Shin Splints

Shin splints are NO FUN to put it nicely.  The friend I have been coaching told me every time he would run he'd get shin splints.  So, I offered a few tips of advice when we started his training and his shins have hardly complained.  YAY!  Shin splints are something I know about all too well.  I suffered with them for about a year after I started running.  Here are are the things that helped me the most:

*BUY NEW SHOES:  I have mentioned this before.  You cannot run in your old, comfortable shoes that you've had for years.  If you are going to start running you will need to buy new shoes.  You will also need to buy new shoes every 300 - 500 miles or every 6 months.  If you are feeling new pains and it's close to that time, there is your indicator that it is time.  The exception to this rule are shoes like mine with no sole to break down.  You just have to change those out whenever you get holes in them.  My last pair lasted a year but that would obviously depend on how much you ran and on what kind of terrain.  

*STRETCH THOSE CALVES:  Even though our shins are part of the front of our leg, the root cause of shin splints are from tight calf muscles.  When the calves are tight it pulls up our heel which in turn pulls the front of our foot down.  This puts strain on the front of the leg which is not strong enough to handle it.  The stretches that helped me the most were wall pushups (scroll down and there are 3 variations of wall pushups).

*STRENGTHEN FRONT LEG MUSCLES:  Since those front leg muscles are not strong enough right now, make them stronger.  My favorite strengthening exercises were walking around on my heels for 60 seconds and then walking around on my toes for 60 seconds.  I also stood up against a wall with my feet out about a foot and lifted up my toes 30 times slowly and then 30 times fast, rested for 1-2 minutes and then repeated.

*ICE:  After running ice your shins for 20 minutes while elevated, take the ice off for 20 minutes and then ice again for 20 minutes.  If you don't have 60 minutes at least ice for 10-15 minutes with legs elevated.  Also take some ibuprofen.

*MID FOOT STRIKE:  Try not to heel strike.  This is the main reason why I no longer had shin pain after switching to my Vibram Five Fingers.  They forced my foot to strike the ground in the middle instead of the heel.

*RUN SLOWER:  This is something that has really helped my friend.  By running slower he started building up the muscles in his lower legs.  It made his muscles sore (which is a good thing because he knew they were getting worked out) but his shins didn't hurt.