I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what to do with shin splints. I’m running high school cross country, my first year. I run my ass of and try to fight em, but they kill.
I know I should be icing them, which I am, and I know I should probably take a week to 2 weeks off.
any other suggestions?
Have your shoes and your gait checked by a podiatrist. Usually, shin splints are caused by (1) a dramatic change in training habits – added hills, more speed work – or (2) lack of forefoot cushioning in the shoes. Downhill running can mimic the forefoot cushioning problem, or make it worse. In rare cases, overpronation can cause shin splint symptoms.
Try tonic water, there is a compound called quiniline or some shit like that, its supposed to help with leg cramping, and strech the shit outta them, do foot raises when the season ends. D
OUCH! you are bringing back bad memories. I have had a few bouts with shin splints here’s what finally got rid of them. 1. The shins flare up when something in the foot is not pulling its’ weight. Try out every pair of arch supports and heel cushions you can find and determine where the imbalance is and give it the support it needs. 2. Ice. ICE. Ice. Put a cup of h2o in the freezer to massage you shins but also put a bottle of h2o in the freezer so you can roll you feet on it, for you arch or heel which ever it is. 3. Sit on you knees as many times a day as you can remember to…Let you feet relax underneath your butt and you will feel the front of your shins getting a killer stretch. and of course stretch you calves. Repeat until pain has been gone for a few weeks. Should only take a few days to notice a difference…If not you might have a more serious underlying problem, but I doubt that. Shin splints are very common. Good luck buddy.
OK this sounds stupid but it really works. Antime your run immediately after or as soon as you can put your butt on the wall and your legs up on the wall and lay on your back. keeping the legs like this for 5 minutes will drain most of the lactic acid out of your lower legs which is a contributing factor to shin splints. Also Try some arnica very helpful ointment to apply 3 times a day if you can I usually only make it 2times a day though. Also try ice 20 min then heat 20 min see which works best for you everyone is different. I started running when I weighed 260 30+% bF that really started the shin splints now I am 220 16% and muscled.
What most people don’t know is that shin splints can be (and usually are) caused by a variety of overuse injuries. To get them to stop you need to stop and start running again, with a very gradual build up; but if your like I was in high school you’re not about to quit even though they are killing you (this is fine, but keep in mind that it once took me over nine months to recover from a sever cause-I had to wrap my legs up to walk around at school). Never the less, from personal experience there are a few things you can do to make it through the season. First ice, using a bucket of water and ice-no other icing method even comes close. Next, take extra calcium-your splints could be the cause of a some hairline fractures. If you can afford if take a good glucosamine and chondrotion supplement-this will hopefully help out your tendons. As a last resort pain relieves also work, I found the best results taking 8 asprin, 2 every 15 min before practice. Best of luck.
Without question ice often, and get yourself some strong arch supports to take some stress off the posterior tibial tendon, which is probably causing the problems. You might want to get to a doctor and make sure you haven’t developed stress fractures as a result of the tension in the posterior tibial tendon. Make sure to R.I.C.E get some arch supports, run properly (not flat-footed), and take some anti-inflammatories for the pain.
You need to reduce the volume/intensity of running until you no longer hurt. You might have to stop runnung altogether for a period of time. Then increase the volume/intensity at a slower rate then you did in the past.
Also massage the fronts of your shin bones immediately at the end of each run; forget who I heard this from but it did seem to help.
i’ve read and heard about various causes of shinsplints, and i’ve personally found that when i get them icing after running, and stretching my calves and strengthining my tibialis anterior (by doing toe raises on the hamstring curl machine) have helped me out the most. I know stopping running is usually out of the question but try cutting down on volume.
evil evil evil. i just had a bout with shin splints after not having them since college x-c. a very easy exercise, especially when they are still very painful, is to fold a towel in half and put your foot in the loop. hold one end of the towel in each hand to provide resistance, then point your foot. this will allow you to work exactly to your comfort level and not over do it.
Don’t even think of running without an excellent pair of shoes with proper support. They might cost a little more but they will be totally worth it. Trust me. I also found that taking extra calcium helped.
i went to my doctor.
I found out I have just muscle strain. He said I heavy high arced feet, and I run on my heel to much which causes the muscle strain. So I bought some arch insoles. and he said to heat it.
If I tore the muscle, could I tell? I think i possibly tore something