Lee Shayler is 48 and from Cheltenham, England. He moved to Highlands Ranch Colorado in 1999. He still lives in this suburb of Denver with his wife, Sandra and 3 children, Dominic(17), Alexandra(16) & Miles (13). Due to a disease of the eyes(Retinitis Pigmentosa), Lee is now legally blind and has recently been laid off from his job at IBM after 17 years. Now, with time on his hands, he has decided to challenge himself attempting to walk 1000 miles in 1000 hours!

Lee is recreating Capt Barclay's '1000 miles in 1000 hours for 1000 Guineas' Challenge from April 25th to June 5th this year. It is for 2 very worthy blind charities in the US and UK. Below is the link to a 9news story on Lee: Lee's Story

At approximately mile 70, Lee began experiencing lower leg pain, what was thought to be shin splints, the pain has persisted as well as spread to his calves and achilles tendon. A good friend of his contacted our office to see if we could help relieve his pain. After quickly examining his leg, we decided it was Anterior Tibial Tendonitis with accompanying Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome(MTSS)...aka shin splints. What is the difference you ask?

Shin splints (MTSS) is a common misnomer in sports medicine. This nonspecific “diagnosis” of "shin splints” merely describes a symptom of tibial (lower leg) stress injury and has little clinical or diagnostic value. Therefore, 'shin splints' is simply the name given to pain over the front of the lower leg.

Anterior tibialis is the muscle that controls the front of your foot before it strikes the ground. If this muscle is overused, commonly in runners or anyone that has increased their mileage quickly, the tendon becomes inflamed and painful, thus Anterior Tibialis Tendinopathy. This muscle is encased within a sheath, when the muscle does not glide properly through the sheath, it rubs abnormally causing tiny tears in the muscle belly, thus producing pain and inflammation within the muscle. This pain symptom is labeled 'anterior shin splints'.

Then why pain in the calf and achilles tendon? A tight calf muscle limits ankle motion, causing the foot to slap the ground during foot strike, thus leading to anterior tibialis muscle fatigue/overuse.

Common causes are:
* Poor footwear
* Flat/fallen arches
* Overpronation during gait
* Increasing running/walking mileage too quickly
* Tight/contracted calves

Treatment: We use a myriad of stretching, icing, Kinesiotape, strengthening anterior lower leg musculature and joint releases to best treat this condition.

Keep posted to our blog for more info on Lee and also take a look at his mEye Walk website at http://www.meyewalk.com/