Pain in my shins and joints after sports, suggestions?

I

indyfan

New member
I've successfully made the transition into sports once again. I've been more active for the past few weeks, eaten better and drank lots more water. As of lately, after playing my weekly games of football, basketball and ultimate frisbee, I notice sharp pain in my right shin and some ankle and joint pain. The pain stays with me for about 4 days or so.


I'm a big guy (334 pounds, 6 feet tall), so I just attributed the pain to my obesity. I feel I am doing more damage than good to my body right now, should I stop playing basketball and football? I'd really hate to because its so much fun.


Any tips or advice?



Thanks guys :piggy:
 
Hmmmm, if it was your muscles id say a cool down, just some stretches. as for joints and ankels i have no idea, some stretches befor and after wouldent hurt tho.
 
Thanks for the reply dlove, but I actually heard on the Get-Fit Guy podcast yesterday that stretching before sports and exercise does not in fact stop injuries.


They found that out back in 2004 or something.
 
It dosent prevent injuries, thats kind of silly that people would even think that, BUT it does help repair muscle and lessen the stress on your body ei: the next day your less likely to get cramping in the area that you have stained
 
Just given your size, it sounds like it's "too much, too soon." I think it's fatastic that you've gotten back into all of those sports, but it might be a good idea to start off a bit slower. All of the sports you listed are quite demanding on the lower body and require a lot of start-stop movements, pivoting, and quick direction changes which could wreak havoc even on someone very light and small if they tried them all at the same time. I know it might be boring for you, but you might want to start with something like a walk/jog program to get your body used to the impact of running before you take on sports that require sudden changes in direction. Another thing to look at is your footwear. Until you lose weight, I'd be willing to bet that you should have a stability shoe - do you know what your shoes are? On that note, I'm guessing you're wearing cleats for football and ulitmate... cleats are terrible footwear in general - they tend to be flat and have zero shock absorption. So take a look and see what you can get for support and shock absorption in a cleat - plus, you'll probably want some with ankle support.


I would recommend taking bit of a break to let your sypmtoms subside... When you start back into activity, if your symptoms return, go see a physical therapist or or physician - if it's something serious like a stress fracture, you don't want to ignore it.


Hope that helps!
 
Thanks for the information PLB, that does help a lot.


I usually wear my Nike trail runners when playing ultimate and football. I'll have to look into stability shoes.


I'll lay off the heavy sports until I've dropped some weight, at least this will give me something to work towards. What do you think would be an O-K weight for me to start sports again? 280? I am rather big framed.
 
I don't even think a specific weight is the guideline that you should go by, it's more of a matter of preparing your body for what you want it to do. Have you ever heard of "couch to 5 K" programs? Basically it's a graduated walk/run program where you run 3 days per week on non-consecutive days, slowly progressing from intervals of 1 minute of running to being able to run 5 kilometers (or 30 minutes) at a time. It's a great way to slowly gear your body up for running. You would only move on to the next stage in the program if you were not experiencing symptoms at the current stage. It might seem easy, but it's worth it to avoid injuries. If you really enjoy playing sports rather than just plain 'ol running, then maybe try just one of the sports that you were playing and stick with that for a while, along with your running program. Then slowly introduce the other activities as your body allows. It's really important to pick activities that you enjoy, not always focusing on what you "should" do. You'll only stick with it if you're having fun!


Someone mentioned stretching in an earlier post. While it might not be a great idea to do a bunch of stretching before a workout or game, it is really important to be properly warmed up. Dynamic warm-ups (not bouncing stretches) are probably the best... if all you can do is 5 or 10 mins of some light aerobic activity, then that's a bit better than going into a session cold. Stretching AFTER a game or workout can be very beneficial. When you're running (or playing most sports), calves, hamstrings, quads, hip flexors and glutes should be stretched. Depending on your sports, some upper body stretches might be beneficial as well.
 
Indy fan. The sports you are in love with involve a lot of starting, stopping and abrupt movements. That is what is causing the joint problems. You need to figure out how many times a week or a month you can do this kind of thing. Jogging in my opinion will be much easier on your joints. However if you hate to jog then perhaps this will not help you. Perhaps you need to reduce your sports activities until you first lose the weight?


I'm 52 and I jog 7 miles a day and I have no stiffness, or pain the next day. But I'd be a seriously hurting guy if I played a game of football or basketball. Those activities are much harder on your joints. Just my humble opinion my friend. We all have to figure our own way through it. I'm just giving you my humble opinion.
 
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