Shin Splints!! (Read 773 times)

Ouch, I've never had this before and it hurts!! What causes it and how do i make the pain go away?

I have gotten them for so many reasons, you pick and see if any fit: 1. Wrong shoes, too hard for me. 2. Worn out shoes. 3. Track workouts. 4. Excessive mileage. 5. Excessive body weight. 6. New to running. I am sure there are others. Assuming there is nothing structurally wrong, eliminate the cause, ice, some ibuprofen, and perhaps rest. Typically they clear right up if you identify the cause and remove it.

You'd have to be careful because there seem to be several different causes (I'm not just talking about shoes or shoe wear or hills or things like that) for "shin splint". Basically I feel people generally call ANY pain in the shin area "shin splint" and that's quite misleading. I would actually strongly suggest you seek some professional help first for that reason. I found that one of the quickest and easiest treatment for shin splint is ice massage. Fill up a paper cup with water and freeze it; once completely frozen, peel off about a half an inch of paper from the top--this way, you can actually hold the cup and "massage" the area, instead of just placing a ice pack. This supposedly increase blood flow better. It seems most people in general agree that ill-fitted shoes can be a cause of shin splint. Somebody else also mentioned "too much hill training". The thing is; it seems a certain "slapping" action of the foot creates vibration that irritates the membrane between two bones in the shin. When you have a shoe with heel way too thick, then you are actually adding extra distance (quite a bit of distance) to the lever. This means you are actually increasing the speed at which the tip of your foot lands. This is extra trauma which, seemingly, is enough to irritate your shin. This is why downhill running, more so than uphill running, can irritate shin splint because it increase the chance of your feet slapping around (particularly if you land hard on your heel). Now this does not necessarily mean you should change your form to land more tip-toe because if you run the other extreme and run tip-toe, this also seems to work muscles around your shin as well and the area might get sore as well. This is probably not bad because it's more of a weak muscle(s) so once it's strengthened, it would disappear. The issue with membrane can be a bit more of a headache. Also, other person mentioned sudden increase in mileage--if this is the case, this is probably putting too much stress in the muscles and bone. There's always a chance of getting stress fracture in this situation so you need to be extra careful. Bottom line; you need to identify the cause of your "shin splint" and treat it accordingly. It's not wise to just call any pain in the shin area "shin splint" and jump to conclusion.