WHY AM I ALWAYS GETTING INJURED

If you are serious that one leg is an inch longer than the other (and this switches around), your posture is totally messed up and is certainly your problem. You must address this immediately or you will never be injury free.

I would start with a good chiropractor, preferably one who is used to runners.

Brisket wrote:

If you are serious that one leg is an inch longer than the other (and this switches around), your posture is totally messed up and is certainly your problem. You must address this immediately or you will never be injury free.

I would start with a good chiropractor, preferably one who is used to runners.

completely serious, its not exactly one inch buts its damn close to it. i think it happened because i dislocated my left kne (the longer one)and the growth plates never healed right.

how would a chiropractor be able to fix this? would they like crack my back and hips in a way where it might make the length less noticeable? ill definitely try to see into that tho

Leg length discrepancies can be structural or postural. If it is structural, it would not fluctuate one side, then the other. So a chiropractor or an orthopedist can help with alignment issues. If your problem really is structural, you need an orthopedist for sure. Good luck!

Bump.

Come on people, this kid needs help.

Brisket wrote:

Leg length discrepancies can be structural or postural. If it is structural, it would not fluctuate one side, then the other. So a chiropractor or an orthopedist can help with alignment issues. If your problem really is structural, you need an orthopedist for sure. Good luck!

when you say structural, what exactly do you mean by that? and by postural, it could be as simple as just standing right?

Because you are a runner!

Some people are just lucky and avoid it

Try avoiding the track for training if possible. Train on grass instead + avoid roads. Min shoes are great as long as you stay on grass trails:

Kenyan motto 'roads are death for young legs'

If doing track wear flats or spikes - not anything with too much of a heel like normal training shoes. I like Adidas shoes as they are light but give better support than some makes...but everyones feet are different experiment a bit once

One leg is always a bit different to the other - like one arm is stronger than the other. Try doing some weights by building strength in other muscles you can keep the strain off injured areas

Runningart is good for weights advice. I found when I was doing weights or circuit training I had less running injuries

But before that see a physio or some specialist for him to give you specific advice for splints and a doctor to sort you iron out. Find someone with a positive attitude and share that attitude yourself. You are a runner and that's that ..don't give in

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Because you are a runner!

I loved the first bit, it made me laugh. in regards to the track training stuff... if i train with a racing flat versus lets say a newton shoe itll be better on my shins than if i were to use the newtons? i havent done too much weight training this seaosn yet, really only abs stuff. the runningart thing, is it a book or sumthing? should i focus the weights on lower body or upper?

bump

I had them for 2 years.

What helped:

- switch to minimalist shoes and work on midfoot strike

- MSM (same as DMSO but cheaper and without side effects, it's basically sulfur supplement - it helped most)

- bone strengthening - hardcore supplementation with vitamin D (high doses), A, K (actually active form, K2), magnesium and calcium - but with rate like 1:1 instead of 1:2 suggested in literature

seems my shins were at least partially due to my posture problems (old injury in opposite leg), but my main problems were lack of sulfur and weak bones.

(sorry for my English)

Your muscles are too weak to support your weight. Either you are overweight or have a weak core, probably both. Loose weight, strengthen your core, dont run hills, and cut out speed for a while and see what happens. You can run slowly and long.

Run in SOFT surfaces! Stop running in pavement. The roads are not are friends. If you don't want shin splints you'll stop running on the road. Simple. Don't have trails? neither do I. But theres always grass beside the road.

your reading comprehension needs work. he didn't say the length discrepancy changes sides. the pain does.

I stand corrected - I read too fast.In answer to OP: structural means leg bones are actually shorter on one side. Postural means the way you are standing when you measure your leg length. A tilted pelvis, for example, will make one leg appear shorter. This can be corrected fairly easily, but you can see that your gait cannot be symmetrical if one pendulum (leg) is shorter than the other. I am not an expert, but I imagine that would create all sorts of tranverse motion and torque that must burden and fatigue muscles, causing further breakdown of form and ultimately injury.I am not necessarily disagreeing with anyone else here, but I think you have to sort this out before considering other possible causes.

mmmmmmm wrote:

your reading comprehension needs work. he didn't say the length discrepancy changes sides. the pain does.

I doubt it is a structural issue. That is pretty rare. More likely, you are not properly aligned and are in need of chiropractic treatment. I would look into it if I were you. It really made a difference in my running and also helped balance my weight from one side of the body to the other. I came in with a 22lb. discrepancy, being heavier on the right side. After about 4 weeks of adjustments, I was down to 10 lbs. I would say this is one of the things that could be causing your problems. Really, both legs should be equal in strenght and length. A chiropractor, I think, is your best choice for helping with both these issues and balancing your body mechanics.

moron dat later wrote:

Your muscles are too weak to support your weight. Either you are overweight or have a weak core, probably both. Loose weight, strengthen your core, dont run hills, and cut out speed for a while and see what happens. You can run slowly and long.

I'm most certainly not overweight, i was underweight if anything when this problem started. im 6 ft weighing in at 157 with about 4-5% body fat. and core is the big thing i work on, i actually have a very strong core.