Shin splints

[redsquirrel]

I recently started jogging about 10 miles a week.

I love to run now, and before I absolutely hated it. That being said, I still get somewhat bad shin splints. Like if I run two days in a row, they are really sore the 3rd day. Usually the first few minutes I'm battling through the discomfort, and once they get totally warmed up, they're better. Not totally gone, bur bearable.
For a warm up, will walk on an incline for a couple minutes and then stretch.

Does anyone have any good treatment for this?

[decadecadeca]

It's sounds like a conditioning thing, they'll probably go away after you've been at it for a while. I just started back too and even on the treadmill yesterday at about a half mile they got so bad I had to stop for a sec and stretch. But I know after a week or two they'll be gone. Shoes can play a small part if you pronate or supinate, but if you have a good straight gait they're most likely fine.


Worst shin splints in my life was when we had to run on the beach in combat boots. Had zero range of motion at the ankle because of the hi lace boots. Lord, it felt like someone set my shoes on fire!

[redsquirrel]

Well, I've been slowly increasing my distance over the past month. I started at 1 mi, and have worked my way up to 2-2.5 a day. Is there anything you can do for them, or do you just have to tough it out until they get better? I've heard of people getting stress fractures from these...

So, my guess would be that they should have gotten used to it by now. I think maybe better shoes, ones stricly for running, may be necessary....I think I pronate a bit

[Megiddo]

you can put ice on them when you get home as it will help reduce the swelling and maybe take an Aleve.

[figure_champ]

I sometimes get that same pain from walking at a high incline on the treadmill. I've tried different shoes but it doesn't seem to help?

[beefcake]

Originally posted by redsquirrel
I think maybe better shoes, ones stricly for running, may be necessary....I think I pronate a bit

I have never really found the problem unfortunately. Only thing I can say is the pounding from a 218lb person is hard on the legs. I have noticed that having one pair of running only shoes with runners gel soles helps take a lot of the shock away. I try to sub in swimming every so often to gives the bones a rest.

[ROCKETW19]

Originally posted by redsquirrel
I think maybe better shoes, ones stricly for running, may be necessary....I think I pronate a bit

shoes will help for sure also ive read that your feet placement has to do with it if you pronate that could be it also. is it shin splints where your shin actually hurts or the muscle next to the shin? i know my muscle gets a crazy pump to where i cant even walk a 1/2 mile when i take GH.

[decadecadeca]

What sort of shoes are you running in now?

It does make a difference. Running shoes have an elevated heel with more cushion in the heel and ball. Walking shoes are fairly even throughout. Crosstrainers are an all around compromise, decent for anything but great at nothing. Tennis shoes are the worst, stiff midsole and tread for stability and abrasion resistance. Very limited flexibility.

Look at an old pair of your shoes and check the wear pattern. Look for any heavy wear to either side as well as excessive heel wear.


The Nike Air Structure is about the best shoe out there for over pronaters. It has a heel plug to help with alignment. Might want to give them a go.

Also......what type of surface are you running on? If you can get off the street/sidewalk and have level grass/dirt it's a much better choice.

[redsquirrel]

Originally posted by decadecadeca
What sort of shoes are you running in now?

Look at an old pair of your shoes and check the wear pattern. Look for any heavy wear to either side as well as excessive heel wear.

The Nike Air Structure is about the best shoe out there for over pronaters. It has a heel plug to help with alignment. Might want to give them a go.

Also......what type of surface are you running on? If you can get off the street/sidewalk and have level grass/dirt it's a much better choice.

I'm running in some Nike Shox at the moment. I have several different pairs of cross trainers, and those hurt the least.

I am going this weekend to buy some Brooks shoes...strictly for running purposes. I have been told by many they are the best when it comes to over pronation and stability control. They are a pretty penny, but they should be worth it. I really like running and dont' want to stop because of this.

I have really only been running on the treadmill.. I can only imagine how bad they would hurt if I was running on the street! LOL. I have ran at the rack a few times, but they tend to hurt more.

Rocket- it's the muscle on the inside of the shin that hurts...

[decadecadeca]

Those Shox would terrible shoes for anyone with gait issues.

In which area is the pain most severe?

[redsquirrel]

Originally posted by decadecadeca
Those Shox would terrible shoes for anyone with gait issues.

In which area is the pain most severe?

Mostly in the Soleus, and just a tad bit in the Gastrocnemous


Thanks so much for all of your help!

[decadecadeca]

Try this.....and the new shoes should help.

Soleus Stretch: "This is the stretch that most runners forget," says Pitchford. "They stretch their gastroc muscles (as above) without realizing there’s a similar stretch for the soleus." The soleus is the other major muscle in the calf, located in front of the gastroc. It is important for planting the foot on the ground before your push off. Position yourself similar to the gastroc stretch with back straight and palms against the wall. The difference is that you start in a "seated" position with your legs bent, your buttocks dropped. Gently lean into the wall until you feel the stretch in your lower calf.

[decadecadeca]

Also since shin splints are a repetitive motion thing, you may want to take the 3rd day off from running and sub in something else for cardio. Anything to take stress off that area, biking, swimming etc...Just like lifting the rest phase is as important as the work phase.

[pierced one]

if you can train the shin muscles with a small bit of wieght. Ex. toe raises with a small dumbell. doing this is the only thing that made my shin splints go away. a couple of gyms i have gone to have had toe raise machine where the machine alows you to dorsiflex the toes and build the front muscles. this is a little easier than resting the handle of a small dumbell on you toes.

[Easto]

Originally posted by redsquirrel
I recently started jogging about 10 miles a week.

I love to run now, and before I absolutely hated it. That being said, I still get somewhat bad shin splints. Like if I run two days in a row, they are really sore the 3rd day. Usually the first few minutes I'm battling through the discomfort, and once they get totally warmed up, they're better. Not totally gone, bur bearable.
For a warm up, will walk on an incline for a couple minutes and then stretch.

Does anyone have any good treatment for this?

I had some fitness testing for work and part of the test was a 1.5 mile run. Well, being into BBing I am really not made for running anymore.

Well, I wanted to kill the test, so I began practicing the 1.5 mile.

After a couple weeks, my shins were sore. After a month, my shins were painful. It hurt to walk, it hurt to stand, it hurt to even lay down.

I wented up going to Physio and a Sports doctor and they put me through some tests which concluded that I have low arches in my foot. What that does it pull on the muscles on the ledial portion of my shin bone.

I had to buy $450CAD custome made foot orthotics and directed to stop running and ice my shins as often as possible. I was told that if I kept running, the shins splints can turn into stress fractures on the bone.

RS, basically the only thing you can do is STOP running and use some other type of cardiovascular exercising. When I say quit running, I mean for a few months. Shin splints have a nasty way of flaring back up QUICK!!!!

If you do decide to start running again: stretch and start of at a short distance and work your way up.

[Stonecold54]

shins feel like they're going to explode

do a search titty mod

[Lmg2701]

Don't know if this has been said because I didn't read this entire post, but they do make a brace for this.

I had shin splints in high school and I can say it really was a pain in the ass. I bought this brace out of a track magazine and it helped a lot. It is just a sleeve that fits from about your ankle to a little bit below your knee and has a strap on the bottom with velcro (sp?) that wraps around and has another strap on top that does the same thing. These braces helped me out tremendously, I will see if I can find a link for them, I think they were about $20 a piece.

[Lmg2701]

http://www.ithacasports.com/shinsplints.html

Mine wasn't exactly like the one in the link above but it was close. Do a search for shin splint braces online and you'll find a bunch, hope this helps.

[Primal Instinct]

Something that helped me (besides decent running shoes) was NOT to run on asphalt. I switched to a cinder track or grass (wherever possible) and that pretty much took care of it for me. Less impact shock meant less pain.

[SuperMouse]

Okay, there is a lot of good advice here . I ran cross country in high school and my coach had been a very good runner at UCLA. His preventative measure for shin splints was to take a towel open flat in fron of you and while standing or seated roll the towel up with your toes... kind of a scrunching of the toes movement. I never had shin splints after that.

Shoes are important. What you run on is important from good to bad(grass, rubber track, brick dust track, dirt, asphalt, concrete). (I don't know wehre to put sand - that is a whole different thing).

There is a piece of equipment called a DARD where you can lift weights by raising your toes while lying with your feet hanging off the end of a bench and it is like toe curls - works well too.

I hope that helps,

SuperChicken1

[speedracer59]

I had the same problem. Along with shoes get some good insoles. 90% of the shoes out there come with chea, thin insoles. Ive only notice high end Nike and New Balance go with better ones. A good pair is 20 buck or less. It help my shin splints a well as loewr back pain.

[BadGenCD]

Be very careful. I had shin splints, didnt take care of them, and they developed into stress fractures. THe only true healing remedy for shin splints is STOP RUNNING/IMPACT activities. Ice and stuff only helps the pain. Hope this helps.

[BBAddict]

I have hundreds of miles of experience with this, unfortunately. I ran a marathon to lose weight before I got serious about bodybuilding, so I've dealt with all kinds of leg injuries. I will say that for me, the biggest factors were shoes, running surface and shoes--and did I say shoes?! I went to a running specialty store and had them analyze my stride and my strike points, etc. and they recommended a shoe based on that. I definitely recommend having a running only pair of shoes because even walking compresses the material that is used for shock absorption. I kept track of all miles ran on the shoes and found that if I exceeded 400miles on a pair of shoes, I would start developing shin/knee problems again. If you can run on cinder track or even do trail running, that is better. Also running up hills is good but running down is bad so sometimes I just did intervals sprinting up the hill and walking/slow jogging down the hill. Running is awesome for losing weight and it's a great stress reliever just to get outside and jog with no other distractions. I miss it-I've given it up entirely to try to gain weight.