shin splints!!! owe!!!! (Read 1045 times)

She'll probably need to rest a bit to let them heal, but she needs to also figure out what is causing them. Poor footwear is often the culprit; if her shoes are worn out, she should try replacing them and get fitted at a proper running store. It's not more expensive. She should also try to stay away from running on concrete/sidewalks; asphalt is softer, track is even softer or grass. Increasing mileage too quickly, esp for a beginning runner, can be a problem too. Toe taps can be really helpful too, both for dealing with shin splints and preventing them. CeliacChris posted this on the main board in a thread about shin splints.... "Toe taps: when sitting down, with your feet flat, leave your heels on the floor and tap your toes up and down. 50 with your feet pointing straight ahead; 50 with them pointing to the right, 50 with them pointing to the left. Repeat whenever you remember, until you think you'll scream if you do another set. Then do another set." Good luck to her!

There are all kinds of different shin splints with different causes and different reasons for the pain so your mileage will probably vary... shin splints just means pain in the lower leg for the most part. My experience with shin splints when I started running started as I upped my amount of running through the weeks of the C25K and I tried to do more by switching from doing it by time to by recommended distance which saw me going from 3 runs a week of about 20 to 2 runs of 40 min... it was too much and I started getting pain in the front of the shin that felt like someone was pumping up my muscle with a bicycle pump. I would lose feeling in my feet and be totally unable to control lowering my toes to the ground (i.e. my feet just flapped around). I got new shoes and backed off on the distance until I was ready for it and the pain got better. Now I get this same problem any time I do one of a few things: - change the running surface greatly or the incline a lot, in face I have the most problem running when the area is very flat, since I normally run on at least a little bit of a hill particularly for the warm up part of the run. also sloped and uneven asphalt can cause it to some extent for me. - run for longer or FASTER than I'm ready for in terms of training. - fail to warm up properly, which for me means that the first portion of the run I run a little and then walk a little and repeat until really get warmed up and then I can run usually go the rest of the way pain free. A mile and half isn't very far and if your friend is fit she might feel great for that distance in terms of cardio vascular fitness but it takes the legs longer to respond I think and so starting with some running and walking intervals or something like the C25K start to run program is a really wise move if she is having pain. Like others have said... good shoes are important too. MTA: if she were to start with the C25K program at week 3 (the full program is 9 weeks long), she would be able to be running 5K, 3 times a week by the time of her desired 5K run)

From a previous post I answered. Still no shin splints since May and I'm up to 22 miles!

I have gotten shin splints off and on for the past 5 years or so. Each time I got them, I went to the doctor. They just told me stop running for about 6 weeks and take Ibuprofen. The last time I got them (in May), I said no way am I stopping. I did my own research on the web and looked up what other people do. I dropped my weekly milage in half and started stretching all the time. The websites that helped me were: http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/0161-shin-splints-treatment.htm http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/lowerleg/shinsplints/stretching.php http://www.watfxc.com/TF/TF%20Education/shin_splints.htm No shin splints since. Now any time I start to get any shin pain I slow my pace way down and start stretching more.

CeliacChris posted this on the main board in a thread about shin splints.... "Toe taps: when sitting down, with your feet flat, leave your heels on the floor and tap your toes up and down. 50 with your feet pointing straight ahead; 50 with them pointing to the right, 50 with them pointing to the left. Repeat whenever you remember, until you think you'll scream if you do another set. Then do another set." This works for me as well. I normally only get shin splints when I increase my hill mileage and stop my stretching routine at the same time. I don't stretch much, just my calfs but failing to keep them stretched during the times of the year I run a lot of hills causes shin splints for me. Also, since I'm an idiot I normally wait for the pain and then resume my 2 minutes daily stretches.

CeliacChris posted this on the main board in a thread about shin splints.... "Toe taps: when sitting down, with your feet flat, leave your heels on the floor and tap your toes up and down. 50 with your feet pointing straight ahead; 50 with them pointing to the right, 50 with them pointing to the left. Repeat whenever you remember, until you think you'll scream if you do another set. Then do another set."

I saw an RMT today for the first time. This is almost exactly what he said for me to do, except the screaming part. He just said do it at least twice a day. This reminded me to do it now. He also said no running till Monday though too. Sigh.

Yep, stretches and shin strengtheners are great. Footwear is HUGE! I realize this now because a few months back I had horrible shin splints (came on pretty suddenly) for about 2 weeks...tried everything, ice, rest, loose laces etc....wasn't till I bought new shoes that they went away. Now I'm getting twinges of pain about 3/4 way through my run (even on trails), low and behold I check the purchase date of my current shoes....mid June. I average about 20-30K per week, not alot but I'm heavier (I read somewhere the heavier you are the less miles you can put in before needing a new pair). I have a 10K trail race at the end of the month and then heading out to buy some new shoes