shin splint prevention

[Insomnia]

Anyone have experience with real bad shin splints and what you did to prevent it from being an issue? I've had chronic shin splints for a very long time, and I was playing hours of tennis every single day for 4 years in high school, so at some point I guess I just kinda got used to hobbling around and avoiding stairs. Because of college and covid, I haven't been running in a while, and I found that I just can't go back to living with a throbbing pain in my shins every waking hour. I'd like to get back into running because I miss morning jogs, but I'm committed to doing whatever it takes to avoid shin splints. What workout/stretch routines have any of y'all that used to have bad shin splints swear by?

 

[Ram94]

Are they anterior or posterior?

I used to get bad anterior shin splints (along the front outside of shin) and what I finally found helped was strengthening my calves and hip flexors. Shin splints also take a very long time to fully heal, so maybe take some time away from any activity that aggravates them and focus on strengthening everything from your hips down and start a stretching/mobility routine.

Im not a physio but it worked for me. Good luck

 

[5MilesBack]

I always got shin splints every year transitioning from basketball to track and/or baseball. Not sure if it was because of the hard court to dirt and grass transition or what, but I always got them. They would eventually get better over time, but they were miserable until then.

 

[Insomnia]

Are they anterior or posterior?

I used to get bad anterior shin splints (along the front outside of shin) and what I finally found helped was strengthening my calves and hip flexors. Shin splints also take a very long time to fully heal, so maybe take some time away from any activity that aggravates them and focus on strengthening everything from your hips down and start a stretching/mobility routine.

Im not a physio but it worked for me. Good luck

Good point, I should have mentioned that. Anterior for me. The funny thing is that I have pretty strong calves, genetically gifted with the good ol' Asian calves, plus I enjoy calf raises. I'll definitely work on hip flexors.

 

[TxxAgg]

It's been a long time but what helped me was going from a crappy Nike style shoe to Altras with a wide toe box and zero drop. The biggest difference was the wider toe box allowing my feet to fall in a natural motion.

 

[Insomnia]

It's been a long time but what helped me was going from a crappy Nike style shoe to Altras with a wide toe box and zero drop. The biggest difference was the wider toe box allowing my feet to fall in a natural motion.

Ha! I wrote this thread right after I got home from a running store where they measured my feet and gait and set me up with a pair of Altra Provision 6 runners.

 

[The Ri Guy]

It's been a long time but what helped me was going from a crappy Nike style shoe to Altras with a wide toe box and zero drop. The biggest difference was the wider toe box allowing my feet to fall in a natural motion.

I used to have terrible anterior shin splints and knee aches, switching to primarily barefoot style shoes (Vivo) or when needed wider toe box boots (Whites, Schnee's, LaCrosse, etc.) solved all of my issues after about a year.

 

[InDeep]

#1 one thing to do is . Walk on your heels for 50 steps then you balls of your feet for 50 steps do this every day . Over time this will bulletproof this inflammation issue . Shin spits is just inflammation.

 

[TSAMP]

I am a frequent runner. I too had anterior shin splints and found 2 things that helped. Besides the obviously mentioned quality shoes.

#1 was a cool down walk around the block. Instead of completing my runs and stopping cold. Hills are best to walk up.

#2 were toe touches. Lifting my heel off the ground and tapping my toes each leg for as many reps as I could.

 

[Ram94]

Another thing that I came across recently that I found interesting was stride width. If you run with a narrow stride width, it can cause bad shin splints. Also, make you’re not heal striking when you run. You’ll want to be landing mid foot (which is why barefoot shoes make a big difference as they’ll promote more of mid foot landing)

 

[Psnguyen]

Ouch, I used to get those as a teenager, sorry to my hear that, not super helpful but I changed how I run to strike the midfront foot first to avoid further problems

 

[TSimons9]

Assuming that you have not already tried this, go to a legitimate running store and have them watch you run and help you pick good shoes. I used to get bad shin splints when I was in high school and first in the Army. As soon as I went away from Nike and other cheap shoes I was able to heal and have not dealt with them since.

 

[hunting1]

Shin compression sleeves and stretching! If you keep running the muscle will get stronger and it should get better. Shoes do make a big difference as well, try Hoka or the like.

 

[Old-Cat]

Calf raises, and rest.

I developed a ridiculously painful case from skipping rope, it woke me up at night. I was sparing ( boxing) young kids at the time. I also attempting to hang during their workouts. The fact is my body was not ready. I hadn’t train specifically for the load that type of physical exertion demanded. My calves were weak. I was 40 at the time btw.

An old school coach told me to do calf raises. 3 sets total, one parallel , one w my toes together, heels out and a one w my heals together, toes out, 30secs a set, every day. It worked like a charm. I pushed like a retard a few times before I healed and had to take some time off again, but ultimately my calves got used to the load again.

Shoot I still do them most every day.

 

[ETtikka]

#1 one thing to do is . Walk on your heels for 50 steps then you balls of your feet for 50 steps do this every day . Over time this will bulletproof this inflammation issue . Shin spits is just inflammation.

Walking on heels after any workout or sports, seemed to always help prevent them for me, and avoiding hard surfaces when possible

 

[doc holiday13]

Stretching.. Yoga to be specific. there are a number of poses that will help prevent your problem. You have agitated tendons, so you need to control the inflammation and adjust your routine to stop the causation of inflammation.

 

[hunting1]

Good stretching, calf compression socks, or Keto tape. They will get stronger if you keep at it!

 

[Superdoo]

Try doing the Tibialis Raise.

Chapter 1 of The Knee Ability Zero Picture-book

Intro and Chapter 1 of The Knee Ability Zero Picture-book

www.atgonlinecoaching.com

 

[Bryan B]

As others said, go to a running shoe store to get fitted and have them watch you run.

I don't know if this is applies to you, but too many people try to do too much too fast.

A good 5-week program to start with is doing 30 minute sessions about every other day as follows:

Week 1, Walk 4 minutes, run 1 minute, repeat for 30 minutes
Week 2, Walk 3 minutes, run 2 minutes, repeat for 30 minutes
Week 3, Walk 2 minutes, run 3 minutes, repeat for 30 minutes
Week 4, Walk 1 minute, run 4 minutes, repeat for 30 minutes
Week 5, Run 30 minutes

 

[dietridg]

I was going to suggest the tibialis raises as well. Actually the entire zero program from Knees over toes guy is a good baseline.