shin splints .. help!!?

Question

its my second year running cross country and we just started training a few weeks ago. this year ive been running pretty hard becuase i really want to have a good season, and now im starting to experience shin splints again. does anyone know how to cure them fast without completley stopping training?

Answer 1

Your other leg muscles are stronger than your shin muscles; this is pretty common. You'll need to rest and let the lactic acid flush out of your system. Also, your workouts should be shorter and followed by dousing them in cool water (but not too cold-yipes!).

Give it a couple of days at first to do some high-quality healing, then limit your workouts for a couple of weeks. You should be taking a couple of days off a week in any case, the muscles only strengthen by resting and rebuilding.

The running only tears up your muscles; it's the rest that allows your body to rebuild them stronger. Less of a workout for now will allow the shins to strengthen; in a few weeks they will be strong enough to take more abuse.

That's not too bad a thing to have; if I overtrain I get migraines. That totally sucks, so I'm careful to ramp up my mileage slowly each week.

Answer 2

You need to rest as much as possible, any time you get a chance take the weight of your legs, and if you can raise them up slightly. Icing helps aswell so do that 2-3 times a day. The most improtant thing if you wish to keep on training is compression, either wear runners tights or you can purchase shin compressors (such as shown below) to compress your shins.

This works because shin splints are a build up of tiny tears in your mucles by compressing the muscles you stop them moving about as much and aggrevating the tears, and while training having the muscles compressed helps prevent the muscles tearing further. Try and drink a protein supplement to make sure your muscles are able to heal fully.

Quote runnersworld: Shinsplints is an overuse injury caused by small tears in the lower leg muscles. Worn-out shoes or lack of cushioning could be contributing to the problem. Take a few days off from running, and cross-train, ice, and stretch and massage the area. If the pain doesn't fade after two weeks, see a doctor to make sure it's not compartment syndrome or a stress fracture

So all that but the compression helps speed up the recovery of the tears and stops you further damaging your muscles. Iceing is good, as is massaging if you can get one. As the quote says you really should rest, but I can't go on at you to do something I don't! Its a misconception that shin splints are caused by muscle imbalances, this doesn't help but is not the major cause. Remeber while recovering to keep stretching, else you will end up with muscle imbalances, you need to stretch both your calfs and your shins.

In future theres lots of shin strengthening excercise you can do to help prevent shin splints. The stronger your muscles the easier they can disipate the impact.

Answer 3

what I used to do. Is sit on the floor with a bath towel. Roll the towel a couple of times to get it started then proceed to roll and unroll the towel with your feet. This loosened up the muscles around your shin and alleviates the shin splints. You have to do this a lot at first to notice. Try 10 minutes sessions 3x per day. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Shin splints are the result of muscle imbalance. Strong calves, weak shin muscles. To prevent them, lie face down in bed with your toes hanging over the edge. Slowly pull your toes upward against the resistance of the mattress. Hold for 1 or 2 seconds, then repeat. Try to work up to 2 or 3 sets of 10.

Good Luck

Answer 5

when i get shin splints i always ice them down and stretch my shin muscles really well. make sure u stretch them before and after running. taping my shins also helps me alot.