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Try breaking your leg badly enough to have a metal rod inserted in it - that's what happed to me and i've never had shin splints in that leg! This is mainly because of extra bone growing over the rod, thus making my shins extra thick. Cool eh?
However, my other leg gets all the shin splints. I have recently started doing the exercises as used in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vZVq3ov914
I do 5-6 sets of these a day, and i must say it has definitely helped! This is also accompanied by lots of regular stretching of the calfs and thighs which contribute to shin splints.
UPDATE - My shin splints haven't returned! So no need to treat them now.
Although recently, with increasing my mileage, my ankles have started to ache a bit. Nothing painful, as it wears off after a couple of miles anyway.
This thread has become very interesting. Good advise too.
Good morning all!
Thought I might add some ideas to what has already been said. Looking at most of the posts I am going to keep this focussed on medial tibial stress symdrome/ MTSS/ medial shin splints/ pain inside of shin bone - all the same stuff.
When doing an assessment we are looking at all the usual suspects on this one:Footwear, biomechanics, previous issues, mileage, intensity of training, speedwork.
Now I'm not going to bother too much about about the last 3 in that they are the aggravators of the 1st 2.
It generally comes down to the alignment of the leg and the foot as you take impact, continue through the stance phase and then onto toe off.
Genearally with MTSS, is that the leg twists in from the hip and the foot falls into pronation either as a cause or as the result. What this does is stretches the muscles up the inside of the shin as you are taking the load on strike and stance phase. Now ordinarily the muscles can cope with this but when we do too much, too hard, use the wrong footwear etc these muscles overload and can no longer cope with the strain and so start to complain. If we do not correct early this complaint which was probably a bit of an ache starts to turn to pain and if we continue to ignore it we can even then start to affect the bone and head towards bone stress and then stress fracture.
So how do we fix it?
Always good to start with best possible trainers (for some even orthotics) for your foot mechanics. This doesn't necessarily mean the most expensive. They must support and improve the quality of your mechanics. Video analysis vital.
Now we have to look at you and your mechanics - i do a simple test of having clients stand in front of a mirror, stand on 1 leg and then do a short single leg squat while watching what happens to the alignment of the hip, knee and foot. Generally with MTSS - you will see the leg rotate inwards and pronation increase - this leads to increased strain over the medial tibial region. Now imagine this happening with the force and speed of running, now multiply this out over the miles that we do and you can see why shin splints can be so mean!
Treatment has to be aimed at freeing up the medial tibial muscles (and all other regions which contribute) with various types of release work, correcting foot mechanics with trainers/orthotics, correcting bio-mechanics - your physio should be able to assess these issues and give you exercises for your hip, glutes etc. If you don't fix the cause the problem will keep recurring.
The problem of MTSS is compounded when we are doing long runs in that we fatigue towards the end and this causes greater biomechanical weakness which adds more pressure to the already tired fatigued medial tibial muscles. Take a look at pictures at the end of marathons and see how peoples legs are rolling in. This is why so much emphasis is placed on core stability together with holding running form.
Unfortunately this does all take time but with good managed care, working with your physio you should be able to improve rapidly and get back out on the road - sensibly.
A word of advice for those who even hopping is too painful and you have more a point of pain along the bone rather than a region it is worth investigating stress fracture.
I hope this has helped
Keep Going
Savs
I have a similar Injury predicament. I'm training for my first marathon (Edinburgh on 23 May).
I developed 'housemaids knee' after a game of rugby from a trauma injury and as a result was unable to bend my knee at all and was forced to take 3 weeks off from running.
The doctor said after this time that I was fine to start running again, as structurally the knee was ok and the problems were all swelling and brusining based.
I think i may have run too many miles too soon, as I have now developed what I think are shin splints. They are incredibly painful and are becmoning quite frustrating.
I'm going to keep on with a long run at the weekend, but limit my shorter runs during the week.
What is the best form of low impact cardio to do, which will help me increase my fitness levels, and still be beneficial for my running?
I'm aiming for a 3.5-3.45 hour marathon.
All advice would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers
Thanks Alex
How much longer should I be looking to use the cross trainer, so that it would give me the same amount of benefit as a run. How much time on a ccross trainer would you need to match a 30 minute run for example?
How beneficial would cycling be? Would i find my fitness would be OK when I returned to running but my legs would be more tired?
Thanks
Charlie,
Afraid I'm no expert just going from my experience of managing shin split problems while race training.
I would start off with 30min sessions on the Xtrainer and see how you get on with it, if you find it bearable try to increase the time on it but also the resistance. You can then try varying the program so that you do say 10mins on resistance 13/14 followed by 5mins on resistance 7/8 for say 4 repetitions of each. I find that an excellent cardio workout. You should be able to spend as long on the Xtrainer as your usual run. Some people find cycling helps, personally I find the muscle groups it uses are too different to have any real benefit other than general aerobic training for a runner. Yes when you return to running your fitness should be the same (after up to a month) and it would just be your leg muscles that will need a bit of pre-race priming. Good luck with it and let me know how it goes.
That sounds really useful Alex. I'll give the cross trianer a go this evening.
If I can keep my fitness up whilst letting my shins recover then that would be ideal. I think what you mentioned should let me do this.
Thanks again Alex, I'll let you know how it's going.
Charlie
Hi All
Very interesting thread, some really good advice and guidance.
I had shin splints last year but managed to get them cleared after my September Marathon when I took about 2 months off for recovery.
Started running again late November but the splints came back in Jan when I pushed a tempo run too fast in the freezing cold, so I learnt a lesson there. Took 3 weeks or so off but cross trained and they where cured and my fitness was still pretty good.
Now, finished my final long run before a race next weekend, 12 miles yesterday, which I took pretty slow and my little splint has appeared again but this time its pretty localised and was very tender when pressed, jumping off the chair tenderness. I iced it every 3 hours and also applied some Deep Freeze gel yesterday.
Today I kept testing the pain every hour or so (I have an obsessive nature
) by rubbing and pressing my thumb down across the affected area (probably did this 3-5 times) and I found that over the course of today the pain slowly started to decrease.
So Im thinking after reading this thread would that count as massarging the area ?? If so then thats one thing that we all could try.
Another question I have is about stress fractures. If I did have a stress fracture would the pain last a lot longer that 24 hours or so ?? Im presuming it would as I once broke my foot and that was painfull for weeks.
I'll be icing the leg when I get home from work again and add some more Deep Freeze and I think I'll try a couple of miles tomorrow night after another nights rest, I'll let you all know how it goes.
If any physio/podiatrist types could answer my 2 little queries I would be greatly appreciative.
Cheers
Charlie,
I cross trained with the cross trainer and found it easily kept my fitness up.
I enjoyed pyramiding with it. Id start off on a set incline and resistance and then after a few minutes I'd increase one or the other up one notch until I'd reached my time limit.
Over the course of 3-4 weeks I found a marked increase in fitness and the definition in my quads, it was quite pleasing.
Also added sessions on the static bike and some weights to add variety.
Thanks CrashTest.
I was worried that without running, my fitness and stamina would decrease and knock me off course for my target marathon time.
If the cross trainer will allow me to keep my fitness up whilst allowing my shins to recover it sounds like an ideal solution.
I already do weights sessions twice a week, and I cycle to and from work (40mins total) each day.
so I'm just hoping that when I come back to running, my fitness will have improved and it will be almost although I've not had to stop running.
Do you think leg weights would be a good idea to try and increase strength, given that there will be less resistance on my legs when I'm on the cross trainer?
Thanks
Physio suggested strenghtning calf glute muscles - have been doing this in gym for 2 months without dropping mileage and problem has 90% gone whilst increasing mileage.
I found just increasing the resistance and incline was more than enough to work not only my legs but abbs, back, arms and give you a thorough drenching in sweat. When the incline was maxed out the ramp must have been around 40%, it was like running up the side of a very, very steep hill.
Also I found that I had to keep the strides per minute up as well, as high as you can but still being comfortable. When I finally got back to running I was starting my x-trainer sessions at a resistance+incline of 6 with 180 strides/min and by the time I got to 20 resistance+incline my strides where around 145.
My usual session was between 30 - 60 mins pyramidding the resistance and incline up and on a Long Run day I'd do around 1.30 hours with another 30 mins on the bike.
Give the x-trainer a go the next time your in the gym and turn up the resistance and incline. If you added say 3 sessions of cross training at the gym to what you already do you should be ok.
By the looks of the training that your doing your putting in quite a bit of training already. You could also drop a long bike ride into the weekend to compensate for the long run.
What kind of time are you looking for on your marathon ?
I was hoping initially for 3 hours 30 mins, but I may have to revise that to about 3 hours 50 mins now. I want a time that should be challenging bu achievable!
The cross training on an incline and at a decent resistance sounds like it should be reallygood for both fitness and leg strength. How did you find it was on your shins?
My only concern with the long bike rides is that if it is working a slightly different set of muscle groups in the legs, then when I come back to my long runs, my lungs will be OK, but it will be my legs which will tire too quickly.
I'm going ot give the cross trainer a crack tonight - fingers crossed it gives me a god workout!
Thanks
Hi All, I have been running on and off (due to various niggling injuries) for about two and a half years. I normally run about 20 miles per week and have ran two half marathons.
Around about September last year I developed pain in my right shin, I have now found out that this is caused by shin splints as I over pronate, particularly on my right foot.
I have bought new shoes, but to no avail so I had a course of physio and bought some orthotic soles from them. The pain and swelling seemed to dissapear pretty quickly, much to the shock of the physio!
I then had a month off and have today been for a two miler but after the first half a mile the pain reoccurred. Can anyone help please before I give up!!
Thanks
Aidy
Charlie, when I first started the x-trainer my shins did ache, but nowhere in the region of the ache/pain of running on them. After about a week or so the aches died down but I had a tender spot to the touch. 2-4 weeks after that I was able to run without any ache or discomfort.
If you did the long bike ride you'd probably not improve your calf strength as much as running but the x-trainer would cater for that.
If your marathon is in May and you took 3-4 weeks of running you may still be able to get enough quality training in before the race. That gives you around 7 weeks to get the legs back in a reasonable runnin shape.
Just talking from my limited experience from my marathon training last year my story was the same as yours, putting in some good milage, and speed work then 3 months before the race I get crippling splints. I did eventually make a couple of 20 mile runs and a 22 and manage a race time of 4:24.
After I got the splints again this time I took a hard look at what seemed to be causing them and it looks like it was speed. I was getting the most discomfort from running tempo sessions too fast too soon.
So for my next marathon in September I'll be logging lots of easy miles with a weekly hilly run to build the strength back up in the calves and shins before I even attempt speed, which I'll trickle feed into my schedule. Hopefully that will keep the splints at bay.
Aiden, from the splints that I experienced I never got any swelling, if the pains still the same after a month of rest you may have a stress fracture. Im no expert but Id visit the physio/podiatrist again to get it looked at. In the mean time RICE it mate and pop some pills.
CrashTest,
I agree that it may have been my tempo sessions which have caused the problem. I was logging around 25 easy miles a week, no problem, But as soon as I included a few tempo sessions, i think this is what must have caused the problems.
I have always played loads of rugby with no problems, but i think the tempo sessions on hard concrete is what's caused the problems.
did an hour of hard work on the cross trainer last night, increasing the resistance but keeping the intensity up for the whole way.
Felt brilliant by the end and like i'd got something out of it. This morning my shins don't even hurt at all - wondering whether the movement without the impact was really good for them.
Will be doing the cross trainer for the rest of the week, then attempting some longeasy runs in the near future.
Thanks all very much for your help - I feel like i'm back on target now!!
Charlie
Fantastic Charlie thats great. Just take it easy for a few weeks and you'll be back into full training in no time.
Glad you liked the cross traininer, I got kind of addicted to it traying to keep the pace as high as possible while increasing incline + resistance. Think I'll drop by the gym Wednesday for another fix
This morning my shin feels fine, no pain or aches so Im going to pop out tonight for a few slow miles round the block, gym wednesday then some more slow miles Thursday and that should do me until the Kilomathon on Sunday. Looks like I may be nearly 100% fit for this race