Shin splints (Read 415 times)

This seems to be a popular topic. I searched this board and found all kinds of stories, advice etc. I had to take a longer break from running (Sep 06 - Feb 07), due to a herniated lumbar disc. Now I am back and pulled the adidas stability shoes back out of the closet. I bought them in July 06 and they had about 50 miles on them. The herniated disc had caused some paralysis/weakness of my hip abductors. The psoas shortens at times and pulls my pelvis out of whack. Hipflexors are part of it. In PT I was filmed on the treadmill and observed to do some weird whipping motion with my right foot (= pull more towards the middle before striking the ground) and overpronate more on the right as well. After the PT was finished with her treatment, she assured me I now have equal strength in both legs again. She suggested to use "superfeet" insoles for stability purposes, which I did. I felt that my adidas shoes didn't support my heel as well anymore with the Superfeet in them. I started my HM training program and am into week 4 now. After last weeks runs (6 long on Sunday and 4 and 3 during the week) I had pretty bad shin splint pain ... I haven't run very many hills, but push myself and run hard most of the time. I do stretch and my weekly Yoga class. Well, I took the Superfeet out of the adidas and went to the running store. The guy there seemed very knowledgeable and mentioned that even if you don't run in your shoes for a while, they still break down by aging. Guide on shoe life is about one year or 400-500 miles, whichever comes first. Was fitted with a pair of Brooks Radius 6 and told I look stabile running in them. The adidas were a little more stability than I needed and I don't need the insoles at all. He also suggested to back off a little on the mileage as needed and elevate legs as much as possible and do Ice massages on the shins 3 times a day. The Ice massages feel very good! Just 2 massages have localized the shin pain and made the affected area smaller! I just put a few ice-cubes in a ziplock bag ad rubbed both shins as hard as I could tolerate. Now I will go for a 7 mile run. That is the plan anyway. I'll listen to my body, dial the speed down somewhat and ice afterwards. If I hurt too much, I leave myself the option of not finishing the run ... Tomorrow swimming and Yoga. I will keep you guys posted!