Runner's Forum: Oh MY Shin Splints!! Help!

I would like to know the answer to this as well.  I've gone to a sports medicine doc twice and he really couldn't do anything except give me the exerises that I'm sure you already have.

I've been running for years with no problems and all of the sudden a few months ago, I started getting shin splints.  I tried to run through them and that didn't work.  I took time off and they came right back after I started running again.  I'm at a loss here and have just had to run with the pain.

also found this link which may be useful

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-285--13077-0,00.html

 

P.S. I am also no expert. I've just had experience with them in the past, and I am currently battling them as well.

I'm hoping to be able to run on Saturday for the race if I rest my legs enough these next few days!

I'd been struggling with shin splints for a little bit, but then I tried adjusting my stride to move my strike point on my lead foot from my heel to more of my midfoot.  This has sure made my calves sore, but it's a lot better than sore shins, because it's muscle as opposed to bone, and I can deal with that... When I first started shifting my strike position every day felt like I'd just run a marathon with calve soreness, but if you stick with it, after a while your calves adapt and I can say I haven't had any shin splints since.  Plus, my calves feel 10x harder now :)

I too have felt your pain and frustration.

I too did copious research and became a self-styled expert. I followed lots of suggestions (except one) but only held it at bay for a couple of weeks. After all I was following a program for my first half-marathon, so couldn't afford to ease up much on the training. It was so frustrating. A holiday was the saviour of my injury. For 10 days all I did was walking, hiking up mountains, and cross-training when there was a gym at the hotel.

I came home, hit the road, and found the pain, and the lump on my shin bone was gone. I did a mini ramp-up of my training, then a 7 day taper. I ran 2.00 hrs for the half mara and was absolutely elated. I hadn't lost much endurance during my holiday, because I beat my 10k time twice in the 21k event.

YOU GOTTA REST YOUR SHINS!

Gaz

 

Like everyone else here, I too had major shin splints, one cause was running indoor track on a 200m loop. The turns were so sharp that from leaning in it produced the shin splints. I got the orthodics to help, but it only stemmed the pain.

This past year I had them real bad when running for 5k's and training for my 15k. I decided to try out the local running store who specialized in running shoes and they helped to find the right shoe for me. They also instructed me that I needed to wear a half to a whole size larger for running. Doing this and laying off of the squat machine, I have yet to have the pain again.

As someone stated earlier, do not try to run through them. It will only make it worse and possibly cause stress fractures on your shins.

One of the problems with shin splints is that the term is used by different people to mean different things. In HS I used to get pain in the front of my shins (anterior tibialis muscle) from over striding or from switching to running on the road after XC season. Called that shin splints. Got the same pain from hiking downhill 20 miles in one day on a gravel jeep road. I recently had pain in the inside of my shin behind the shin bone (posterior tibialis muscle) from overpronating. Called that shin splints as well. Completely different problems in different muscle groups from different causes with different treatments, but called the same thing.

Gutting it out and running through the pain is not a good course of action. Depending on your age and how fast you heal, you might get away with it. But you could also find yourself laid up for weeks or months recovering from a stress fracture. Use RICE first (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). Rest doesn't neccessarily mean stopping running, but cut your mileage by half at least. Ice as much as you possibly can, especially immediately after running. Try a compression sleeve or elastic bandage, sometimes they can be helpful. Elevate your shin above your heart to try and reduce swelling. If that doesn't help after a couple of weeks, go see a medical professional. A good sports doc or PT (preferably one who runs themself) can help determine what the issue is in your specific case. Then do what they say.

The most important thing to do is to determine what caused the problem. It really doesn't do any long term good to take a month or two off, spend hours in therapy sessions to get better only to re-injure yourself because you didn't address the underlying cause. You have to be assertive with your doc and make sure that he/she helps you figure out what the cause was.