Dear Physical Therapist,
I recently ordered your tape and love it. My question is that in the
past when I have tried to run I always get shin splints. What can I
do to prevent these?
-I Always Get Shin Splints
Dear I Always Get Shin Splints,
First, shin splint is a generic term
for what could be one of several problems. However, most of the problems
are from overuse or repetitive trauma syndromes. Symptoms are usually
activity induced such as with running. Pain is usually felt along the
shin bone (tibia). Other common problems that go along with shin splints
are tight calf muscles, weak dorsiflexors (the muscle that pulls your
foot up) or invertors (muscles that turn the soles of your feet together),
and abnormal foot posture (commonly being flat-footed). If you are getting
muscle fatigue with vigorous exercise such as running, you may start
compensating and causing this problem.
So... what can you do?
1. Prevention is the best thing because
once you get them, they are very hard to get rid of or prevent.
2. If you are in an acute phase where the symptoms
are really bad, you want to back off of the running or the activity
that is provoking the symptoms for a while (I know that's hard
to do and people don't like giving up their routine). But if you try
to "work through the pain", you could potentially make it worse.
3. Icing is great! One thing I have
found to be extremely effective is a bucket of ice water. Fill a bucket
that is tall enough to cover your leg up to your knee. It is very cold,
but try to keep your leg in there for 5 minutes. Do this one to two
times per day in the acute phase or after you run if you have a more
chronic condition.
4. Stretching is key, especially
your calf muscles as these are frequently found to be tight. Do some
light stretching before you exercise, but then again after you are done
and your muscles are warm and more flexible.
5. If you have abnormal foot alignment, you
may need to be evaluated for orthotics.
6. If you have weak dorsiflexors or invertors, they
may need to be strengthened and build endurance.
7. Allow enough time between workouts,
especially high intensity workouts, to allow time for recovery from
muscle fatigue and microtrauma. You may need to be evaluated if this
is a chronic problem for muscle tightness, muscle weakness, and abnormal
foot alignment/faulty running patterns. Once they are under control,
make sure you don't neglect a good stretch and adequate recovery as
this will help prevent them in the future.
I hope this gives you some information to go on. Good luck and keep
up the good race!
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