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I have moderate arthritis in both hips so I don't know if I am having trouble from that or the fibro. My legs are getting heavy (not sizewise) and sometimes it takes so much effort to get them moving. The bottom of my legs are keeping what feels like shin splints (like if you were walking for excercise and you start off to fast). When I get up in the morning I look like a comedy act because I have no bend in my ankles and the bottom of my legs in the front a little above the ankle is stiff and I feel like I am walking on marbles or something. Now I am pretty sure that the cramping I get is fibro. Instead of charlie horses like you get in your calfs (spelling?) I get them in the bones of my legs and sometimes in the bones between my elbow and hand. It literally feels like bone cramps. Anybody familier with what I am describing?

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6 Replies

  • Posted

    I'm not sure how to answer you. But I was getting horrible cramps in my feet and I started taking magnesium citrate and it eliminated my cramps. That might be something you might give a try. But I don't know if it would do anything for the swelling that you're describing.

  • Posted

    Hi Donna,

    A member of my family had pains in her shins, she thought she had shin splints but after seeing specialist's they told her it was the arthritis in her spine that was causing it, she has to learn to live with it. She finds some relief with acupuncture.

    Hope you feel better soon, best wishes

  • Posted

    What you're describing doesn't exactly fit what I used to get, but it's perhaps similar.

    I always had a deep ache in the front and outside edge of my shins. Sometimes it went down as far as my feet and other times it would be a deep ache at around knee level.

    This was essentially down to the muscles at the front of the shin being overworked. The two muscles that control positioning of the foot are indirectly to the muscles that control the hip (TFL and Glutes) via the IT band. So muscle imbalance at the hip guarantees muscle imbalance in the lower leg. As a result, the muscles in your shin get overworked - so really just normal daily life is a bit like overdoing the speed walking!

    The solution (which could well put an end to your hip problems too) is to address the muscle imbalance. That's not easy to do though. For symptomatic relief try massage. Self MFR. Get a nice hard ball or roller and press those sore muscles into it. It hurts a bit but should give you significant relief (if trigger points from overworked muscles truly is your problem).

    Another possibility is that the nerves that run down your leg via your sacrum and hip have been irritated - again by muscle imbalance. For example, tight piriformis. Or even pressure from twisting in the spine. That kind of pain can travel all the way down to your feet. Although that tends to feel more like a gnawing toothache. If it is nerve pain it can be treated.

  • Posted

    Susan's answer makes me think I should add my experience to her words, which are really good advice.  I presented to my physiotherapist for therapy for another condition, but she discovered the muscles in my back were, as she put it, "hard as bricks".  She did, over several visits, "dry needling" (google it) as well as some gentle manipulation.  I had no idea my back muscles were like this.  The unexpected result was the pain in my hips which sometimes made it hard to walk (context, one of the few areas of my body with no OA and I am if anything underweight) that pain gradually went away and I've been free of it for well over a year.  I'd say those spasmed muscles had affected nerves, causing referred pain.

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