[pct-l] tendonitis (was Getting Back on Trail,

[Dan Ransom]

I'm happy to explain my situation...  Though there will probably be
people who offer differing opinions.  For a week or more I was calling
this "shin splints" for lack of a better understanding.  It is not
traditional shin splints, however.  It is (was?) severe tendonitis in
the muscle that lifts your toes off the ground, 2 inches above the
ankle, right on the outside of the shin bone.

My problem was probably three-fold.

1 - I have poor walking form.  I take very long heel-strike strides
and walk relatively fast.   The heel strike motion, instead of a more
neutral strike, forces the foot to flex with every step, and muscles
get strained.  In my shorter walks the last week, I've spent
considerable time relearning a shorter stride with less impact.  So
far pain free.

2- Footwear was not supportive enough, no torsional rigidity.  The
rolling motion induced by sidehilling on snow probably contributed to
the muscle fatigue.  These have been changed from new balance trail
runners to Salomon XT wings.  Arch support has also been recommended
to me, as well as different lacing patterns that allow the foot to
swell and expand within the shoe.

3 - The snow on Fuller Ridge I believe caused lots of little
micro-slips, and again, I wasn't deliberate enough with foot
placement.  Just figured I'd walk through it.  Walk through it I did,
but when I got to I-10, it felt like I shot my right leg at point
blank with a shotgun, and it was pretty obvious there was significant
damage.

Pack weight certainly can compound any of the issues here, and at the
time I was carrying about 13 pounds base, plus 14-ish pounds in food
and water.  Not a really heavy load, but for my return I will be
coming back lighter, ridding myself of some of the 3 pound camera kit
I was carrying.

I've never had an injury in this location before, and I've done a fair
share of backpacking previous.  But never such big days so
consistently.  I suppose the lesson for me is to go slow, take it
easy, and listen to your body, and focus on walking stress free...  I
was too confident I could walk through it, and it blew up.  Hopefully
a very humbling 3 weeks, a ton of ice massage and a course of
cortisone will resolve the issue for me.

Thanks to some help from this list, I think I'll be back out this weekend...

- Dan