Shin splints! Need help!!

[ekguy]

Any tips on healing this as fast as possible?

[Freeskier]

Just got over a really bad one in my left leg. Physio friend at work said you just have to rest it up, massaging your shin and stretching your calf can help but any exertion is going to delay the process hugely. When you've healed it back up you should strengthen your shin by lifting your toes against some resistance such as elastic bands.

[Thaco]

man up

[Davetronz]

From running? Try getting some proper footwear with enough support, combined with proper running technique. Should solve the problem fairly fast.

If you're looking for treatment, therapeutic massage therapy, maybe Graston Technique (although it would be BRUTAL over bone areas), stretching, and strengthening.

[CUG]

Originally posted by Thaco
man up yep. I've played through dozens of these things. They still hurt like hell though.

[Kloubek]

It can get *really* painful sometimes. Just because you guys get headaches doesn't mean they are anywhere severe as my migraines. (As an example)

I don't know much about healing it up, but I work for a sporting goods company and Davetronz is entirely right - footwear can make all the difference. The vast majority of customers I had spoken to with this issue had it alleviated with proper footwear for their application.

[spikerS]

I used to get them playing slow pitch and not being used to cleats. I started taping my ankles, and running the tape a little higher than needed, and it helped immensely.

[urban.one]

Healing them up is one thing, and solving the cause of them so they don reoccur is another.
To heal them, lay off running. You should take a break and then re-up your mileage slowly once you start again (or gradually get back into whatever activity it is your doing). Ice your shins a few times a day. You can also take advil as an anti-inflamatory. Going for massage and physio will also help.

The cause can be harder to find and solve. It could be something as simple as old or bad shoes. However it could be something more complex like muscle imbalance in your legs. For example, many people have weak hips and poor flexibilty in their hips that causes problems with their running stride and hence causes injury.

I suffered through shin splints where it was painful to even put socks on because the pressure from the sock was hurting my shins. Running wwas impossible and walking hurt. I went to see many professionals and got tons of advice. I tried countless shoes, went to see a foot specialist, got ustom orthotics, went to the runnin injury clinic at u of c. The thing that finally solved my problem was changing my running stride and going to a minimalit shoe after doing my own research. I went from being an extreme heal striker to midfoot forefoot strike with a fast cadence and solved pretty much all my issues. Its suprising that none of the professionals i saw made the recommendation that finally solved my problems.

[soccernut]

FOAM ROLLING.

Try it! it changed my life. Much better than stretching.

Edit:
vqAKNayRetI

[littledan]

make sure you stretch the shin as well. you can go into a calf type standing stretch where your hips are forward and back foot planted on the ground. then you "sit" down a bit so the front of your shin you will feel a stretch. helped me out big time.

[urban.one]

I agree on the foam roller and stretching. It may be worth your while to see a physio who call test your flexibilty and strength to identify specific muscles where you need work. Especially with shin splints, the shin pain may be the symptom but the cause may be elsewhere. After an assesment, the physio should give you specifc excercises, stretches, etc

[GreyFox]

Awesome!! Just stumbled upon this thread and it's exactly what I need. Kloubek hit the nail on the head, the severity of these differs from person to person. So while some people can just man up and run through, others certainly can not.

I did a half iron-man last year and during training I started to get these for the first time in my life. At first it wasn't bad but I didn't know to lay off and let them heal so it got to the point where I literally didn't run for a full month in order for them to heal properly.

This year I've been getting them really, really bad to the point where if I make it home my entire leg is shaking from the pain and I can hardly stand up because it's so painful to put pressure on that part of my leg.

Best advice is to make sure you let it heal 100% before going out again. I'm running the Calgary marathon at the end of the month and I haven't been on a single run in about 2 weeks because I know it's going to be next to impossible to finish with shin splints so I'd rather have a lack of training and at least finish with a shittier time.

Definitely going to try out that foam roller or frozen water bottle trick though, the faster it heals the better!

Ekguy, you have an event coming up right away? Is that why you need it to heal ASAP?

[LongCity]

Lots of good info in here. For relief as mentioned above, foam rolling or using a cold, hard water bottle works as well as a rolling pin, icing, resting, and compression all help. I get shin splints from playing basketball and like mentioned above, it can be due to the way your feet strike the ground. Playing (or running) on your toes usually will not give you shin splints. It's the heel strike that causes it. If you sit and dorsiflex you can really feel your tibialis anterior muscles burning and you get shin splints from exhausting this muscle. Strengthening the calf muscles helps alleviate the onset the shin splints. The type of cushioning in your shoes will also help out significantly. I, personally, find that bouncier cushioning (Nike's Zoom or bouncier Adidas foam) set ups will not give me shin splints but less resilient foam based cushioning will.

Edit: I also just watched a video a few days ago from a runner saying that the best foot strike is one that strikes from midfoot to forefoot - so, no use of the heel.

[Mar]

I get them bad when I play soccer and floor hockey back to back, the best thing for them is a diet change. Eat more potassium and it will help a lot. Try having a banana before and after your games.

[ekguy]

Originally posted by Thaco
man up

I run 10k a night, walk over 10k (walking to and from work) and still throw in my work outs most nights and work a job that's mostly labor downtown which includes me walking for 95% of my day.

Man'ing up at this point is not an option, I need to heal it as fast as possible.

Stayed off it this weekend, been doing heat then ice. So far so good. Thanks for the tips. Gonna try and train my legs a bit more often and maybe a little less intense. I figure I was pushing them too hard.

[ekguy]

Oh and for the person asking if I have an event coming up, no I don't. Just lost a ton of weight in the last year and because of this happening I've been laying off the gym for almost 3 weeks. My shin started hurting but wasn't too bad, kinda got better...Then last week it was so bad I could barely walk and my boss sent me home since my job is quite physical.

Basically just want to heal so i can start my training again...Sitting around for a week with no gym wasn't exactly good for my progress.

[LongCity]

Originally posted by Mar
I get them bad when I play soccer and floor hockey back to back, the best thing for them is a diet change. Eat more potassium and it will help a lot. Try having a banana before and after your games.

I think the other suggestions mentioned in here are better than a diet change.

[GreyFox]

Do pretty much everything in this thread, except for man-up as it's obvious over exerting it is just going to set you back.

I took pretty much every piece of advice in this thread from thursday-sunday morning. The foam rolling works wonders....I didn't have a foam roller so I did it with a frozen water bottle. I also ate more bananas than usual, did some stretches and I haven't actually been running in weeks.

I don't know if it was one specific thing that did the trick but I made it through a 35km run sunday afternoon without even a hint of the splints.

So I guess ekguy, if you have to heal these as quickly as possible, don't run for your workouts, at least for 3 or 4 days (sounds like you may have already done this over the weekend). If you want you could probably substitute a bike ride instead, much easier on that muscle. Obviously you can't skip work for a few days to help these heal so I would try the foam roller/frozen bottle roller....I think that is what helped me the most. Do that 3-4 times a day and hopefully you'll be good to go soon!

[soccernut]

ekguy, have you tried anything mentioned? did you get an relief?

[anarchy]

ekguy - I had pretty bad shin splints that were killing me. Went to see my chiropractor (good buddy of mine) who also does ART (Active Release Therapy). Felt better immediately and went away the next day. If you want his number I can fire it to you, he's just in Kensington.

Actually, my chiropractor is awesome, I've sent all my friends and family there who swear by him and he's fixed many of my physical ailments.

[ekguy]

Did lot's of what was in this thread.

Got better shoes to walk to work. Iced every 3 to 4 hours. Found an anti-inflammatory that I thank god didn't end up being allergic to. Took it easy for a few days.

Now I'm mostly back to normal, just feels stiff when I walk.

[ekguy]

Also been doing more stretching.