Dealing with Shin Splints (While Maintaining Your Training Regimen)

Dealing with Shin Splints (While Maintaining Your Training Regimen)

I recently decided that I would compete in the OC Half-Marathon. Having never run a marathon before, I realized that I needed to start training immediately for the event. What I didn’t realize was how extra running (when you’re not used to it) could make your shins feel like they’re going to explode.

Shin splints, and other lower leg pain, is caused by trauma to either your muscles or bones. For me, it felt like the front of my lower legs were extremely tight and bloated. It didn’t really look any different, but the pain was there after shorter and shorter bouts of running.

Shin splints usually occur if you do excessive running on hard surfaces or frequent activity that involves constant pounding on your legs. The condition can be worse if you don’t stretch, warm-up, train to hard, wear crumby shoes, or have some kind of biochemical issue.

The easiest and most obvious way to treat the condition is to rest. Even so, I have a marathon coming up and I need to get ready, so, I used the following methods to keep up my training while slowly caring for my shin splints:

Change the Way You Run
When I started training I was “overstriding,” which means that my stride was longer in the front than it should have been. To fix it, I made my stride longer in back and shorter in front.

Strengthen Your Lower Legs
I did more weight training on my calves to help overcome the shin splints. This included seated calf raises and calf presses in the gym.

Anterior Shin Stretch
Sit in a chair and point one of your feet behind you. Your toes should be pointed towards the back of the chair against the ground. Lean into the stretch until you can feel it in the front of your lower legs. Hold the position for each foot for 15 to 20 seconds, 3 to 5 times each.

Sitting Ankle Rotations
Just what it sounds like; sit in a chair, lift one foot, and rotate your ankles in one direction. This will gradually loosen your shin muscles. This is a great method of dealing with shin splints because you can do it throughout the day, and it also helps improve joint mobility in your ankles.

Get Some Better Shoes
Just like any type of training, having the right equipment really matters. Get a good, comfortable pair of running shoes that give enough support. The amount of support your shoes should have depends on your weight: the heavier you are, the more padding you need. In addition, if you have a weak foot arch, you may need to get additional arch support. If you want to avoid needing more arch support, strengthen your arch by rolling a tennis ball around on the ground with the arch of your foot while sitting.

Alternate Training Methods
Instead of resting all together, get your cardio from lower-impact exercises like swimming, elliptical machines, and even biking have require less strain on your lower leg muscles.