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Brand new runner w/ very painful shin splints (Read 1513 times)

    also, toe taps can help in some cases (depending on the cause of the issue).  and stretching can help.  I think warm apllications before running and ice after can help. 

     

    but it could be just something that comes and goes.  I dealt with that once in a while for ~1.5 years (6-1 and 215 or so) before graduating to other issues.  At the time I felt like "this sucks" and would have probably quit without knowing that it was kind of a right of passage.  I knew it would get to a point where it would go away.  I took a week off when I needed to and kept running when I could.  I almost never have shin splints anymore. 

     

     

     

     

    Slice


      Video tape his running form, directly from the side, back and front.  If you can do whole body as well as waist down, that would be better.  To stabilize, treadmill would work best but, if you can somehow do it on track, that would be good too.  If you can post it on YouTube, that would be best for me--I can work from there.  And tell me the name of the exact model of Puma shoes.  You'd be my guinea pig!! ;o)

       

      Shin splint can be caused by a lot of different factors.  Yes, downhill running CAN be one--it's more of a slapping action that could also be caused by heel of the shoe too thick particularly if he WAS a heel striker before.  High point of heel can create the lever from the point at which the shoe lands and to the tip of the shoe and that would exaggerate the slapping speed.  Excess pronation CAN cause shin pain, not necessarily shin splint, inside the shin as well.  Excess bounce can also create shin pain so would weak shin muscles.

      Nobby, he's running in the Puma Osuran but unfortunately there's no way in hell he would let me video him. He won't even let me run with him since he's just starting out.

       

      Thank you to everyone for the great suggestions, I greatly appreciate it! I don't think it has anything to do with downhill running because he's just going out in our neighborhood. Soft surfaces is a great suggestion and we don't have access to an elliptical. I'm going to get him to try all the stretching exercises and tell him to stop over thinking his form. I think if I can help him out with his lifetime of shin pain I could **hopefully** turn running into a family affair.

       

      I will definitely continue to come back to this thread for more help as he progresses.

      I don't half-ass anything

       

      "I have several close friends who have run marathons, a word that is actually derived from two Swahili words: mara, which means 'to die a horrible death' and thon, which means 'for a stupid T-shirt.' Look it up." - Celia Rivenbark, You Can't Drink All Day if You Don't Start in the Morning

       


      12-week layoff

        I had very bad shin splints as a newbie.  I am only 5' 4", and weighed 125 pounds at the time, so weight was not an issue.  I did go get fitted for shoes by a fit specialist, who put me in stability shoes.  I also went to PT, which helped, but I didn't have a therapist who ran, so I didn't get a lot of exercises for prevention.  What I did do that helped, since I was coaching cross-country at the time and could NOT stop running, what wrap my calves with ace bandages.  I looked like a lunatic, and it was August in Alabama, so I was very, very hot, but it helped me be able to keep running while my shin splints healed.  Compression socks might have the same result. 

         

        After a few years, I quit using the stablitity shoes, and never got shin splints again...it was just something I went through until my legs got used to the stresses of running. 

        WhoDatRunner


        Will Crew for Beer

          In retrospect, I think what cured shin splints for me was not just the change in running form as much as that I shortened my stride at the front end. No more reaching my foot in front of me and 'pulling my body' forward. Instead, my foot is landing under my center of gravity and solely 'pushing my body' forward.

          I'm still a pretty new runner, but adjusting my stride so that I was not over striding as much is what helped me the most as far as various aches and pains, including aching shins. I would suggest that rather than trying to change his form as far as heel striking vs midfoot/ forefoot striking he should look at his stride and make sure he is not over striding.

          Rule number one of a gunfight, bring a gun. Rule number two of a gunfight, bring friends with guns.

            Nobby, he's running in the Puma Osuran but unfortunately there's no way in hell he would let me video him. He won't even let me run with him since he's just starting out.

             

            Thank you to everyone for the great suggestions, I greatly appreciate it! I don't think it has anything to do with downhill running because he's just going out in our neighborhood. Soft surfaces is a great suggestion and we don't have access to an elliptical. I'm going to get him to try all the stretching exercises and tell him to stop over thinking his form. I think if I can help him out with his lifetime of shin pain I could **hopefully** turn running into a family affair.

             

            I will definitely continue to come back to this thread for more help as he progresses.

            Thanks for linking the site with the image of the shoe; it saved my time to look for it!! ;o)  First of all, I asked specifically about the shoe because I have seen this particular Puma shoe and thought it might be the case--this particular shoe, to me, is way too straight to my liking.  I know some people like it that way but, seriously, have you seen anybody's foot looking like that?  Yeah, I know...  There ARE cases that straight last fits better.  If I remember it correctly, it was Bill Bowerman who came up with this straight last concept for "stability" and, at that time, it made sense.  But you know how it is; quite often the "concept" starts to walking on its own without fulfilling the purpose...  If I flip over the shoe and see the shape like that, it's the first sign that that shoe is a no-no for me

             

            Now...  Not even video-taping the lower body, huh? ;o)  You know, to me, that's a sign that he probably has Phebe running style...  Remember, in "friends" when she runs with her arms and legs flipping all over the place...?  So he feels embarrassed to be filmed; and that sort of gives me a feeling that his running form is not good.  Now, I wouldn't be the one to simplify things just to say, "Hey, it's easy.  It's this and do this to fix it and then you can run twice as fast..."  I believe things ain't that easy.  I would HATE to give a simple solution, particularly with a running form, without even first checking out the form itself.  I said guinea pig because we had this incidence, and, what was his name, Kurt?  He was having shin split problem and he was wondering because he recently switched to mid-foot landing form.  He sent me a video of his running and it was quite clear very quickly that he was sticking his foot way out in the front even though he was landing on his mid-foot.  He was doing a lot of his running on treadmill and, it seemed to me, that, the extra "pull" of the belt was aggravating his frontal shin area.  I suggested him to change that running style and, within 2 weeks, he wrote to me and told me the shin split was gone.  That was an easy case but that was also a quite powerful case of how simple change in running style can alleviate problem. 

             

            In retrospect, I think what cured shin splints for me was not just the change in running form as much as that I shortened my stride at the front end. No more reaching my foot in front of me and 'pulling my body' forward. Instead, my foot is landing under my center of gravity and solely 'pushing my body' forward.

             

            This is a perfect example of that.  But I wouldn't have even guessed it without seeing his running form first-hand. 

             

            Lastly, I always clinch my toes whenever I read a thread like this, saying; "I have a shin splint..." or whatever.  We have so many helpful people here who are more than eager to help others by sharing their own experience (some are even too eager I suppose and tend to become a forceful salesman...).  And the key word is "shin splint".  Years ago when my Achilles was so sore that I just couldn't run and I did lots of walking instead, I used to get sore shin simply because (I think) I was using my shin muscles more by pointing up my toes (dorsi-flexing, I guess, in a fancy terminology) more in walking than running.  It went away naturally as my shin gets stronger.  So here we're talking about natural growing pain vs. potential injury.  Then, on the top of that, muscle over-use vs. actual "shin splint".  The actual "shin splint" is the aggravation of sheath between 2 bones in your shin usually from extra pounding or "shock wave" caused from excess slapping--either from downhill running, heel-landing, or simply from pounding action of running.  There's not really much you can do but maybe icing and some stretching.  But the point is; different pain developed by different causes require different solutions.  Wrong prescription due to misdiagnosis can lead to even bigger problems than before.

            JPF


              MTA: If he has a desk job, remind him to get up and walk around, stretch and self-massage throughout the day.  If you let those puppies tighten up, then wake up the next morning and run, the shins are going to hurt. 

               

              As someone who has an extremely sedentary desk job, I can say that this is very good advice.  If you sit at a desk all day, you've got to get up and shake and stretch things out.  Not just for shin splits, either.

              Gig


                When you start running, you start using new muscles (or rather use them in new ways).

                 

                Shin splints feel like a bone problem, but it's really a muscle issue. The muscles near your shins are getting more use, and therefore getting stronger. This puts your legs out of balance. Icing will help with the symptoms, but the best cure I know of is toe rises to strengthen your calves.

                 

                Toe rises helped me, and they've helped everybody I know who has tried it. Here's an article: http://running.about.com/od/injuryprevention/ht/toeraises.htm

                 

                It tells specifically how to do toe rises. For me, I just do them whenever I can--waiting for an elevator, on the phone, or waiting for anything else.

                 

                I hope this or something helps and keeps him running. I've never done C25K, but I know a lot of people who changed their lives thanks to the program.

                   Not Kurt ... Mark.  Or at least it was probably me you're talking about Nobby.  And, yes, I've fixed all that ran over 40 miles the week before last (I had surgery last week so I couldn't run).  

                   

                    I'll throw a +1000 behind Nobby's suggestion of a video analysis.  Nobby really helped me understand how screwed up my running form was.  The sad part is that I did it to myself.  But, the best queue I got from Nobby was to make circles with my feet.  I still concentrate on that when I'm either trying to run "fast" or when I'm getting tired.  I'm not fast by any means, but working on getting faster (and better) every day.

                   

                    You can probably find the thread around here with my horrible form.  He can't look worse than I did!

                   

                     Mark

                   

                   

                   

                  I said guinea pig because we had this incidence, and, what was his name, Kurt?  He was having shin split problem and he was wondering because he recently switched to mid-foot landing form.  He sent me a video of his running and it was quite clear very quickly that he was sticking his foot way out in the front even though he was landing on his mid-foot.  He was doing a lot of his running on treadmill and, it seemed to me, that, the extra "pull" of the belt was aggravating his frontal shin area.  I suggested him to change that running style and, within 2 weeks, he wrote to me and told me the shin split was gone.  That was an easy case but that was also a quite powerful case of how simple change in running style can alleviate problem. 

                  pondman


                    Toe rises helped me, and they've helped everybody I know who has tried it. Here's an article: http://running.about.com/od/injuryprevention/ht/toeraises.htm

                     

                     

                    I also believe shin splint are the result of an inbalance or weakness. I'd try a toe rise with a small weight, dangle your legs off a porch  and lift your toes up and down.. Plus I'd do modified leg extentions, sitting in a chair and straightening one leg at a time. Some people argue against doing conventional leg extentions, but I do them with light weight on a machine.

                    Slice


                      Just a quick update: He is working on not heel striking as hard and switched shoes to some old Saucony shoes that he already had. I can't convince him to go to a running store for a stride analysis. He's still only heading out 2-3 times per week but the pain is getting a little better. I'm still working on getting him to stretch and to actually *gasp* listen to my advice. I'm guessing it's kind of demotivational to be married to someone who loves to run when you hate it as much as he does. Thanks again for all the advice.

                      I don't half-ass anything

                       

                      "I have several close friends who have run marathons, a word that is actually derived from two Swahili words: mara, which means 'to die a horrible death' and thon, which means 'for a stupid T-shirt.' Look it up." - Celia Rivenbark, You Can't Drink All Day if You Don't Start in the Morning

                       

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