inner-ankle/shin pain. Anyone ever deal with this?

Sure sounds like a possible stress fracture to me. Or a stress reaction. At a minimum, you shouldn't be running on this. Good luck.

tibial stress fracture. 6 weeks off give or take. don't run.

Can't diagnose you, but can tell you from experience(s) that a good general rule is that if you are limping on it, or it feels worse as the run progresses, then bite the bullet and don't run on it.

I've had a few stress reaction/fracture scares on the inner leg/shin. One thing I would suggest is that you sit down and slowly explore your entire lower leg with your thumbs & fingers. Look for any sore spots, knots, etc anywhere (in the muscles, DEEP in the muscles, right along the edge of the bones, etc...

Anything you find, give some nice strong massage, as well as some self-pseudo-trigger point therapy. Use your thumb to apply some firm pressure to any knots or painful areas. Firm, but not crazy-hard. Hold for 30-45 seconds. Repeat as necessary. Also try moving the closest joints while you press on the spot and see if it helps release anything.

I have had luck fixing a few persistent injuries this way. Both times I found a sore, knotted spot about 3 inches higher up on the leg that I didn't even know was sore until digging in with my fingers/thumb. What had been painful for a week or two very quickly started feeling better.

After working any sore spots, apply some ice, or at least put cold water on it in the shower.

Recovery/compression socks can also be a good idea when you are sleeping or between runs, as they increase the bloodflow which can help promote recovery.

Good luck.

Could be a stress fracture.. or reaction. How old are your shoes?

I had something similar about 10 years ago after not taking a day off training for about 8 months. It was on the inside of my left shin, about 4" up from the ankle bone, right where the calf muscle and shin bone meet. It was a circle spot of hell, about the size of a dime, maybe a little smaller. I didn't get pain in my foot, it was all local to my shin. It would hurt starting about 2 minutes into any run and get worse until I was limping along, I really couldn't take it for more than 20-30 minutes before stopping. I don't take ibuprofen, just iced, and it always felt better after icing but maybe that was just because I stopped running on it. If I pushed on that spot it was an acute sharp pain, but if I pushed 1" away no problem.

Our athletic trainer (who has been my go-to for sports injuries for 30 years, he's magic) diagnosed it as a torn shin membrane that probably happened when I rolled my ankle out on the trails one day. Even though I rolled it in the other direction (i.e to the outside) he suspected it was kind of a "bounce back" injury when I compensated for the sudden roll. He showed me the spot and you could feel a whole that wasn't there on my right leg if you pushed the right place.

It was the end of the fall and I was moving into ski coaching so I just took 3 months off running and it healed. It hurt like hell to buckle my skate ski boots because the buckle pushed right into that spot, but it didn't hurt to ski. I'd say it took about 4-6 weeks for the pain to go away when I put on my boots. No issues since then but I'm not running as many miles/days as I was back then.

Thanks everyone for your responses!

I have a doctors appointment next Tuesday.

I did some walking on it today, and the pain is more inner but behind my ankle, and feels weak. I'm pretty bummed. If I press on the spot, it burns, but it's just slightly behind the bone.

I am currently overcoming a similar injury...don't run on it until you have direction- you will only make it worse. But time will heal it. Trust your body, and don't shy away from getting a 2nd opinion if things seem to not make sense from the dr. In Jan, when training for a half marathon, I began to get an ankle hot spot that I continued to run through for a month and a half. I finally went to the doctor when the hotspot was bad enough to make me walk with a limp. This doctor misread the MRI and indicated to take 2 weeks off, wear a boot, then go back to normal activity. Four weeks later the pain was worse and walking was difficult. I got a copy of the MRI, went to a different doctor, who showed me the MRI actually indicated a fracture in the ankle! Long story short, if I would have listened to my body when the diagnosis did NOT seem correct, I could have been back running in 8 weeks. Now its almost June and I finally starting the comeback. Keep us posted on your injury and progress.

Thank ou for your response!!

Did your ankle hurt when you were resting?? Mine seems to get a strong twinge pain in the back/inner side of my ankle every so often. But mostly just hurts and feels super weak when I run or workout. When I touch it, it hurts, if I dig my thumb a little behind the ankle bone, if i touch that, it's a STRONG burning sensation.

I can't believe a doctor read the MRI wrong... Makes me wonder.. I had a shin injury about a month ago, got an MRI, and the doctor said my MRI was "fine." He doesn't really give me a lot of detail (i've seen him in the past a knee injury).. and just says if I keep running, i'm ruining my body

Thanks soo much for sharing your experience with the injury! That's exciting that you're starting the comeback process!