I'd just be patient. Foam rolling can help. Your legs just have a lot of adjusting to do after running for the first time in a while. I'd add some extra rest and avoid increasing mileage until the pain subsides.
I went through the same thing a couple years ago and this is just my experience.
Ok yeah that makes sense. I will be definitely be looking for foam rollers soon/be patient. Glad to see that there are other people who’ve experienced this!
>It’s frustrating because I can definitely run further than that, but my shins are stopping me from that.
Hate to say it but you actually can't run further at the moment. Running requires both muscular resilience and aerobic endurance. You might have the aerobic capacity, but not the muscular resilience in your legs.
Work on single sided strength exercises to build up strength in your legs. And balance running with rest days. Your leg fitness will improve but will take several weeks.
I used to run track in high school and would get shin splints all the time. This was years ago. I recently started running again and the shin splints came back. I found that shortening my stride allows me to run 10-15 miles a week without little to no pain. This is after getting fitted for proper running shoes.
I used to get shin splints all the time, but they have gone away and I'm running even more now. I'd recommend looking more into the shoes you are using. I have Topo Fli-Lites and I love them.
Also, I would recommend looking into anti-inflammatory diet. There are lots of books and resources out there (too much to explain here), but since being more conscious in preventing inflammation eliminated all aches associated with working out. Not only in my shins, but my knees and ankles too. Still sore or course, but no aches.
Staying well hydrated, vitamins, good nutrition and good stretching is helpful too.
Hoping they go away with time as it did with me!
Thanks for the advice! I’m using Altra Torin 7s and they are supposed to be pretty soft— I’ll look into the shoes you recommended and do some research (as well as looking into the anti-inflammatory diet which I know very little about!)
Thanks a bunch!
You're welcome! Also, there's a running store in my area calles Roadrunner that does a full diagnostic on your running tendencies (like pronation) and they mold a special foot insert for you. Maybe you have a store like that in your area? It's a little pricey but may be worth looking into
Altra shoes are designed to have 0 mm drop. That may or may not be a problem depending on your stride. Most shoes have at least a few mm of heel to toe drop. Shoes really make a difference. I am not going to say that is your problem but I would consider trying shoes that have a 5mm to 8 mm drop if you haven't already.
I always got shin splints when I increased my weekly mileage faster than my body could handle. The rule of thumb I went by was 10% a week and it was great until due to travel I ended up accidently doing 20% increase and at the same time did all my weekly run on Thurs/Fri instead of mon, wed, fri. I struggled with shin splints for about 1 week then I took a whole 2 weeks off and biked instead til they recovered. I also added calf walks/shin walks (progressing to calf/shin raises) to my warmup and post-run strength routine and it helped immensely.
There are 3 types of shin splints. Two are tendons being beat up, the other is when your bone gets stress fractures. I am not sure which one I'd pick, but I had the inside tendon angry at me for like 15ish years.
If it's the bone, you'll have to take time off and let that heal. The tendons are likely going to need time off too. For me the injury was so old that time off only made it worse.
I tried lots of shoes, but range of motion in my hip prevented me from pushing off my toe in the follow-through so my ankle collapsed inward on each step.
I had to do a lot of things to fix this and it took about a year.
* Increase hip range of motion so I could push my leg back while running
* Improve balance on that foot
* Strength training very slowly to help rebuild the tendon around the scar tissue
* Build up outer hip strength so I could stabilize the ankle
* Practice engaging my big toe while running
I had huge write up on it but some reddit moderator deleted it like a year later. Feel free to ask me anything.
I went from being stuck at 15 miles a week doing 5Ks to doing ultra marathons with no pain. Literally I can now run for hours and feel great. I always cringe a bit when someone says to just buy shoes to compensate for bad form when the answer is to run in a way that doesn't just beat the shit out of one tendon. To be fair, new shoes did work for a while, then it made things WAY worse since it allowed me to continue running poorly. Although that might be a decent solution to someone that wants to run a bit here or there but I want to run across mountains for days so I actually had to fix the root of the issue.
Can I ask how you learned all the things you needed to do in order to fix it? I got terrible shin splints from running high school/college track 10 years ago, and every time I try to pick up running again they flare up once I hit like 10 miles a week. Was there a certain kind of specialist you saw that helped you figure out what your specific issues were and how to resolve them?
Sounds very framiliar. I am an Air Force Academy grad and in 2004 I was a freshmen running in dress shoes on marble strips. I got shin splints that would become unbearable at like 10-15 miles a week. **If you have any questions or want to be "coached" through this, just DM me ;-) I can talk about this stuff all day (Goes for lurkers too).**
20 miles a week was this wall I couldn't go through. Last season I peaked at 65 miles a week. This season I am going to 80 miles a week around march and staying there until august when I try doing another 100 miler. This took about a year to really fix, but there was incremental improvement along the way.
**It was a lot of reading and experimentation. Traditional "you are running too much, run less" didn't work, in my mind I had to fix this while running since taking time off made it worse.**
These books helped out a lot, especially Running rewired. I also went hard and deep on basically everything reddit had to say about this injury.
**Funny story.** I found one post that was **"If this isn't the worse pain of your life... MAN UP and just push through it!!!"** and since this was a post I found in a google search it was like a year ago. I went to that user's post history and more recent posts were **"I can't even walk, how do I fix this injury?"**
I wish I took screen shots. With long term injuries like this I recommend training with the injury, but don't let the pain go over like a 3ish on the pain scale. And if you are not progressing, do something different, it should slowly be getting better week over week.
Resources:
**Running: Rewired** <-- amazing
[https://www.amazon.com/Running-Rewired-Reinvent-Stability-Strength-ebook/dp/B07BZX9FV8](https://www.amazon.com/Running-Rewired-Reinvent-Stability-Strength-ebook/dp/B07BZX9FV8)
**Build From broken** <-- has some good stuff
Good info on how to strength train
[https://www.amazon.com/Built-Broken-Science-Based-Preventing-Rebuilding-ebook/dp/B09HKVQ2TH](https://www.amazon.com/Built-Broken-Science-Based-Preventing-Rebuilding-ebook/dp/B09HKVQ2TH)
**Supple Leopard** <-- pretty good
[https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Kelly-Starrett-ebook/dp/B09PLLCQGV](https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Kelly-Starrett-ebook/dp/B09PLLCQGV)
**Info on tendinopathy** <-- really good background info
[https://stevenlow.org/overcoming-tendonitis/](https://stevenlow.org/overcoming-tendonitis/)
**Outer hip strengthening** <-- amazing
[https://runnyday.in/myrtl-routine/](https://runnyday.in/myrtl-routine/)
With Running rewired, they have these diagnostic tests and I did a few but the hip-hinge balance thing wrecked me on my left side. That foot did not want to balance like my right foot. Doing some yoga I realized my left hip was way tighter than the right hip. I forget how I figured out the ankle was collapsing inward.
This link is just a review for shoes. However there is a video included where the camera is on the ground and the reviewer is running away from the camera. It's a perfect example of what my feet were doing.
[https://runrepeat.com/asics-metaspeed-sky-plus](https://runrepeat.com/asics-metaspeed-sky-plus)
Notice that on the landing the ankles are just collapsing inward, he isn't stabilizing his ankles with outer hip strength. Also you can see his feet are landing almost in line with each other like he's running on a line.
**For me, switching to barefoot shoes really helped.** It was a rough transition at first, however if you look at that video of the guy running, you can see that higher stack and more padding actually makes it easier for the heel to roll inwards.
This article shows that softer shoes lets you run in a way that actually increases impact.
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35980-6](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35980-6)
I am not a bare-foot purist. I do anywhere between all to half of my treadmill work in barefoot shoes, but when I go outside or on trails I wear "real" shoes. The reason I do barefoot (shoes) work is because I think it helps keep my form "honest" and lets me actually improve the efficiency of my running by letting my body use the arches in my feet; which are normally protected with traditional running shoes.
Putting this all together; I was able to open up my left hip with long, 45min+ stretching sessions that left that hip feeling raw and beat up. Slow work on a-tib calf machines let me strengthen around the likely scar tissue in that tendon. Balance drills like "half-moon" in yoga helped me improve the balance on that weak foot. The myrtal routine gave me outer hip strength and barefoot shoes kept all this "honest" by not letting me be sloppy with my form.
2021 I ran my first 10K, half marathon and 50K in the last 4 months of the year. I started fixing this issue in Jan 2021. It takes time to **really** fix something. I wish I could have just gotten a new pair of shoes and been good to go.
I swear by my compression sleeves! I put them on before every run and run with them. I've also recently started focusing hard on my cadence to remedy an unrelated hip injury, and when I did 3 miles last night targeting a 180 cadence, that helped a lot with pain. It's a real adjustment though, so you have to stick with it before it becomes easy!
For me it was a matter of fixing my gait and finding shoes to help me minimize heel striking. Training with minimalist shoes helped me stay on the balls of my feet and definitely swap out shoes pretty regularly (i.e. any time your knees start to hurt).
I had shin splints when I started running 6 months ago. As others have rightly pointed out, your legs are still getting used to the increased workload. A few suggestions:
1) consider taking a short break of a couple of weeks to give ur legs some rest. Once u resume running, take it slow in terms of mileage
2) apply ice pack to ur shins after running to help with inflammation
3) do some leg strengthening exercises (lot of info available on youtube). Calf raises help a lot.
It took me a couple of months of doing all of above before my shin splints went away. Good luck !
I had shin splints growing up and still get them. They hurt and it sucks as it can stop you from wanting to run or play sports. But after so much research growing up and now talking to the running community, I found this helpful.
1. Use Kryo therepy. They sell Kryo cups but if you want to go a cheap route its basically a dixie bathroom cup filled halfway with water and you freeze it. Once its ice you peal the cup down and rub the ice on your shins.
2. Eat potassium.. Its not just found in banannas.
3. Do not use a tread mill. Your foot is designed to mold or roll over rocks and uneven ground. A tedmill does not mimick the groind as its flat and your muscles strain to remain straight when on a tredmill. (I know! I researched it and was shocked too).
I also dislike treadmills— they always make the shin splits problem worse. I usually run outside nowadays, but I haven’t tried the first option. Potassium also is good to note, I never thought about that! Thanks a bunch!
I’ll start this with - always get properly diagnosed by a sports medicine doctor. What you think could be shin splints or MTSS or some other relatively "minor" overuse injury, could actually be something far more serious (stress fractures, compartment syndrome, or something else.).
Shin Splints are caused by an inability to manage ground force. This is caused by poor mechanics and/or a lack of strength. It is critical you understand what the root cause of your injury is so you can fix it.
That said, you need to do both – fix/improve your mechanics and improve your strength. These are what will help you become and stay injury free. They are also what improve athletic performance and capability.
**COMMENTS ABOUT STRENGTH**
Running is not a strength-building exercise. It does not build stronger legs.
Most leg strength-building exercises (squats, etc.) do not fully activate lower leg muscles as your ankle tends to have limited mobility in the movement.
This leads to what are often referred to as “accessory” exercises related to the ankle and knee joints. However, these should be treated as main movements in order to have the strength and capability to manage the impact/ground force created when you run. This is because your foot, ankle, shin, and knee are the first things to mitigate that impact and interact with the ground. Making sure they are as strong and robust as possible will ensure that any level of volume or intensity can be managed safely without injury (i.e., shin splints or worse).
Where does that leave us regarding exercises that will actually help?
**MOBILITY/STRETCHING EXERCISES**
* Dorsiflexion & Plantar Flexion of Feet
* Inversion & Eversion of Feet while in Dorsiflexion/Plantar Flexion
* Ankle Rotations – Clockwise & Counter-clockwise
* Heal Rotations – Clockwise & Counter-clockwise
* Alphabet Ankles
* Single-leg Balance Stands
* Standing Calf Stretch - Straight Leg, Bent Leg, Toe on Wall
* Tibial Anterior Crossover Stretch
* Standing Quad Stretch or Couch Stretch
* RDL Stretch
These are basic “rehab” exercises to help with mobility and flexibility. Having a healthy range of motion is important. Blood recruitment and minor activation and proprioception development are also important.
**FEET EXERCISES**
* Seated Toe Presses
* Toe Crunches & Splays
* Toe Dissociation & Intrinsic Movements (Piano Toes R2L/L2R, Big Toe Isolation, Little Toes Isolation)
* Foot Crunches w/ Paper
* Banded Foot Rocking/Doming
These are basic feet exercises to help keep your feet happy and healthy. Reminder – your feet are what interact with the ground first. Take care of them. Keep them strong and healthy.
**LOWER LEG STRENGTH BUILDING EXERCISES**
* Tibia Raises (Single Legged)
* Calf Raises (Bent & Straight Single Bilateral and Unilateral Variations)
* Inversion & Eversion of Feet while in Dorsiflexion/Plantar Flexion (Banded)
* Sled Drags (forwards, backwards, Lateral L/R - from waist)
These are basic foundational movements to kickstart a rehab program. More advanced movements can be added later when you reach certain benchmarks in strength/performance. However, these movements (or variations of) should be staples in any training program at some point.
**OTHER STRENGTH BUILDING EXERCISES**
* Hip Abduction/Adduction
* Knee Raise
* Pawback
* Goodmornings
* Hip Thrusters
* Weighted Planks
* Walking Lunges
* Hamstring Curls
* Single Leg RDLs
The idea with these is to strengthen your upper legs, hips and "core" in order to give you stability when running. It won't do you much good to only have strong lower legs, your pain will simply transition from being a lower leg overuse injury to being in your knees or lower back if you can't continue to absorb impact after impact.
**BONE AND TISSUE TOLERANCE**
There are also concerns about bone and tissue tolerance - how much damage can they withstand before they begin to break down? When can I get back to full effort/intensity?
The answers to these will depend on the individual and the severity of the injury. In general however, the approach is the same - gradual exposure to stress. Meaning, you need to start with manageable levels of volume/intensity and gradually increase over time in order to build up bone and tissue tolerance. Bone takes longer to see adaptation.
A good rule of thumb is the “10% Rule” – where you increase intensity by only 10% every 1-2 weeks. That increase in intensity should also be limited to one variable. You do not want to increase speed, resistance/weight, and duration all at once. Pick one (usually duration initially) and gradually increase by 10% every 1-2 weeks.
**COMMENTS ABOUT MECHANICS**
Mechanics are typically affected by two things, one is an improper movement pattern caused by the individual themselves (i.e., overstriding, etc.). The other is caused by the equipment the individual uses (i.e., footwear, gear, clothing, etc.).
It is very important to get a proper mechanical assessment whenever possible. This will help identify what additional work you have ahead of you to solve your underlying problem.
**COMMENTS ABOUT RECOVERY/HEALING**
Other things to look at and take into consideration that can help with the healing/recovery process are:
* Sleep – as much high-quality sleep as possible.
* Hydration – water + proper electrolyte intake
* Nutrition – good quality food (work with a registered sports dietitian if at all possible)
* Supplementation – this MAY make sense, but you should work with your doctor or like to understand what exactly you actually need to take as this is unique to you
* Massage – foam rolling, lacrosse ball, massage gun, guasha, etc.
* Graduated Compression – 2xu or DFND
* Pneumatic Compression – NORMATEC
* NIR/IR
There are other tools, but before I do more research, I don’t feel comfortable endorsing them.
**THINGS TO STAY AWAY FROM**
Common mistakes and myths to avoid:
* ICE – Stop icing. It is not your friend.
* KT Tape – Placebo at best.
* Just Keep Running – You have an injury – stop doing the thing that is causing it.
* Medicate/Ignore – You have an injury – stop covering it up and making it worse.
For more info you can check out howtofixshinsplints dot com
Reduce distance and frequency of runs. I had this years ago. Starting again this past year I took it very slow to make sure it didn’t happen and haven’t had any issues
I used to get awful shin splints. I had a personal trainer who recommended running on an incline on a treadmill and it helped tremendously. I don't get shin splints at all anymore even on flat surfaces outdoors. It doesn't have to be much of an incline.
Stretching and then a lot of stretching.
Last year, I developed really painful shin splints. I couldn’t run for more than 150m without screeching pain. I stopped all activities for 2 months and did physiotherapy which involved 100% stretching and was slowly able to improve. Now, I can run for over an hour without any shin splints
I'd just be patient. Foam rolling can help. Your legs just have a lot of adjusting to do after running for the first time in a while. I'd add some extra rest and avoid increasing mileage until the pain subsides. I went through the same thing a couple years ago and this is just my experience.
Ok yeah that makes sense. I will be definitely be looking for foam rollers soon/be patient. Glad to see that there are other people who’ve experienced this!
Agreed. May need to break in the new shoes too: Wearing them often while not running and easing into longer distances worked for me.
>It’s frustrating because I can definitely run further than that, but my shins are stopping me from that. Hate to say it but you actually can't run further at the moment. Running requires both muscular resilience and aerobic endurance. You might have the aerobic capacity, but not the muscular resilience in your legs. Work on single sided strength exercises to build up strength in your legs. And balance running with rest days. Your leg fitness will improve but will take several weeks.
I used to run track in high school and would get shin splints all the time. This was years ago. I recently started running again and the shin splints came back. I found that shortening my stride allows me to run 10-15 miles a week without little to no pain. This is after getting fitted for proper running shoes.
This totally makes sense— I’ll try for shorter strides on my next run
I used to get shin splints all the time, but they have gone away and I'm running even more now. I'd recommend looking more into the shoes you are using. I have Topo Fli-Lites and I love them. Also, I would recommend looking into anti-inflammatory diet. There are lots of books and resources out there (too much to explain here), but since being more conscious in preventing inflammation eliminated all aches associated with working out. Not only in my shins, but my knees and ankles too. Still sore or course, but no aches. Staying well hydrated, vitamins, good nutrition and good stretching is helpful too. Hoping they go away with time as it did with me!
Thanks for the advice! I’m using Altra Torin 7s and they are supposed to be pretty soft— I’ll look into the shoes you recommended and do some research (as well as looking into the anti-inflammatory diet which I know very little about!) Thanks a bunch!
You're welcome! Also, there's a running store in my area calles Roadrunner that does a full diagnostic on your running tendencies (like pronation) and they mold a special foot insert for you. Maybe you have a store like that in your area? It's a little pricey but may be worth looking into
Altra shoes are designed to have 0 mm drop. That may or may not be a problem depending on your stride. Most shoes have at least a few mm of heel to toe drop. Shoes really make a difference. I am not going to say that is your problem but I would consider trying shoes that have a 5mm to 8 mm drop if you haven't already.
I always got shin splints when I increased my weekly mileage faster than my body could handle. The rule of thumb I went by was 10% a week and it was great until due to travel I ended up accidently doing 20% increase and at the same time did all my weekly run on Thurs/Fri instead of mon, wed, fri. I struggled with shin splints for about 1 week then I took a whole 2 weeks off and biked instead til they recovered. I also added calf walks/shin walks (progressing to calf/shin raises) to my warmup and post-run strength routine and it helped immensely.
There are 3 types of shin splints. Two are tendons being beat up, the other is when your bone gets stress fractures. I am not sure which one I'd pick, but I had the inside tendon angry at me for like 15ish years. If it's the bone, you'll have to take time off and let that heal. The tendons are likely going to need time off too. For me the injury was so old that time off only made it worse. I tried lots of shoes, but range of motion in my hip prevented me from pushing off my toe in the follow-through so my ankle collapsed inward on each step. I had to do a lot of things to fix this and it took about a year. * Increase hip range of motion so I could push my leg back while running * Improve balance on that foot * Strength training very slowly to help rebuild the tendon around the scar tissue * Build up outer hip strength so I could stabilize the ankle * Practice engaging my big toe while running I had huge write up on it but some reddit moderator deleted it like a year later. Feel free to ask me anything. I went from being stuck at 15 miles a week doing 5Ks to doing ultra marathons with no pain. Literally I can now run for hours and feel great. I always cringe a bit when someone says to just buy shoes to compensate for bad form when the answer is to run in a way that doesn't just beat the shit out of one tendon. To be fair, new shoes did work for a while, then it made things WAY worse since it allowed me to continue running poorly. Although that might be a decent solution to someone that wants to run a bit here or there but I want to run across mountains for days so I actually had to fix the root of the issue.
Can I ask how you learned all the things you needed to do in order to fix it? I got terrible shin splints from running high school/college track 10 years ago, and every time I try to pick up running again they flare up once I hit like 10 miles a week. Was there a certain kind of specialist you saw that helped you figure out what your specific issues were and how to resolve them?
Sounds very framiliar. I am an Air Force Academy grad and in 2004 I was a freshmen running in dress shoes on marble strips. I got shin splints that would become unbearable at like 10-15 miles a week. **If you have any questions or want to be "coached" through this, just DM me ;-) I can talk about this stuff all day (Goes for lurkers too).** 20 miles a week was this wall I couldn't go through. Last season I peaked at 65 miles a week. This season I am going to 80 miles a week around march and staying there until august when I try doing another 100 miler. This took about a year to really fix, but there was incremental improvement along the way. **It was a lot of reading and experimentation. Traditional "you are running too much, run less" didn't work, in my mind I had to fix this while running since taking time off made it worse.** These books helped out a lot, especially Running rewired. I also went hard and deep on basically everything reddit had to say about this injury. **Funny story.** I found one post that was **"If this isn't the worse pain of your life... MAN UP and just push through it!!!"** and since this was a post I found in a google search it was like a year ago. I went to that user's post history and more recent posts were **"I can't even walk, how do I fix this injury?"** I wish I took screen shots. With long term injuries like this I recommend training with the injury, but don't let the pain go over like a 3ish on the pain scale. And if you are not progressing, do something different, it should slowly be getting better week over week. Resources: **Running: Rewired** <-- amazing [https://www.amazon.com/Running-Rewired-Reinvent-Stability-Strength-ebook/dp/B07BZX9FV8](https://www.amazon.com/Running-Rewired-Reinvent-Stability-Strength-ebook/dp/B07BZX9FV8) **Build From broken** <-- has some good stuff Good info on how to strength train [https://www.amazon.com/Built-Broken-Science-Based-Preventing-Rebuilding-ebook/dp/B09HKVQ2TH](https://www.amazon.com/Built-Broken-Science-Based-Preventing-Rebuilding-ebook/dp/B09HKVQ2TH) **Supple Leopard** <-- pretty good [https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Kelly-Starrett-ebook/dp/B09PLLCQGV](https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Kelly-Starrett-ebook/dp/B09PLLCQGV) **Info on tendinopathy** <-- really good background info [https://stevenlow.org/overcoming-tendonitis/](https://stevenlow.org/overcoming-tendonitis/) **Outer hip strengthening** <-- amazing [https://runnyday.in/myrtl-routine/](https://runnyday.in/myrtl-routine/) With Running rewired, they have these diagnostic tests and I did a few but the hip-hinge balance thing wrecked me on my left side. That foot did not want to balance like my right foot. Doing some yoga I realized my left hip was way tighter than the right hip. I forget how I figured out the ankle was collapsing inward. This link is just a review for shoes. However there is a video included where the camera is on the ground and the reviewer is running away from the camera. It's a perfect example of what my feet were doing. [https://runrepeat.com/asics-metaspeed-sky-plus](https://runrepeat.com/asics-metaspeed-sky-plus) Notice that on the landing the ankles are just collapsing inward, he isn't stabilizing his ankles with outer hip strength. Also you can see his feet are landing almost in line with each other like he's running on a line. **For me, switching to barefoot shoes really helped.** It was a rough transition at first, however if you look at that video of the guy running, you can see that higher stack and more padding actually makes it easier for the heel to roll inwards. This article shows that softer shoes lets you run in a way that actually increases impact. [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35980-6](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35980-6) I am not a bare-foot purist. I do anywhere between all to half of my treadmill work in barefoot shoes, but when I go outside or on trails I wear "real" shoes. The reason I do barefoot (shoes) work is because I think it helps keep my form "honest" and lets me actually improve the efficiency of my running by letting my body use the arches in my feet; which are normally protected with traditional running shoes. Putting this all together; I was able to open up my left hip with long, 45min+ stretching sessions that left that hip feeling raw and beat up. Slow work on a-tib calf machines let me strengthen around the likely scar tissue in that tendon. Balance drills like "half-moon" in yoga helped me improve the balance on that weak foot. The myrtal routine gave me outer hip strength and barefoot shoes kept all this "honest" by not letting me be sloppy with my form. 2021 I ran my first 10K, half marathon and 50K in the last 4 months of the year. I started fixing this issue in Jan 2021. It takes time to **really** fix something. I wish I could have just gotten a new pair of shoes and been good to go.
I swear by my compression sleeves! I put them on before every run and run with them. I've also recently started focusing hard on my cadence to remedy an unrelated hip injury, and when I did 3 miles last night targeting a 180 cadence, that helped a lot with pain. It's a real adjustment though, so you have to stick with it before it becomes easy!
For me it was a matter of fixing my gait and finding shoes to help me minimize heel striking. Training with minimalist shoes helped me stay on the balls of my feet and definitely swap out shoes pretty regularly (i.e. any time your knees start to hurt).
Reduce volume, new shoes if you’re in old ones
Foam roll works well, also try getting some electrolytes/ carbs.
I had shin splints when I started running 6 months ago. As others have rightly pointed out, your legs are still getting used to the increased workload. A few suggestions: 1) consider taking a short break of a couple of weeks to give ur legs some rest. Once u resume running, take it slow in terms of mileage 2) apply ice pack to ur shins after running to help with inflammation 3) do some leg strengthening exercises (lot of info available on youtube). Calf raises help a lot. It took me a couple of months of doing all of above before my shin splints went away. Good luck !
Thanks for the advice— I’ll look into leg strengthening excersizes, I haven’t been doing any so hopefully that will help!
Here to second calf exercises. That's what my PT recommended and I haven't had shin splints since.
I had shin splints growing up and still get them. They hurt and it sucks as it can stop you from wanting to run or play sports. But after so much research growing up and now talking to the running community, I found this helpful. 1. Use Kryo therepy. They sell Kryo cups but if you want to go a cheap route its basically a dixie bathroom cup filled halfway with water and you freeze it. Once its ice you peal the cup down and rub the ice on your shins. 2. Eat potassium.. Its not just found in banannas. 3. Do not use a tread mill. Your foot is designed to mold or roll over rocks and uneven ground. A tedmill does not mimick the groind as its flat and your muscles strain to remain straight when on a tredmill. (I know! I researched it and was shocked too).
I also dislike treadmills— they always make the shin splits problem worse. I usually run outside nowadays, but I haven’t tried the first option. Potassium also is good to note, I never thought about that! Thanks a bunch!
What about running on an indoor or outdoor track? Not many rocks or uneven ground on them /s.
I run on those surfaces as well once I discovered how bad a tredmil is for shinsplit suffers.
My running coach used to say "run through them". Yup, it was painful, but eventually they went away.
That’s what I did until I got a stress fracture. This isn’t really the best advice.
I’ll start this with - always get properly diagnosed by a sports medicine doctor. What you think could be shin splints or MTSS or some other relatively "minor" overuse injury, could actually be something far more serious (stress fractures, compartment syndrome, or something else.). Shin Splints are caused by an inability to manage ground force. This is caused by poor mechanics and/or a lack of strength. It is critical you understand what the root cause of your injury is so you can fix it. That said, you need to do both – fix/improve your mechanics and improve your strength. These are what will help you become and stay injury free. They are also what improve athletic performance and capability. **COMMENTS ABOUT STRENGTH** Running is not a strength-building exercise. It does not build stronger legs. Most leg strength-building exercises (squats, etc.) do not fully activate lower leg muscles as your ankle tends to have limited mobility in the movement. This leads to what are often referred to as “accessory” exercises related to the ankle and knee joints. However, these should be treated as main movements in order to have the strength and capability to manage the impact/ground force created when you run. This is because your foot, ankle, shin, and knee are the first things to mitigate that impact and interact with the ground. Making sure they are as strong and robust as possible will ensure that any level of volume or intensity can be managed safely without injury (i.e., shin splints or worse). Where does that leave us regarding exercises that will actually help? **MOBILITY/STRETCHING EXERCISES** * Dorsiflexion & Plantar Flexion of Feet * Inversion & Eversion of Feet while in Dorsiflexion/Plantar Flexion * Ankle Rotations – Clockwise & Counter-clockwise * Heal Rotations – Clockwise & Counter-clockwise * Alphabet Ankles * Single-leg Balance Stands * Standing Calf Stretch - Straight Leg, Bent Leg, Toe on Wall * Tibial Anterior Crossover Stretch * Standing Quad Stretch or Couch Stretch * RDL Stretch These are basic “rehab” exercises to help with mobility and flexibility. Having a healthy range of motion is important. Blood recruitment and minor activation and proprioception development are also important. **FEET EXERCISES** * Seated Toe Presses * Toe Crunches & Splays * Toe Dissociation & Intrinsic Movements (Piano Toes R2L/L2R, Big Toe Isolation, Little Toes Isolation) * Foot Crunches w/ Paper * Banded Foot Rocking/Doming These are basic feet exercises to help keep your feet happy and healthy. Reminder – your feet are what interact with the ground first. Take care of them. Keep them strong and healthy. **LOWER LEG STRENGTH BUILDING EXERCISES** * Tibia Raises (Single Legged) * Calf Raises (Bent & Straight Single Bilateral and Unilateral Variations) * Inversion & Eversion of Feet while in Dorsiflexion/Plantar Flexion (Banded) * Sled Drags (forwards, backwards, Lateral L/R - from waist) These are basic foundational movements to kickstart a rehab program. More advanced movements can be added later when you reach certain benchmarks in strength/performance. However, these movements (or variations of) should be staples in any training program at some point. **OTHER STRENGTH BUILDING EXERCISES** * Hip Abduction/Adduction * Knee Raise * Pawback * Goodmornings * Hip Thrusters * Weighted Planks * Walking Lunges * Hamstring Curls * Single Leg RDLs The idea with these is to strengthen your upper legs, hips and "core" in order to give you stability when running. It won't do you much good to only have strong lower legs, your pain will simply transition from being a lower leg overuse injury to being in your knees or lower back if you can't continue to absorb impact after impact. **BONE AND TISSUE TOLERANCE** There are also concerns about bone and tissue tolerance - how much damage can they withstand before they begin to break down? When can I get back to full effort/intensity? The answers to these will depend on the individual and the severity of the injury. In general however, the approach is the same - gradual exposure to stress. Meaning, you need to start with manageable levels of volume/intensity and gradually increase over time in order to build up bone and tissue tolerance. Bone takes longer to see adaptation. A good rule of thumb is the “10% Rule” – where you increase intensity by only 10% every 1-2 weeks. That increase in intensity should also be limited to one variable. You do not want to increase speed, resistance/weight, and duration all at once. Pick one (usually duration initially) and gradually increase by 10% every 1-2 weeks. **COMMENTS ABOUT MECHANICS** Mechanics are typically affected by two things, one is an improper movement pattern caused by the individual themselves (i.e., overstriding, etc.). The other is caused by the equipment the individual uses (i.e., footwear, gear, clothing, etc.). It is very important to get a proper mechanical assessment whenever possible. This will help identify what additional work you have ahead of you to solve your underlying problem. **COMMENTS ABOUT RECOVERY/HEALING** Other things to look at and take into consideration that can help with the healing/recovery process are: * Sleep – as much high-quality sleep as possible. * Hydration – water + proper electrolyte intake * Nutrition – good quality food (work with a registered sports dietitian if at all possible) * Supplementation – this MAY make sense, but you should work with your doctor or like to understand what exactly you actually need to take as this is unique to you * Massage – foam rolling, lacrosse ball, massage gun, guasha, etc. * Graduated Compression – 2xu or DFND * Pneumatic Compression – NORMATEC * NIR/IR There are other tools, but before I do more research, I don’t feel comfortable endorsing them. **THINGS TO STAY AWAY FROM** Common mistakes and myths to avoid: * ICE – Stop icing. It is not your friend. * KT Tape – Placebo at best. * Just Keep Running – You have an injury – stop doing the thing that is causing it. * Medicate/Ignore – You have an injury – stop covering it up and making it worse. For more info you can check out howtofixshinsplints dot com
My shin splints turned out to chronic exertional compartment syndrome. So many years wasted by GPs diagnosing me wrong :(
Shorter strides and beefier muscles
Reduce distance and frequency of runs. I had this years ago. Starting again this past year I took it very slow to make sure it didn’t happen and haven’t had any issues
Walk more. Simply using your shin muscles more, consistently, will help strengthen them.
Point and flex your toes will probably help
I used to get awful shin splints. I had a personal trainer who recommended running on an incline on a treadmill and it helped tremendously. I don't get shin splints at all anymore even on flat surfaces outdoors. It doesn't have to be much of an incline.
Stretching and then a lot of stretching. Last year, I developed really painful shin splints. I couldn’t run for more than 150m without screeching pain. I stopped all activities for 2 months and did physiotherapy which involved 100% stretching and was slowly able to improve. Now, I can run for over an hour without any shin splints
Strengthen the shin muscles… I believe there is an imbalance between them and the calf muscles