What could this leg pain be? - When walking?

Lately, I've noticed that when I walk home from school (a 20 or so minute walk and walk it relatively fast), I get pain in my leg about halfway between my ankle and my knee (on the front of my leg, not the back). The pain feels like it's on the bone, not in any muscle or anything. For awhile it was in both legs, but now it's just in my right leg. It hurts at that halfway point and then my foot gets kinda numb...it's hard to describe. Walking on grass makes the pain a little less. There's no bruising or deformity at all...I've never injured my leg, although, as a kid, I had to go to a foot doctor for some of those insoles for my shoes.





What could this be and HOW can I make it stop?

What could this leg pain be? - When walking?
It sounds like you are experiencing shinsplints. This is a very painful injury caused by inflammmation of the tibial and toe extensor muscles as a result of repeated minimal traumas, such as running on a hard surface. You would first want to check with your health care professional for a diagnosis.


A combination of stretching and strengthening exercises may help to control your symptoms. Icing your shins for approximately ten minutes on a daily basis may help to control the pain as well. This particular topic has been covered by the Athletic Training expert panel under shinsplints. The experts have outlined a basic stretching and strengthening routine which may help you. I hope this information will be helpful to you.





edit:


Stress fractures are far less common than shin splints, stress fractures mandate complete cessation of running or even brisk walking. Sometimes shin splints do too, but you can walk less, modify your footware, take anti-inflammatory medication, ice and stretch, and get through a bad case of shin splints. Stress fractures are a different story. It is virtually impossible to heal an established stress fracture without avoiding high impact activity.





So, the difference makes a difference. How can you distinguish the two? Establishing the precise location of pain and tenderness may provide clues. Stress fractures usually cause more localized pain and tenderness, often transverse (a line parallel to the ground when standing), whereas shin splints often produce more longitudinal pain and tenderness, i.e.- up and down the leg, perpendicular to the ground when standing. Shin splints are more often bilateral, while bilateral stress fractures are rare. But (there is always a "but" in medicine) there are always exceptions to these generalizations.


Get it checked out. X-rays are unreliable for early detection of stress fractures, as they are often normal, even when a fracture is truly present. This is because the "crack" may be so small that it cannot be seen on the x-ray picture. Most often, the first x-ray sign of a stress fracture seen on x-ray is the new bone of healing, "callus", a late finding. Therefore, more sensitive and more expensive tests may be necessary to distinguish the two, such as a bone scan or MRI.


Try alternating between two pairs of shoes to allow time for the cushioning to recover. Try stretching before walking everyday but get to a Doctor asap if it keeps on.



aircraft