Sports Massage

Have you ever had a sports massage? Me either, that is, up until very recently. I've been dealing with some ongoing pain in my right shin. Not shin splints, but a strong pain in the inside of my shin. It's so strange that I've even developed a lump. It has been bothering since before I ran the Malibu Marathon back in November and has been acting up as I've been increasing my mileage for the San Francisco Marathon in July. 

I know I should have sought treatment sooner, but there's a part of me that believes pain will go away if I just ignore it long enough. Hey, it happened with my hips!

I finally broke down this weekend and scheduled myself for a sports massage. It was not what I expected. I didn't feel rested and relaxed afterwards. After explaining my pain, the massage therapist went right to work. He zeroed in on my soleus and spent nearly 30 minutes out of my hour massage working on the source of my pain. Working out the knot was as painful as running, probably more so. And it wasn't relaxing, it was work for me to lay still and not yell out in agony! But it worked. When I got off the table, I could no longer feel the pain when walking. The area was sore to the touch (and still is, with some slight bruising), but the knot had loosened up and was gone. 

Today was my first day back running after the "massage" and while I could still feel pain in my shin, it had subsided significantly. I'll keep working on it with the foam roller and I have another appointment in 2 weeks. Hopefully after a couple of treatments, the pain will be gone completely!

Miles logged: 5.0