During the aforementioned four weeks (the time between when the numbing, tingling, pain in my shins began to cut down my runs, and when I actually went to a doctor) I began to suffer from a gradually debilitating lower back pain. It started subtly, but it got to the point, that by the end of four weeks, I couldn't even reproduce the numbing/tingling sensation in the lateral shins because my lower back was not even permitting me to run the required amount to bring on the leg symptoms!
I frantically went to two orthopedists, who, after hearing my history, concluded that I was first having shin splints, and gave me the company line that due to extremely tight hamstrings, my back was acting up. Solution? Physical Therapy for the back, and rest from running (which I could not do anyways due to the back).
Physical Therapy helped, and I got my lower back to be once again compliant with running - and then to my surprise, the symptoms in my shins came back even worse than before, along with an ever-shifting lower back pain (sometimes more lateral, sometimes down in the upper buttocks, and sometimes even closer up to the mid-back) that was bothersome, but not nearly as painful as pre-physical therapy back pain.
It was then that I decided to seek a third opinion from a back specialist, whose diagnosis has informed all my treatment since then. When I gave her my history, she stopped me at what I described as shin splints - When I told her my exact symptoms, she replied, "that sounds much more like compartment syndrome" - and then she tried to put the pieces together - This is what she theorized: When I continued to run through the CS pain, I had to alter my gait due to the lack of function of my lower leg muscles, which consequently completely threw off my biomechanics, thus aggravating my back. As my back got aggravated, I began to compensate with other muscles, thus weakening my back/core further, which required physical therapy. She suggested I get an intracompartmental test, as that is basically the only way to test for exertional compartment syndrome (unless you live near a place that is experimenting with the MRI diagnostic procedure).
That is one thing I have not seen on any site with people detailing their CS symptoms - anyone else experience any sort of back pain in conjunction with the CS?
Next: intracompartmental test - kinda sucky
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI do have the same problems you described for a few months now. It all started as a ''shin splint'' and now I have a hard time walking even 30min without pain. My lower back is killing me and I have small balls behind my calves that were diagnosed as lipomas at first but I am pretty sure they are muscle hernias. Did anyone else experience that?
Thanks a lot for this blog as it has helped me see that all my symptoms were caused by CS.
Cheers
Hey, thanks for your comments! I actually did not mention it, but I did have a fascial hernia on the outside of my right lower leg, and it does feel somewhat similar to a "ball"-like shape - In the end, my surgeon said that it was probably a product of the CS, but was not causing my symptoms and thus he chose not to address it. Fascial hernias are known to sometimes be symptoms of CS, so seek out a second opinion!
ReplyDeleteHey Sam,
ReplyDeleteI'm actually going in for a bilateral fasciectomy tomorrow, your blog is fantastic describes my problems to a tee. Started off with mild shin pain, started getting really bad back pain, went to PT, finally got diagnosed with compartment syndrome. Did your back pain go away after getting the procedure? I haven't read all of your blog but so far it's been very informative, thanks for putting this together!
Tim B