Over the past few weeks my pain from my shin splints has persisted so I decided to go back to old reliable, 5,000 years old reliable, Acupuncture. Last year when training for the NY Marathon I had some terrible lower leg pains about 30 days before the Marathon and acupuncture saved my legs and my race. I had drunk the acupuncture Kool-Aid and now not only believe in acupuncture but am like one of those Scientologists trying to convince you to take a stress test in the subway. I want to tell you all about it
Acupuncture is based on the belief that living beings have a vital energy, called “qi”, that circulates through twelve invisible energy lines known as meridians on the body. Each meridian is associated with a different organ system. An imbalance in the flow of qi throughout a meridian is how disease begins.
Acupuncturists insert needles into specified points along meridian lines to influence the restore balance to the flow of qi. There are over 1,000 acupuncture points on the body.
My acupuncturist (is that the right term?) is Melani Bolyai who runs Natural Qi here in New York City. You can click on the link to read about her and her practice which I believe specializes in pregnant women, which always leads to weird stares at me in the waiting room. Anyway, Melani diagnosed my shin splints as being a problem with my liver meridian/energy line, which is illustrated below
If you can keep your eyes off certain areas you can see the shin splint pain area (Liv5) is directly connected to the Liver. Now I do not understand how any of this works but trust me it does. My pain has descreased significantly and I am readyto slowly start running again. If you are a runner or are experiencing aches and pains I recommend giving acupuncture a try. If you are pregnant, this may also be your cure.
As always your mileage may vary so please do not write in if acupuncture does not “cure” you
Since I started writing this blog and checking the stats, I have always been shocked by the amount of international traffic I receive on the blog. Awstats is an amazing program that shows your incoming traffic. I have even received emails from some fellow runners around the world looking for information on the DOFB and New York City running
Now settle down because the international traffic is a decent percentage but the number of raw hits it is still real small. And who knows how much of it is junk traffic looking to spam my comments with Cialis offers. Nevertheless now that I am world famous, I would like to shine the spotlight on some other international runners that have visited.
If you are ever visiting Spain or enjoy reading about running in Spanish, check out http://www.club42195.net/
These guys look like serious runners and know what they are doing.
There are 18 days until the NYC Marathon and I am still injured. I have not run more than 5 miles in about 3 weeks and the pain from my shin splints persists, so this race is not looking more like a fun run than a race.
Last year I would have gone out and run these past few weeks and run through the pain. This year I am trying to be smarter and heal the injury before I go back out there. This is part of trying to keep my eyes on the prize of the NYC Marathon and these weeks of rest will do that.
My next step towards healing these shin splints is acupuncture. Now before you laugh I have had tremendous success with acupuncture last year and I am a HUGE believer in its benefits. I will update everyone next week with the process and some pictures of my legs covered in needles. It is pretty impressive.
So this past week with the pain of my shin splints still there I decided to go for some treatment. I had heard good things about ART so I decided to give it a try and get past this pain.
For those of who have never heard of Active Release Technique and how it works here is a short description:
The ART provider uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tension, movement and function of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Abnormal tissues are treated by combining precisely directed tension with very specific patient movements.
Well let me tell you the directed tension hurts like hell. There were a few points I started dripping sweat from the pain and the room may have been 68 degrees and freezing. It is not a painless procedure. The therapist spent about 30 minutes total and then did a little ultrasound and then ice.
The end result is my shin splint feels a little better. I am not sure if the ART technique was a “cure” but it definitely helped in the recovery process. I will go back next week for another session and hopefully can resume normal marathon training. I am way behind in my Pfitzinger training program for the NYC Marathon and need to make sure I do not come back too fast and injure myself again.
So I have been taking a break from running the past 10 days as I have tried to recover from Shin Splints. The routine of rest, ice and elevation has not been working too well and the pain still persists.
I have tried to keep from running but I have to get some light days in and have done so with moderate pain. I have been wearing a brace that is a compression wrap that applies gentle pressure on soft tissue next to the tibia (shin bone), helping prevent additional tearing of the soft tissue away from the tibia. It seems to work and I recommend picking one up for some pain relief while running.
Not my actual leg
I have taken some time off this week to rest and recover and a business trip to Puerto Rico. I am still suffering from some pain from my shin splint and do not want to rush my return. I have made this mistake in the past and is not smart.
In the meantime I have been searching for something that is very hard to find, an Oink invitation. For those who do not know Oink is a music site, that is very hard to join as it is by invitation only. I have been searching these interwebs for weeks and based upon message boards people are begging to get in.
I am assuming there must be a treasure chest within, so I ask if anyone has an invite for this musical Eden can you please send to me at dofb@dofb.com
DOFB
