Shin Splints

Hostage · 02-13-2007, 04:53 PM

I've been running about 2 miles every other day and recently I've gotten shin splints. The advice I was given was to take time off and let them heel.

Well now I can run and there's no pain. However, when I push down in the inside of my shin I can still feel a little pain......but not when I'm running.

Should I continue to sit out, or will running bring it back to where it was?

BRONZEBOMBER · 02-13-2007, 10:35 PM

I am semi-flat footed and had shin splints through out high school. I joined the Marines out of high school and was concerned that shin splints would really hamper me, I was extremely surprised that I never once got shin splints through out all of boot camp, even though we ran every day, on roads, and up to five miles, and sometimes even wearing boots.

I have a just one theory about why I never got shin splints in boot camp.

Duck walks - In boot camp they force you to do a menial task every night and every morning, you take a "scuzz brush" (a small brush with tough bristles) and duck walk (squat down basically touching your ass to your ankles and walk along) while you are bent over and sweeping the floor. I estimate we did that at least 15 minutes every day, and we were usually wearing flip flops when we did it. It hurts like hell when you first start doing it and it tires you out, but besides being a good conditioning exercise it also stretches out your shins and makes you more flexible. This is my top theory.

Try duck walking for at least 5 minutes as a warm up before running and see if it helps.

deweymac · 02-14-2007, 12:00 AM

i read somewhere that one way to prevent them was to decrease stride length and i found that when i did this it decreased the flair up in my shins

SwiftMcvay · 02-14-2007, 01:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hostage

I've been running about 2 miles every other day and recently I've gotten shin splints. The advice I was given was to take time off and let them heel.

Well now I can run and there's no pain. However, when I push down in the inside of my shin I can still feel a little pain......but not when I'm running.

Should I continue to sit out, or will running bring it back to where it was?

You can start running again. If you've had shin splints before, you will still have some discomfort if you push down on your shins like that. After probably another 6 months you won't feel them at all anymore. They will most likely not hurt anymore, but if they do I guess just take some more time off and let them heal, but I think you'll be alright.

Thumper75 · 02-14-2007, 02:39 AM

What kind of warm-ups do you do? I had suffered from them for years, I started doing one-footed toe raises, about 20 or so reps on each leg prior to running- helped a bunch! Good luck!

JohnnyBuddha · 02-14-2007, 10:08 AM

I used to get these like crazy in my early 20s. Here's what I did:

Similar to the duck-walking idea, simply flex your foot up towards your shin as much as you can do comfortably and then flex it downwards, away from the shin as well, alternating between the two for some length of time. You should feel this in the inside of the shin. This seems to work the muscles associated with shin splints.

Another tactic is to curl and uncurl your toes, alternating between the two for some length of time as well.

Either of these can be done while sitting around typing on the computer, watching TV, etc. Also be sure to ice those things for 10-15 minutes on, 10-15 min off after your running. Really, these things took care of it pretty quickly from what I remember.

Ranger · 02-14-2007, 08:32 PM

I have extremely flat feet and get shin splints within 2 minutes of running and by minute 5 or 6, i am in ridiculous pain. By minute 10 I have to lay down and ice up. Then I'm sore for 48 hours. I can do a stationary bike for 60 minutes but cannot run. I've tried the duck walk, stretching,weight training,orthodics, and special running shoes. Anyone else here as screwy as me?

wolverine83 · 02-19-2007, 12:14 AM

being in the occupation of an airborne infantryman i have expreienced my shares of body aches and pains.For the sake of this matter I will assume that you know when you have an injury and when you just feel sore,with that said will say , as far as having extreme pain during a run and adding the fact that you have flat feet you should try to change name brands that are made for your foot arch profile(flat,high arch,normal arch)second make sure the outsoles are hard and rigid.for flat feet you can also buy soft insoles to give you feet and bones in your foot some extra comfort from the gound pounding.I'm not going to go into detail about what i just said but you can send me a PM if you want to get details also i will add that i don't have flat feet but i have alot of close friends who have and almost all have told me that that was the remedy to their problem so with that said you can try to take my advice ,if you want PM me.

Halfmoon167 · 02-19-2007, 12:42 AM

when i first started running alot i had shin splint problems.. alls I did was let them heal, and apply ice to them.. rub an ice cube up and down your shin for like 5 10 minutes, once or twice a day..

than for the next couple runs if there is a slight pain still, do the ice cube for a couple minutes to each shin after a run, make it a habit until it goes away.. they stop bothering u eventually

case7778 · 02-20-2007, 08:52 AM

You need to warm up thoroughly and stretch your calves. I had pretty bad shin splints until I read about calf stretching. It helps tremendously.