middle of the night ankle pain...

[Madeline]

I tried to do some sleuthing before i posted to see if anyone else was having this issue but didn't come up with anything.



I'm running 3 miles consistently, about 3 times/week and my feet are feeling good for the most part. My ankles are tight when i first start out and it takes me a good 1/3 -1/2 a mile for them to loosen up.



The problem that I am having is that I am getting an almost charlie-horse type pain on the front of my ankle in the middle of the night. It's not every night and not always the day i run but every few nights I move my foot in the wrong direction and my ankle (front, where it hits top of foot, slightly more towards the inside, but sometimes towards the outside too) starts to REALLY hurt, like i've twisted it. I'm able to get up and walk for a minute and its fine and doesnt seem to hurt in the morning, and again, walking and running seem to be fine, except for a little tightness at the beginning of a run...

I've had pain in all the conceivable parts of the foot so far in my barefoot training but then it seems to go away once my foot gets used to it. So i'm just wondering if this too shall pass? or if i may have something to worry about?

 

[C. Beth Run.]

Okay, if you spend much time

Okay, if you spend much time around here you'll find I'm a huge fan of rolling out your tightness with trigger point therapy. That being said--I'm NOT a doctor, so please find a good physical therapist if you need one. And THAT being said, the technique I'm going to write about here is one I learned at the great physical therapy place I went to for the last two weeks.

I'm finding that my front-ankle aching seems to be caused at least partially by shin tightness. I'm running a lot of miles right now (well, a lot for me) in prep for my first half marathon, so my shins are tightening up more than usual.

Here's what they've taught me:


Sit down (might help to be against a wall.) Pull one knee up to chest. Make sure foot is NOT on floor. Use tennis ball to make little circles on your shin until you find sore spot on shin muscle (outside muscle of leg--start next to shin bone, NOT on the bone.) When you find a sore spot, push ball into that spot with both hands. Flex foot, push ball in a little harder, and "slap" foot toward the ground three times (or sometimes I do 6). Move on to another spot. Go all down the shin working whatever spots you find. You can work these areas as many TIMES per day as you want (try for 2-3 minimum while you're healing), but DON’T stay on one trigger point for very long. Each “rolling” session should be short.
They also have me doing some fantastic ankle strengthening exercises. The ones I like the most utilize a resistance band; do you have one? I can type out that one if you're interested; let me know. The one that is easiest to do any time, any place, is to write the alphabet with your toes. They taught it to me sitting on the floor with my calf up on a foam block, but I've done these in the past just sitting in a chair too. The foot needs to be off the ground, and you just move your toes to write the alphabet. You'll feel it working and stretching all around that ankle.

Once again, this is all coming 3rd-hand...doctor to me to you...so please don't take it as medical advice.

The other thing I'd add is, I've been conservative in terms of how quickly I've built up my barefoot/minimalist miles, and I still have had various aches and pains. Some of us just take awhile to adjust.

Hope your ankle is better soon!

 

[C. Beth Run.]

Oh, and a P.S. There's also

Oh, and a P.S.

There's also this foot-strengthening exercise they're having me do that I think might help with the front of the ankle too. And it's fun. Just sit in a chair, and pour out a cup of marbles on the carpet (or on a towel if it's hard floor) in front of you. Pick up the marbles with your toes and put them in the cup. Repeat with other foot. Do 3 sets with each foot. (At the PT place, they had 20 marbles; I have 15.) This is supposed to help with arch strength & also the big toe, but I can also feel it in my ankle. It's all connected....

 

[Barefoot TJ]

You should consider having

You should consider having your blood tested for calcium and Vitamin D-25H (which isn't even a vitamin; it's considered a mineral). I used to be a gymnast, and I would get leg calf cramps once in awhile in the middle of the night. Of course, it was so painful, it would wake me out of my sleep. My dad would have me stand on my tippy toes to get the cramp to stop. This went on for a good two or three years. I was told that it had to do with a calcium deficiency. You will want to have your Vit-D and calcium levels checked, specifically, but in the meantime, you can increase your calcium intake. As your pharmacist what is the best thing going these days. Good luck.

 

[Peanut]

Cramps in the legs -

Cramps in the legs - magnesium

My husband was getting them in his calves - started taking about 800mg of mg before bed. No more leg cramps.

Peanut

 

[JosephTree]

My .02:It's just a phase in

My .02:

It's just a phase in your changing leg muscle development / adaption. I've gone through moments of all different little pains in my feet and ankles, especially at night of first thing in the mornings. They never last more than a few minutes and rarely were the same for more than a few days on end. The key to me was that the pain was low grade, intermittant, and transient.

My strategy for dealing with my ankle / foot aches: Stretch and keep moving. I'm too lazy to bother with ice or with massage unless I can get #1 GF to contribute her attention.

For a while there I got sore ankles every time I drove more than 20 minutes at a time. Now I don't even think about it anymore. I do look for signs after a strenuous trail run or particularly long pavement run.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Yes, Magnesium can cause the

Yes, Magnesium can cause the same trouble. My problems pertained to a calcium deficiency. I went on later in life to find that I had developed hyperparathyroidism (a benign tumor developed on one of the four parathyroids), so I had to have it removed (very long story), but since having it removed 8-1/2 years ago, my calcium levels are always in the normal range now. It's good to get your blood checked anyway, and now that you have a good excuse, a decent doctor won't question it.

 

[Madeline]

  thanks, all. i know i

thanks, all.


i know i have an iron deficiency... close to the same thing?





c. beth, thanks for the info on the shin trigger point... based on some of your previous posts i've been rolling out my calves like crazy, but never thought i could do the same thing with shins.





joseph, i hope you're right, just growing pains. that's what i've guessed and since nobody told me this was an urgent problem, i think thats what ill continue to believe. so far its nothing i can't live with. and all the other pains i've been worried about are in the past so hopefully this will be too!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

If you take iron supplements

If you take iron supplements be sure to to take the ones that don't cause constipation. I know there are two types of iron, and more than likely you will do fine with the one that doesn't cause constipation. Ask your doctor and pharmacist.

(See all, I'm a mess.)

 

[twinkletoes]

You're not a mess TJ- just

You're not a mess TJ- just very aware of your body- I think Barefooting increases that?

Herbalife has a liquid iron that is all vegetable based and won't cause constipation. I always bought mine in a vitamin/healthfood store.

I too used to have trouble with iron. Discovered I was seriously lactose intolerant and lo, when I quit eating dairy my iron levels went up. Go figure.

Vitamin C is also very important for tissue repair and when I started taking large supps of C, my soreness and nighttime twitching/charley horses seemed to abate.

 

[ajb422]

I agree with it quite

I agree with it quite possibly not being a big deal *disclaimer this is me thinking while typing without too much research*. We are really demanding a huge change in our feet, I mean its actually visible and everything. Much like what we all did as teenagers when you'd grow a couple inches over a years time. Over the last few weeks I've thought my feet seriously felt like I was just having growing pains except that mine last for an entire day not just at night. But if you were 15 yrs old and describing what you did above to me only in your legs or something any doctor would say "you are fine they are just growing pains" so its arguably just your feet making massive changes over a short period of time and it'll hurt occasionally. And real growing pains, like teenagers have, really do strike as acute pain in the middle of the night that is gone by morning. Identical to what you described.

p.s. everyone should be careful with taking iron without a doctors supervision, your body doesn't have an effective way to get rid of iron except bleeding and its pretty easy to get too much especially if you are male. Athletes always worry me when they talk about taking iron supplements without first getting tested. Mine is borderline low so I usually only take one once or twice a week and I've even cut that out since running bf since I think mine was induced by running shod (breakage in blood vessels in the bottom of the foot can cause anemia and I'm not convinced that happens bf) and I haven't gotten tested lately.