HELP! Burning shins when doing PLB lower body ball work!

[dutchgirl]

Hello Cathe and educated crowd,

What to do about my shins? A few minutes after lifting my hips off the floor for the leg roll ins (both with legs together and then apart) my shins start burning like crazy to the point where I am really uncomfortable. What am I doing wrong? I tend not to feel it in the hamstrings or buttocks because the shins are in so much discomfort. I heard something about taking more of the pressure in the shoulders?!?! Can someone offer me some pointers so I can try to visualize what that would look like? I have great lower body strength for all other types of exercises, but these just kill me!

HELP!

 

[Jane P]

RE: HELP! Burning shins when doing PLB lower body ball...

Sabine,

I'm not Cathe, but it sounds to me like you've got classic shin splints. You probably need to strengthen that area. Do you have Push/Pull? Cathe has you sit with the ball on the tops of your feet and moves them (your feet) up and down. The ball provides resistance and strengthens your shins. You can also simply tap your toes while standing. If you lean with your hands on your knees that makes it more intense.

 

[BayouGal]

Hi, I had a very similar thing happen to me, also. I only seemed to feel it in my shins. I have not done the workout in a while, but I recall that there is a section just before the floorwork that works the shins. What I started doing is separating the workout and doing the floorwork separately and I did not feel nearly as much of a burn in my shins. I was able to concentrate on feeling it in the hamstrings and buttocks. That has worked for me. I also sometimes skip the calve work, also and tack it on to another workout. That may help..

Sandra

 

[Soosan]

RE: HELP! Burning shins when doing PLB lower body ball...

You are describing to a tee what I experience with this exercise! I can lift quite a bit when I do plie squats, so I don't think lack of inner thigh strength is the problem. I don't feel shin discomfort in any other exercise, cardio or strength, so I doubt it's shin splints. I've wondered if my form is off, too, so I'm glad you asked this.

 

[kashmiere]

I experience something similar, it's not my shins, its my calves! Is it possible my ball is too big, its a 65 not a 55?

 

[RobinC]

RE: HELP! Burning shins when doing PLB lower body ball...

Hey Ladies, I experienced the same shin pain myself the first couple times I did the floor work on PLB and after careful observation I realized that I was unconsiously flexing my feet with way too much muscular tension (really "digging" my heels into the ball and flexing the feet "hard") which resulted in soreness in my shins ... As an ex- ballet dancer I remembered that feeling, as the shins house some of the muscles that control flexing and pointing in the feet. Now I consiously try to relax those muscles as I roll the ball in and out ...

Hope this helps!

Robin

 

[naughtoj]

RE: HELP! Burning shins when doing PLB lower body ball...

I get this too. Robin is right with flexing the feet. Problem is, flexing my feet always seem to make it hurt so much better for my hamstrings too!!

I think it is a combo of flexing the feet and the shins just being weaker muscles that are greatly involved in this exercise. They just fatigue very quickly. Maybe you could try walking around on your heels several times a day to stregthen? The only exercise I know of that Cathe does to strengthen this area is the ball work in supersets or push pull.

Rollerblading will help too.

Janice