My cross country season has just started in the past couple weeks and last friday I got shin splints. Im not new to shin splints or anything, Iv e had em a few times, but nothing that anyone tells me (including the trainer) really works.
Our first meet of this season is next week so I don't really wanna have to take days off.
The last time I had iced shin splints was sometime this spring and it just made them worse. I do strengthening exercises like extending your foot backward, forward, inward, outward, etc., doesn't help. I've been stretching but its not doing all that much to help.
I have been warming my calfs and shins with a heat pad though and that seems to help a little bit, but there's no real improvement. Any tips?
Well I did all those exercises and everything like laying down and curling my toes to stretch it but you should also wear your training shoes all the time, in the house when you go out, everywhere becasue the extra cushioning puts less pressure on your foot when u step down.
ya ive tried that trigger point therapy thing, only ijust use a tennis ball, it seems to help a little, but it doesn't help get rid of them any sooner, but they're starting to go away so i'll be fine, in a week I might be able to work back up to my regualr pace
thanks for the suggestions
I realize there must be dozens of causes for shin splints, but I'll throw this out in case people helping you have been looking too much at details or equipment-related causes and overlooking a general stride issue. I had severe shin splint pain (couldn't even pull socks on!) that was entirely caused by me trying to push off with my feet/ankles/toes with each running step. I must have subconsciously thought that to run fast, my feet had to help propel me. Once I realized I was doing it, I simply let my core and large muscles do the work instead of my lower legs (and I also focused on not heel striking... the jarring aggravated my shin splint pain). Maybe you are too experienced to have issues like mine but it's worth mentioning. My problem was resolved immediately with this simple change, although the soreness in my shins took weeks to be completely gone. My legs get much less fatigued so I can run a lot farther and faster, with no shin pain, ever.
I just got over a bad case of shin splints....and if you are gonna race this week you are just gonna have to suffer through it. On top of all of the thearapy that has been formentioned the only thing that really helped me was to quit running... I got on a bike and swam for about two weeks. I also changed shoes. and believe it or not spend about 5-10 minutes before and after your run stretching just your calfs you wouldnt think this would work but an ER Doc that I run with suggested it to me and I havent had a bit of problem since. Good luck.
I battled shin splints, ran through them, then wound up w/ a stress fracture in my tibia back in April. That sidelined me for roughly 3months and I'm getting back into it.
After seeing a podiatrist and the physical therapist, we determined a few things and made changes. 1. My arch collapses after extended running. I have a shoe w/ a high arch, and a set of PowerStep Insoles. 2. I'm hard on shoes and run the cushioning out fast. It's been determined that I buy them frequently (300mi roughly). 3. I didn't stretch well or listen to the pains.
If you're definitely running this coming weekend, you'll just have to run through it and go from there. I'd recommend getting it looked at though, before it gets any worse.
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