Miami Women-Only Fitness Bootcamp

GOT SHIN SPLINTS?

WHAT CAUSES SHIN SPLINTS?

Too much too soon is often the cause of this injury. 

The culprit of shin splints is typically an abrupt increase in activity past the point that your body is able to adequately recover.
They usually often affect new runners who have not adjusted to the additional stress of running.

They’re caused by micro tears to the anterior or posterior tibialis muscles, and the pain can be felt on the front or on either side of your shin especially on impact. If left untreated, the tears can turn into stress fractures.

Make sure you’re wearing the right shoes for you – that means shoes that cater to your gait and also that aren’t too worn out. Take your running shoes to a running store (eg. Go Run, FootWorks) and have a certified staff member look at your shoes for wear patterns to determine your needs – stability vs. neutral vs. motion control. They may even assess your running pattern on a treadmill. After that, make sure you ramp up slowly, space your high-intensity workouts far enough apart and stretch/strengthen the muscles involved.

Although shin splints can occur on both legs, it’s more common for the dominant leg to be affected due to overuse and associated compensation.

Other factors that can contribute to shin splints:
-Overtraining
-Biomechanics – improper running
-An increase in downhill running
-Running on uneven surfaces
-Tight calf muscles or Achilles tendon from inadequate stretching
-Over-pronation
-Over-striding (beginners appear to be more susceptible)
-Lack of arch support or worn out shoes
-Excessive stress placed on one leg over the other from running in the same direction on a track or on pitched roads

WHATEVER THE CAUSE….

Rest!  It’s crucial to stop running or participating in the activity that caused the injury to allow the inflammation to resolve.

Once the inflammation subsides, strengthening, stretching and a gradual increase in running are the key factors to getting back to pre-injury status.

Here are some exercises & stretches you can do at home:

…and my favorite stretch (similar to compartment stretch):

This entry was posted on September 7, 2020 at 11:14 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.