Muscle soreness in outside of lower leg...

[sleepy]

I'm a RHBH thrower, and I'm noticing muscle soreness in the outside of my lower left leg after playing disc golf. I played 51 holes in a tourney on Sunday and 18 holes at league last night. It was sore Monday morning, so I know it was the tourney that caused it, and I'm sure league didn't help.

It's not my shin, or my calf...it's the muscle that runs between them on the outside of the leg, up from the ankle to the knee. It's most sore just above the ankle, to about halfway up my leg. I notice it most when walking, and while walking it hurts most when pushing off with my left foot. I'm thinking it's caused by pushing off laterally with my left leg when driving from the teepad.

I'm not 100% sure if this is the muscle, but it feels like it:


I'd appreciate any thoughts/opinions/cures anyone can share!


sleepy

[TexasOutlaw]

You got me there. I was thinking achilles tendon until I saw the diagram.
If it's sore, you may be using a muscle or muscle group that you seldom do. If it's just soreness, it should work itself out. (Make sure you are stretching).

If it keeps bother you I would just ice it, take an anti-inflammatory pill, and keep chugging along.

[Blake_T]

you may have been straining it during the pivot... i would pass through the pivot motion a few times and see if that is the culprit.

[roadkill]

Sleepy,
I used to experience the exact same pain. I haven't in awhile, so I might be doing something slightly different.

However here's a tidbit from my own personal experience you may find helpful:

I recently adjusted the plant position of my front foot that has given me more power and less pain (nice combination). For as long as I can remember I planted my front foot with my toes pointed at 10 o'clock and heel pointed at 4 o'clock. Recently I've adjusted it so my foot is pointed more towards the target. Almost 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock. This enables me to get more weight over my front foot at the point of release and helps me finish stronger. I'm also able to pivot and finish so my left shoulder is pointed at the target and my rear foot comes around and finishes in front of my plant foot.

This adjustment takes alot of stress off my plant knee and ankle. I instantly added about 30' onto my drive and have been playing without my knee brace without pain. This adjustment may or may not help you but it's worth the try.

[sleepy]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give it a try tonight in the field and see how it feels.

Roadkill-

Thanks for the tip...but does it still apply since the pain is in my back (left) foot...not my plant (right) foot?

Regarding the plant foot pointing towards the target; at what point in the throwing motion does your plant foot hit the ground? It seems to me that if the disc was still at it's furthest point in the reachback when your plant foot hits the ground, your body would be coiled with your back almost facing the target...making it rather hard to plant your foot with the toes pointing at the pin.

Or is it that you've already started to rotate the hips, and begun the whip-motion by the time your plant foot hits the ground? This seems a bit easier to visualize planting the foot w/ the toes towards the pin. I'll have to work on it a bit, since this isn't at all what I'm doing presently. I've never seen video footage of myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if my plant foot is pointing towards 9 and 3 o clock.


sleepy

[Blake_T]

pain in the back foot/leg is usually linked to toe dragging during the x-step.

[roadkill]

Sleepy,

Actually while rehearsing the X step just now in my office I think the pain in the rear leg is due to the angle of your lower leg as you cross behind your plant foot in your crossover (crossunder) step. Try it in ultraslow motion and freeze frame yourself as your left foot is planted behind your right foot. When I did this I noticed that a high percentage of my weight was concentrated over the outside of my left foot. The greater the degree of crossunder the more this is true. I believe this is the source of your (and my) pain.

Possible solutions: Keeping your steps quicker and lighter will reduce the amount of weight that the rear (left) leg bears in the crossunder step. Secondly you may want to make your steps smaller, especially the cross behind step. This will reduce that harsh angle of your lower leg and will allow the weight to be more evenly distributed across your left foot. I believe a combination of these two solutions will reduce and/or eliminate this pain within a week or two.

[sleepy]

roadkill-

That sounds very accurate. I will have to verify that later tonight in the field, but just from memory, I can already tell that you may be on to something. I do try and take a very deep crossunder step, and I'm willing to bet that it's just the outside portion of the toes/ball of my left foot that bear all the body-weight during this part of the x-step...which would also explain why the pain is felt during the push-off motion while walking.

I'll try and modify my x-step in the manner you've suggested...and I'll make sure that I'm not dragging my toes either.

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions!


sleepy

[roadkill]

Sleepy,

The other adjustment that I noted wasn't really directed specificly at your lower leg pain. It was more just sharing something that I stumbled upon while doing some field testing/form tweaking.

In conjunction with the foot adjustment I've compacted my throwing motion. I've reduced the length of my stride and the length of my reachback. At the furthest point back my right hand is approximately where my left shoulder was before I started my rotation. This is probably more due to adding more bend to my elbow than anything else as my hip and shoulder rotation are similar to before. I start my forward swing just prior to my foot plant. My disc is at my left pec as I plant my front foot

If you want to refer to this months issue of DGWN on page 44 there's a good picture of Steve Brinster. Steve is among the biggest and smoothest throwers from my region. (And by biggest I mean length of throw, not his physical heigth ) Look at his foot placement and weight distribution. Front foot is pointed down his target line and nearly all his weight is over his plant leg at the point of release. In case you've never seen him in action, he's about 5'6" and can consistently throw 480-520'. Btw, biting your tongue is optional.

[TheUberDork]

Had the exact same trouble a month or so ago. Doctor gave me some tylenol and said it was most likely a form of shin splints. I just started stretching more and worked on my x-step form and it has disappeared.

[sleepy]

Glad to hear that I'm not alone on this one. I figured that if anyone would know what I meant, it'd be the DGR forum-dwellers.

roadkill-

I don't have a copy of DGWN (I wish I did...where'd you get your copy?) but I do have a copy of the '02 USDGC on DVD and Brinster is featured during the first round. I'll have to watch his form more closely and see if I can pick up on what you've pointed out. I'll also look through the video section here and see if I can find him.

TheUberDork-

How did you go about stretching the muscle? I've found it kind of hard to stretch directly since my foot doesn't bend very far side to side, and the muscle doesn't seem to be affected by a traditional calf stretch...


sleepy

[roadkill]

I don't have a copy of DGWN (I wish I did...where'd you get your copy?)

I'm a pdga member so getting every issue of DGWN delivered to my door is one of the few perks of being a member. If you have no interest in joining the pdga you can subscribe separately. It's a decent magazine and has been around forever. Lots of color photos and write ups on all the big tournaments and National Tour.

Brinster tours a lot and plays many of the bigger events so you should be able to find some footage and take note of his footwork. He plays the Memorial and the USDGC every year so you may be able to view him in coverage of these events.

[roadkill]

Uh.....duh... Brinster is featured right here on this site http://www.discgolfreview.com/resources ... ster.shtml

Looking at the pics here it appears Steve plants his foot at the 9 and 3 o'clock position and then quickly pivots on his heel and then releases with his toes pointed at the target or even slightly right of his target line.

[TexasOutlaw]

Do you think your pain could be a strain or just soreness? I would hate for you to have an injury and make it worse.

Uber: can you get shin splints on the back of your leg (where he is describing your pain)?

My doctor usually does the, "take anti-inflammatory pills and get some rest," regimen.

The stretching I do for those muscles is: lean over with legs shoulder width apart and reach first right , then left. There's another stretch where you sit with legs apart and pull your toe towards you.

[sleepy]

I'm a pdga member so getting every issue of DGWN delivered to my door is one of the few perks of being a member.

I too am a PDGA member. I've only been a member for about two weeks, so that would explain why I haven't received my first copy of DGWN.

TexasOutlaw-

I don't think it's a strain. It feels a lot like shin splints, which is another reason that makes me believe it has something to do with the way my bodyweight is impacting my left foot during the undercross step of my x-step. I have had real shin splints in the past from running, so it wouldn't suprise me if this is some form of sideways shin splints...if that makes any sense.


sleepy