible for running on roads and I know it's gonna be sore, but I just get on with it and use Ice straight after a run. Another tip is to run a very cold bath and stick your lower legs into it after a run to calm down any swelling. The worst thing you can do after a run is put heat on the sore parts as this promotes blood supply and encourages swelling and bleeding in the muscle fibres. I usually just use the garden hose on my shins as soon as I get back.

Trainers vary wildly and you need to experiment a little with some advice from a specialist running shop and your podiatrist. All my last sets of running shoes were Ascics, but they were the support models (2060, 2070 and 2080) and my new podiatrist told me that it could work against the orthotics by providing too much support. She told me I needed a neutral shoe, with a firm heel (to stop my foot moving inwards or outwards with too soft a cushion as this works against the support of the orthotics), one which doesn't flex (again to allow the orthotics to do it's job) and lastly one which flexed well in the forefoot (for a good toe-off when I run).

Adidas, Nike and New Balance tend to be too soft on their cushioning. Brooks and Saucony tends to be over-supportive for me.

As you can see it's a very personal thing and the Ascics runners suit my body; although if my shin-splints don't go away I may have to rethink my running shoes.

If you're doing any running, I would recommend stick to something nice and soft with some varying terrain to allow other muscles to start compensating for any problem you have. Cross-country, hill running or even on a beach are all ideal. Running on hard, flat surfaces will just make things worse (or at least you'll notice it a whole lot more) as everything is concentrated onto a small number of muscle groups. Even if I run on grass, if it's flat and anything other than muddy, I'll feel it for the next few days.

This site run by Mike Walden is very good for finding out info on injuries and treatments.

Stefan

[Edited by ozzy - 20/06/2003 15:20:24]

MarkO

So does anyone have any good/cheap suppliers of energy drinks that they can suggest?

ozzy

Funnily enough, I usally buy the Locozade Sport drink from my local Asda. They usually sell 4-packs of the 500ml bottles for about £2. Sometimes, they even do buy 1, get 1 free; which is nice

Stefan

Little Miss WRX

Mark, if it helps your case, I am after a brand of cheap but effective powdered/bottled sports drink. Obviously a UK source will be useless to me.

Maxade is supposed to be exactly the same as Powerade but a dollar cheaper (Powerade is $1.90 from the supermarket).Unfortunately, I can't find any Maxade anywhere.

MarkO

Cheapest I can find is Hi5 which is about £16 for a 2Kg tub. But TBH, it's not significantly cheaper than buying Lucozade Sport from CostCo, so I might just stick with that.

bros2

[Edited by bros2 - 7/2/2003 2:46:50 PM]

ozzy

I tried loads of the powder drinks, but they tasted like chalk and didn't sit well in my stomach at all. They'd leave me feeling bloated or even sick on a run or even on my bike.

I been on the Locozade Sport drinks for about 6 months now.

God, I sound like I've just confessed in an AA meeting

Stefan

Little Miss WRX

Stefan,

I would be very grateful and appreciate very much if you could offer as much advice as possible before I see the podiatrist. I am aiming to see him next month. I am going on recommendation from a fellow official who has been out of action for two years with shin splints also. His main cause was flat footedness also. He has informed me that the orthotics he has have improved his running incredibly.
The podiatrist did some measuring, I think it was what you have mentioned above and also did a few bone scans and x-rays on him before diagnosis.

I have some anti-inflammatory gel (diclofenac based) which I use before during and after a match. I find that taping my ankles up and wearing support banadages around my shins tend to minimise potential damage and I have found things easier than when running without anything on my legs. Whether this is the right thing to do is another matter.......

The physio had told me on Monday that I was 60% recovered, but was disappointed that I was feeling more pain on the front of my shins than before. However, he was pleased that my calf muscles are a lot more relaxed and not as tight as they were. he now believes me when I say that I am doing the stretches he has recommended.

MarkO

The one advantage of Lucozade is that it's pre-mixed, so you don't end up with clogged pipes in your CamelBak.

ScoobyWon't

Chelle, I asked my (Para) personal trainer - he says if you pay him £20 an hour he'll batter you until military standards and shout at you lots so you can run around for 2 games minimum! Wasn't that nice of him.

1 of the other instructors says there's a runners specific creatine monohydrate serum which holds off fatigue and lactic acid build-ups too. It's about £35 a bottle and has enough for 30 days of activity.

ozzy

I'm slightly lighter at 12 stone, but even with my light running style I still feel every foot strike. I've been told that the pain from shin splints is caused by the muscles rubbing or tearing away from the tibia bone, usually from excess movement in your foot.

If your a heavy runner (not just in weight) you would probably need some good cushioning shoes, but it's very personal and you need to get some advice from an expert who can study your running gait up close and personal.

Stefan

Little Miss WRX

That's one thing I can't damn well find in Australia!!!!!

Still Orange Lucozade Sport!!! Stefan - I was on it for over a year. I used to buy it in bulk from the supermarket and drank one or two a day.

Now I struggle to find anything remotely close - they have normal Lucozade, but I can't stand fizzy drinks. the just don't taste nice when fizzed out and flat either, I have tried.

MarkO

Re: Fizzy lucozade - one of the guys I ride with used to fill his CamelBak with water, but decided to try the Lucozade sport 'cos he was always getting knackered too soon.

Last week he turned up with a couple of bottles of fizzy Lucozade - which would have been amuzing if he'd filled the pouch up with it.

ozzy

maybe we can organise a group buy and send you some over. Or if your habit's that bad, I could start smuggling it into Oz

Hey you might not have any Lucozade Sport down-under, but I bet the weather's better than here in Scotland.

Stefan

Little Miss WRX

Aye, even in the winter here it's still creeping to hit 20 degrees and when the sun s out you are stil likely to get sunburnt!!!

To be honest, I have been wondering why I have felt like I am suffering withdrawal symptoms.....I don't care on price.....how soon can you get the LS over to me????

ozzy

chelle, send me a plane ticket and I'll bring a suitcase full of it over to you

Mark, that'd be one way to ruin a camelbak; washin that stuff of yer hands is tough enough

Little Miss WRX

I might just be desperate enough to do that. When can you get time off work??? It had better be a suitcase full, I don't want to see any spare boxers or y-fronts stuffed in there!!!!

Now.....back to bananas......

Sorry for being rude to the people who posted first, I did say I would respond. Stefan you are a bad influence on me.

I will stuff a couple of bananas in my ref kit tomorrow and remember to eat them.
I have never been a banana fan, not really keen on the taste so I will have to froce them down (gee this gets better every word doesn't it ).

ozzy

hand back that shovel before that hole your digging gets any bigger

Hey, for a chance to visit Oz I'd drop everything (even work )

Stefan

Little Miss WRX

I was thinking of upgrading to a JCB.....do you reckon they will allow me to use one in my matches?

ozzy

it'd certainly stop yer shins getting sore. I hope you're not trying to muppetize me.......must resist

Little Miss WRX

As if I would do that to you.

Okay, for these two games I did take some tablet supplements which contain Taurine, Guaranna and caffiene (I think). Kept me awake anyway. I was drinking Powerade blue too. Felt pretty good, so I think that is the way to go for tomorrow, I have, however bought some glucose powder to add to the Powerade or water.

Unfortunately, I was running the line on the first game and went over on my left ankle and heard a snap. The coach of one of the teams heard it too and ran straight over pretty concerned. Initially the pain was intense, but then went off as I kept running (it helped that I had taken plenty of painkillers and slathered a load of anti-inflammatory cream over my legs and ankles before the match).
At half time I slathered more cream on, took more painkillers and more supplements as well as more Powerade.
By full time the pain had eased and I was confident enough to do the next match in the centre.

I had one of the instructors on the line because I had expressed concern about my man management from previous matches. My confidence had been dashed somewhat.
Due to the lack of a second linesman, he agreed to "referee" his half and leave me to concentrate on the other half as one of the teams were conceding a lot of offsides!
I made such a huge mistake too! I blew for an offside, looked to the right and though ****!!! There was a defender there!!! Straight away I apologised loudly and said I was a muppet. I did a drop ball and the defending team were courteous enough to concede a throw in to the attacking team. I got ribbed for it afterwards.
All match I had a problem from one player, he was pushing and pushing and pushing, I cautioned him for dissent by gesture and just got to the point where I ignored him thereafter. His captain was a diamond, I wish every team had a captain like him!!! He basically kept that player on the pitch along with my leniency.

After the match nearly every player came up and told me I had done well (jibed me about the wrong offside call again ), the pain from my ankle was burning and I could feel it swelling slightly, the inspector came up and congratulated me and told me there was nothing wrong with the way I had handled things.

I am now sitting and watching England beating Australia at rugby!!! GO ENGLAND.
I have ice packs on my legs and fingers crossed that the pain will ease enough for me to do my two games tomorrow.

Leslie

I am no longer an expert in sporting fitness, past that sort of thing now.

Do you think you might be overdoing it somewhat. There is just so much that a body can do and to try to get more and more out of it with special foods or chemicals or whatever might make it possible to do more but you could well be damaging yourself unknowingly. You may feel you can cope while you are young but you might be building up serious trouble later in life.

I know people who are a bit older tend to give that kind of advice and it might sound a bit irksome, but sometimes it comes from experience and is worth listening to.

Les

LG John

You'll get no argument from me there!

Little Miss WRX

Leslie,

The inspector has told me that the one thing that is letting me down is my fitness and he is very aware that my shin splints are an issue. He knows that he cannot stop me from officiating short of refusing to appoint me to games which they can't do because of the shortage of referees.

If I was fit, I would be doing between 8 and 10 games a weekend!!!! THAT is how short they are. 40% of games go short of officials, the ones that are covered, don't have full sets of officals. Within reason, the Premier League firsts and reserves are covered with three officials, but even then it isn't possible to achieve weekend in and out.

Our branch coach has expressed concern with the amount of games I am doing and has asked the appointments officers to ease up on me - not meaning to blow my own trumpet, but I am a good referee and they want to utilise me.

Needless to say, a maximum of four matches a weekend has been imposed till I reach full fitness level. They will be wanting to send me out of district for my class two field inspections soon. I can't qualify fully as a class two tll I achieve two passes on field inspection despite passing the theory exam.

FASTER MIKE!!

have you tryed gingeng, supossed to give you more energy, suppossed to be used by athelets.
as for you shin splints how old are you shoes? don`t know if football boots are effeced(asumuing your using them?) but with trainers you should change them every 6-12 months or as soon as soon as there is cresesing the cushioning.
as said above see a phycio about them as there is a number of reasons for having them, pronating, leg longer than another. i was told by my phycio that most people pronate but it never bothers them

mike

[Edited by FASTER MIKE!! - 21/06/2003 13:40:26]

Little Miss WRX

Faster Mike, going to look into using ginseng to see if that has more effect.

I have been suffering from a long term virus (similar to ME but thet haven't identified it as such - so far teh virus has wreaked havoc with my respiratory system, my stomach, digestive system and kidneys. ) maybe that is rearing it's ugly head again.

I have been taking cod liver capsules and also multi-vitamins.

In order to combat the side effects of taking Ibuprofen (I am allergic to it) I have been taking antihistamines and steroids. (Though this has only been today after my slip).

Shake me and I rattle baby.

Funnily enough Faster Mike, I had three sets of trainers in the UK (didn't use them often) and have only discovered problems since buying new trainers.......I wear Nike Air Zoom soccer boots (useful for when the ground is wet), Puma grass boots (these are really comfortable with my orthotics but horrendous with their normal sole, Slazenger cheapos for just wearing out and about and Nike Air Max with "tuned air" for training on grass.

I now wear my orthotic soles in all and have noticed a remarkable improvement in my performance, but alas it was too late to prevent the shin splints which the main cause was doing a vast amount of games in a short space of time on hard surfaces (the pitches in Australia are VERY hard ).
I have seen my physio three times now about the shin splints, he says I am improving, but I do need to see a podiatrist as a matter of urgency.....trouble is, the podiatrists around here obviously don't need the money as they rarely have appointments.

Leslie

Ok Michelle, you've got some energy already for sure. You obviously love refereeing and thats what counts. Well you will do as much as you can I imagine, hope its all alright in the end. Sorry to hear about those health problems. Don't know how you are managing to cope with all that.

Best of luck with the Class 2.

Les

Little Miss WRX

Les,

I think it is sheer stubborness and an I don't give a crap attitude about the illness - I shall not let it beat me.

It's a love and hate thing with refereeing, one minute you can be the most loved person on the pitch, every decision you make is spot on, the next, you are like a piece of dog crap that someone has stepped on with their brand new shoes....
Overall, I do like giving something back to the game I love - some teams would disagree with me.

Oh and I forgot the bananas.... I will have to remember them tomorrow because they are starting to look a bit unloved and unhappy LOL!!!!

Michelle.

Little Miss WRX

I woke up this morning barely able to walk with pain, gritted my teeth and limped into the shower. Slowly the pain eased up, got ready for my matches and slathered the old anti-inflammatory gel and strapped my ankles up, slipped my orthotics into my grass trainers and hobbled out to the car.

I was walking easier by the time I got to the ground (aided by painkillers ), whacked a couple of supplement chewy tablets in my mouth and supped on my Powerade with added glucose powder, whilst walking around aimlessly looking for fellow officials.

Eventually the guy who was refereeing the first senior game showed up and we walked towards the correct pitch (four pitches at that ground). A third official appeared telling us that he was on our game too....woohoo, a full set!
Then a dude with a Scottish accent came up asking if one of us could referee his all age senior division 9 game. Obviously the referee doing the current match couldn't do it, the other official had already done three games and that left me.
Yep, muppet here did the centre - fortunately, a game on another pitch had been abandoned, so there were two junior refs who I conned into doing the line on my game.
I was actually running quite well considering and managed to stay up with play (except when they were hoofing the ball up and down the pitch ) and was near on 10 yards away from a badly timed tackle which resulted in a near brawl.

I threw myself between them and bodily pushed them apart, other team mates were running in and I screamed at them to get lost whilst getting the whistle to blast in the faces of the players who were facing up to each other. No blows were landed or even threatened, just a lot of jumbled insults and players telling me what to do. One player put his hand on my shoulder and I turned to him and growled "Don't you dare touch me or I will walk you off this pitch faster than you can say it". He hastily backed off.
I then told them all to take a time out and pulled the worst offenders aside whilst keeping an eye on the others.
Due to the previous half and minutes having no issues I decided that I would caution the players involved for ungentlemanly remarks towards other players. Three of them copped a yellow.
The last offender I congratulated, which confused him at which point I told him that if he had kept his nose out, he wouldn't be in the book. All players apologised and calmed down, I left things a bit longer so that they concentrated on getting annoyed at me for holding the game up as opposed to each other.
I told each one that if I had cause to stop the game because of something that they did, then they would be walking off the pitch with a red faster than I would blow the whistle.

This seemed to work, the next bad tackle, I came down hard with a yellow......the remaining minutes of the match proved to be the best minutes and all players were as good as gold. My judgement had paid off. (phew )

After the match, a player (who was also a fellow official) came running up saying that the next game was ready to kick off. I was still filling in the team sheet with the cautions and such!
I hadn't had time during half time in the previous match to have a drink and I was parched. I handed the team sheet over, grabbed my bag and was trying to swig a bottle whilst running to the next pitch.
I dumped my bag by the sideline, told my junior assistant basically same thing as last match and started the match!

To be honest, I was moving quite well considering I wasn't fully match fit and was nearby for fouls. Was a good match, no real dramas, both teams happy wth my performance.

Afterwards I was so thirsty I couldn't drink. :-/
Now, my shins are pretty sore, but not as much as they have been. with some good rest and stretching as well as anti-inflammatories it should only be a couple of weeks before I resume a full training program.

Sorry about the long post!!! I forgot the bananas again.

terzo42

hi little miss,in a recent series of tests including all the top sports drinks it was found honey was the only thing that kept blood sugar levels stable for more than 2 hours after exercise all natural to

dave