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Friday, 24 March 2006
- Written by Eliot Piltz
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Disclaimer: we are not acting as medical practitioners, nor are we giving medical advice. We are only sharing experience and know-how regarding injury prevention and physical conditioning. We do not guarantee the effectiveness of the following exercises, and we advise you to consult your physician if you have any medical conditions that may effect your ability to perform such exercises.
What is it?
If you have shin splints, then you know how irritating and painful they can be, and troublesome to recover from. It will most often stop you from doing your favorite activities, and can even immobilise you. The pain is caused by muscle fibers swelling against or tearing away from your shin bone, making the bone itself feel sensitive to the touch.
What causes it?
Most often shin splints are caused by an imbalance of strength and flexibility between the shin muscles and calf muscles. Most often this means your shin muscles are too weak or your calves are too tight, both of which cause your shin muscles to overwork. Following prolonged fatigue of the shin muscles, especially after exercising on hard surfaces, like cement or asphalt, the shin muscles can swell and cause tremendous discomfort.
Recovery and Prevention:
When the pain has subsided and you feel mostly recovered, you are ready to start preventing them from returning.
Stand upright, then bend slightly at the knees and hips, shifting 60-70% of your weight to one side, centered over your heel, slightly back. Lift the front part of your foot leading with the toes as high and hard as you can, leaving your heel pressed into the floor. Keep it lifted for roughly 10 seconds at first, then start pumping your foot up and down, though not all the way to the floor. Really engage your leg muscles. You will start to feel a burning sensation in your shin muscles and maybe elsewhere. At first, stop when you feel the burn- you don't want to overdo it.
Now repeat those steps on the other side, even if you only have shin splints one side. Then go back to the first side, and do it again, making any variations you feel comfortable with, such as pumping faster, pumping slower, holding longer at maximum height, or alternating with squats and heel raises.
Do these exercises every day or every other day for at least 2-4 weeks, after recovering from your shin splints. Thereafter, you may want to do it once or twice per week, to maintain a healthy balance of strength in your legs.
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