SHIN SPLINTS!

[VaultPurple]

Shin splints....

how do you prevent em... and how do you treat em

im intrested to know everyones technique cuz mine dont work 100%

[bel142]

A few things cause them, a few things gets rid of them.

You might be getting them because your shoes are old, and your feet are not cushioned enough.

What you're running on. If you train on a concrete runway or an older track some times the force feedback from the runway it too much for your shins to handle. I recently competed at Wisconsin’s new indoor track, it was a harder runway than I was used to, wicked fast, But by the end of the day my shins were hurting a little.

Make shin exercises part of your warm up on a daily basis. Before you start your warm up, take off your shoes and walk back and forth (on grass or turf), 15 meters or so. Walk with pressure on the outsides of your feet, on the inside, on your heals, on your toes facing in, toes facing out.

Also after a work out be sure to stretch your shins, sitting on your heals with the tops of your feet flat on the ground. Also ice after a work ou is very important, not only when your shins hurt. If you are recovering from shin splints and they don't hurt, ice anyway.

Lastly make sure your trainer knows about how you feel before you train, they will also be able to help to prevent injury.

[vault3rb0y]

The best thing to do is go into a pediatrist (foot doctor) and have them explain WHY you have shin splints and how to treat them.

Sometimes its as easy as jogging and shin exercises to get your shin muscles tighter and better attached your shin bone again. In other cases, your ankle is not bending properly, and pronating, which pulls your shin muscle more than it should. You sometimes need to re-learn how to run the right now and build back up. But its hard to tell without going into a doctor, explaining the symptoms and answering questions, and most likely getting a pair of specialty orthotics.

[superpipe]

I agree with vault3rb0y 100%. I had extreme shin splints at the ned of my high school years and all through College.

Shins splints are caused 2 different ways or a combination of the two:

1. Training methods, meaning you're doing too, much too hard, too soon. This applies to all parts of the body. If your body has not been trained properly to do certain movements, the muscles, tendon, etc... will simply not hold up during those certain movements.

2. Feet Problems. Over/Under Pronation are the most common, but there are plenty more. I suggest to all my athletes to see a Podiatrist ( foot doctor ). They are the only ones ( not Physical Therapists or the best footwear store ) that can accurately diagnos your feet. Custom orthodics made by a podiatrist are the only orthodics worth getting. This is because they make a mold of your foot while holding it in proper alignment. Stepping into a mold does nothing but make a mold of your bad foot alignment.

I finally realized my own issues were feet problems. I got custom orthodics and have never had a problem since. Wish someone told me about a Podiatrist when I was in school.

Definitely do shin exercises and proper calf stretching too. The best shin exercise is wall shin raises:
http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/arc ... plints.htm

[vault3rb0y]

Also, i recently talked to a graduating Athletic Trainer from Marquette. She told me she worked with a vaulter and that she had her take two weeks off from ANY impact, while ordering orthotics. Then she got in the pool and did some running in there, focusing on not pronating and strengthening your shin muscles. THEN she had her use a special treadmill that controls how much % of your body weight you are bearing. That way you never pound your shins too much, and they have a chance to get strong enough to support your weight. That took about 3 weeks to build up, and eventually she was jogging on the track, and built up for another 2 weeks to being able to sprint and vault.

She said the KEY to treating shin splints with us athletes is building up slowly, like 10% a week. That usually requires an athletic trainer who will control your rehab.