Inflamed tendon

Have been having some swelling in this area for two weeks. It only really hurts when I try to lift my big toe. It is not on the bone (fibula) but right next to my tibia, feels like a soft tissue inflammation.
If I run it does not hurt but I can feel it sore. It is improving but very slowly IMHO.
Tendon inflamed 01.jpg

Tendon inflamed 02.jpg


Anyone experienced this type of injury ?
Have been running for over five years but never had pain in this area before.
Thought my growing pains were over but apparently you never get strong enough :inpain:
 
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3 years ago I had a pain in about the same location but I don't remember about lifting the big toe--seemed to be coming from between the two bones--tolerable to run on but I rested and iced for a few weeks. It seemed better and I did a 5 mile run. About half way through it suddenly came back but it was more uncomfortable and obviously from the fibula. I finished the run and kept trying different adjustments to form. It didn't get any better but it didn't get any worse either.

I switched to the elliptical for exercise but eventually stopped that since it was more noticeable on days after exercise. It was winter now and with snow so I was wearing stiff boots (didn't have the Boulder boot yet). It was significantly better after a day of wearing the boots. I assumed stress fracture and gave it six weeks of boot wearing, although I did a test run after 2-3 weeks to check progress and pain level was back to what it was originally. Then I caught flu and pneumonia so the ankle got another six weeks off.

Looking at my log, I probably was increasing speed too much although it seemed gradual at the time. More runs closer to 8 minute mile that fall--in the previous spring there were more closer to 9 mm.
 
Extensor hallucis longus seems to fit the picture (e.g., http://www.orthobullets.com/anatomy/10081/extensor-hallucis-longus-l5). It raises the big toe and dorsiflexes the ankle. Overuse due to difficult terrain or faster running? Locate by isolated contraction and massage using deep, short strokes in one direction, along entire length, taking care to note hard and painful areas (trigger points), which massage intensively, up to 1-2 minutes, several times a day.
 
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Have been running for over five years but never had pain in this area before.
Thought my growing pains were over but apparently you never get strong enough :inpain:
5 years here, too. I've been massaging my lower legs for about a month now. It's a lot better.

I've been working on activating the big toes. Lower leg soreness makes sense. After all, like the hand and forearm, much of the strength in the foot comes from the lower leg.

Good luck!
 
Thanks everyone for a lot of great info.
After going through the linked articles and videos I can definitely confirm it is the Extensor hallucis longus that's troubling me.
I am also pretty sure now how and why it got hurt.
Three weeks ago on Sunday I did my very first "marathon length" trail run. I ran 25 miles on my favorite trail, first 13 miles barefoot and the last 12 miles in VFF.
After finishing I was sore and tired but everything felt good otherwise.
The next day (Monday) my legs were quite stiff and I went for a slow short 2 mile recovery run in the evening. Felt a bit more relaxed afterwards.
On Tuesday evening still feeling my ankles stiff went for another 2 mile recovery run and by the end of this one I already felt a sore spot on the front of my left leg just above ankle.
That's when I think something happened inside. Overuse injury.
In one of the articles mentioned above they say:
"...if push off is decreased in any way (over pronation, high arches, tight calves for example), these muscles must then work overtime to not only pull the toes/ankle up so that you don’t trip over them and but also to slowly lower the foot to the ground upon heel strike. Over time, the muscles will become overworked and can break down."
I recall in both my recovery runs I had no push off phase to speak off at all. Because of all the stiffness all I was doing was just lifting knees (almost like running in place with a little speed moving forward) therefore my toe extensors (already weaken from the long trail run) got overworked and one (hallucis longus) broke down.
That's my only explanation. Learning all the time :)
 
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