tibialis anterior burning on left leg

guasaman · Post by **guasaman** » July 18th, 2007, 8:51 pm

Hi rowers!!!
I am back with my rowing machine after more than one year of dealing with a right knee meniscus injury and having an operation last november (it was a small injury, the interior part of the internal meniscus in my right knee had a crack and about 1/4 of the meniscus was removed to fix that). Men, am I happy be able to row again!!!!
I have started rowing since march and I am doing pretty good. I only have a weird little issue: As I am rowing, my tibialis anterior muscle on my left leg (the good leg) starts burning from fatigue. I am being very careful to push equally with both legs and my quads feel even in the effort, its just this tibialis guy that starts burning. The only way I found out to mitigate this, is pushing more with my right leg (the operated one) but of course this makes my right quad a little more tired than the left one.
I am assuming this is some kind of imbalance that I have as a leftover from the operation and the recovery, but any opinion or suggestions about why could this be happening will be welcomed.

Thanks and greetings from Buenos Aires
Gus

johnlvs2run · Post by **johnlvs2run** » July 21st, 2007, 12:20 pm

You are using the tibialis anterior on the recovery, not the drive. It is getting sore because you are probably using that leg more than the other. This is fine but you can strengthen the other leg, and also modulate (even out) your recovery so the action will be smoother and use less strength and energy.

You can do "heel walks" to strengthen the muscles. Stand facing a counter in bare feet and and hold on to the counter with your hands. Lift your the balls of your feet as high as possible and keep then there through the exercise. Now lift your right knee as high as possible, then the left. Count each lift as "1" and count up to 100.

At first you might only get to 20 or 30 and it makes your tibialis anterior muscles burn. Take your time. Only go to where they start burning. Do them a few times a day. When you get to 100 then once a day is enough, then you can go to a couple of times a week and back off doing them as your muscles are developed.