Plantar Fasciitis, Shin Splints & Achilles Tendonitis
Posted by Jason Bongi on Sat, Jun 26, 2010 @ 10:16 PM
Achilles Tendonitis, Plantar Fasciitis, and
Shin Splints are three of the most typical overuse injuries
in sports. These conditions have a lot of things in common
and affect many athletes in running and jumping sports.
1. Achilles tendonitis is an inflammation of the tendon that connects your calf muscles to the back of the heel. Pain typically occurs about two centimeters above the site of insertion into the heel
2. Plantar fasciitis causes pain on the bottom of the foot at the insertion of this membrane into the inner side of the heel. You may feel pain on the first step after getting
out of bed with this problem. The plantar fascia connects
your toes and forefoot to the heel and supports the arch.
3. Shin splints is a general term for pain in the muscles
and areas along the surface of the shin.
Over Training:
One common feature of these conditions is that they often
result from overtraining. As a general rule athletes who
increase their training stress by more than 10% weekly run
a 50% risk of injury in four weeks.
1. Achilles tendonitis occurs in any level athlete who may
have increased speed workouts, hill running, jumping or
total training volume. Achilles/calf is the major muscle
tendon group responsible for the push-off that leads to
the airborne or “leaping” phase of running.
2. Plantar fasciitis can affect anyone but is more common
in older athletes, overweight athletes or those engaged
in prolonged exercise. Distance runners who run high
mileage; tennis players spending hours on the court on
their toes; and basketball athletes in the midst of two-aday
preseason training are examples of athletes who
frequently develop plantar fasciitis.
3. Shin splints on the other hand typically affect beginners
and underconditioned athletes who dramatically
increase their running at the beginning of the season or
at the start of more intense training. If you are a more
experienced and well conditioned athlete, shin pain
could arise from other causes besides typical shin
splints, such as tibial stress fractures or compartment syndromes.