This is unfortunately something that I have, that affects my skating at every practice. It sucks, it hurts, and it causes me to drop out of practice. It’s uber frustrating, since most people don’t understand it and think I’m just dropping out from endurance, muscle weakness, laziness, etc. They think I should work through it and build up my muscles so I don’t have to drop out next time. CS (compartment syndrome) doesn’t work that way. It’s not a matter of buidling up the muscle or training through it. And it is NOT shin splints. It’s a biological thing with the way your body was made, and it takes surgery to correct it.
I’m going to try and explain it here, but if something is unclear, please feel free to ask questions.
What generally aggravates it for me is:
- anything dealing with cross overs (like pace lines, which is why I do not do cross overs)
- Two stepping
- Toe Stop Running/Walking
- Being in a fast paced jam with lots of falling & hitting
Now I’ll try and explain why that happens…
Compartment Syndrome is something that can affect people in various areas of the body. It’s something that is relatively uncommon, but is mostly related to carpal tunnel in the wrists. In athletes though, it generally appears in the lower leg. Compartment syndrome arises when the pressure inside this enclosed space increases to the point where it interferes with the blood supply to the structures. There are two types of CS, one being Accute, and the other being Chronic (this is what I have).
Accute CS is usually caused by some type of trauma to the leg and should be treated immediately, as it can cause permanent damage rapidly.
I’m going to focus on Chronic CS, because that is what I suffer from.
Without getting into all the medical terminology (it just confuses me and most other people), what happens is this:
You have the muscles in your leg. The muscles are encased by a ligament. Muscles can enlarge during activity – from the extra blood flow – And normally, the ligament allows for this expanding. Ligaments, unlike muscles, do not expand. With Chronic CS, the ligament does not allow for this expansion. So the muscle gets larger, but has no where to go.
Think of it like this:
The ligament is a piece of plastic pipe. The muscle is a dry sponge within that pipe. When you add water to the sponge (or blood to the muscle), it naturally expands. In most cases, the pipe is large enough to accommodate the expansion of the sponge. With CS, the pipe is too small and the sponge can only expand so much before it fills the pipe, which causes pressure on the pipe walls.
Does that make sense?
What comes from that pressure, is an intense pain in my shins that is not alleviated by anything other than ice. If I try to keep skating, I eventually lose all control of my feet. I get, what they call “Drop Toe”. Where if I lift my foot up, my toe just drops. I cannot physically lift my foot because the muscle will not allow it. The pain is, at times, so intense that the only way for me to get off the track or to my ice is to crawl.
There is no amount of physical therapy that can treat this. Like I said : Ligaments do not stretch. The only treatment, aside from ice (which cools the muscle, and causes the expansion to go down), is surgery. They will basically go in and slice the ligament, which will open it up and allow the muscle to have the space it needs. It’s a pretty black and white process. You go in with the ailment, have the surgery, and come back without the pain. But, as you know, surgery does have its risks and also can be expensive. Which is why I opt for the ice.
Now, some days it’s worse than others. If I’m tired, it seems to affect me faster. Which I assume has to do with my form while I’m skating. I have tried new wheels which don’t have me sliding as much as before, and that has helped immensely. I still can only do so much though. I just wanted to cover this because a lot of people don’t understand that it’s not something that gets better with more activity. Nor with working out and building the muscle. It’s basically Ice or Surgery.
I hope that helps some people understand it a little better. Again, please feel free to ask me any questions. I’ll try my best to answer them.
For More information, please see this article.
