How to Prevent Running Shin Splints
Running shin splints is an
injury that’s most common amongst beginning runners. It often happens
because either their bodies are not use to the pounding of running, or
they make costly mistakes. Since I didn’t have any running partners or
coaches to guide me along the way, I’m quite confident that I’ve made
every mistake in the book, which led to my bout with shin splints during
the first year of my running career. With experience, I learned four
major lessons on how to prevent shin splints.
Keep your strides short.
Over striding causes a runner’s gait to become clumsy, awkward, and
jarring. It also causes a runner to hit the ground harder. These two
factors combined put a lot of stress on the shins and can easily lead to
shin splints. Keep your knees slightly bent and keep your heels under
your body.
Strengthen your lower body.
One of the key strategies on how to prevent running shin splints
long term is doing weight bearing exercises for your lower body on a
regular basis. You will make your muscles, bones, and connective tissue
stronger, and they will be able to handle larger stress loads. Two
exercises that you can do to prevent shin splints are:
Calf
Presses – Stand with legs together and knees slightly bent. Slowly
raise yourself on your tip toes, pause at the top, and slowly lower
yourself back down.
Toe
raises – While sitting and your legs stretched in front of you above the
ground, slowly flex your toes towards your body, pause at the top, and
slowly back them away from your body.
It’s recommended that you not
only do shin specific exercises, but perform an overall lower body
workout once or twice per week. An overall lower body workout consists
of squats, leg extensions, leg curls, and the above mentioned shin
exercises.
Stretch. One of the
most common causes of running shin splints is the damaging of connective
tissue in the lower leg region. Connective tissue can be damaged if it
is too stiff and excessive movement aggravates or even tears it. By
stretching twice per day, you will keep your muscles, tendons, and
ligaments limber and supple, which will decrease your risk for
developing shin splints. The most important stretches for preventing
shin splints are:
Calf
Stretches – Stand a good distance from a wall while facing it with legs
together. Lean forward against the wall until you can get a difficult
but comfortable stretch on your calves. Hold for 30-60 seconds, release,
and rest a bit. Repeat two more times.
Seated Shin Stretch – Sit on the ground with legs folded under your
thighs. The top of your foot should be facing the ground and your toes
should point directly to your rear. Support yourself with one hand on
the ground at your side. Slightly lift the opposite knee with the other
hand and hold for 30-60 seconds. Your feet should never leave the
ground. Do this for the other shin and repeat two more times for each
shin.
Never run in over worn
shoes. Most runners learn this lesson on how to prevent running shin
splints the hard way, when it’s too late and the damage is done. After
300-400 miles, a running shoe’s midsole foam is completely shot, lacking
cushion and structure. The lack of cushion leads to too much shock on
the shins as the runner’s feet hit the ground. Without any structure,
there is a lack of stability which causes too much twisting and torsion
on the shins. Keep a mileage log and replace your running shoes after
400 miles at the most. Don’t be fooled by appearances either. The upper
and outsole are designed to last longer than the midsole foams.
Run in shoes that are
appropriate for YOU. This sort of ties in with the lesson above. It
is possible that you can have the wrong amount of cushion or support
just by wearing the wrong shoe. On one hand, you can have too little,
which leads to excessive trauma and torsion in the lower legs. On the
other, you can have too much, which leads to too much clumsiness and
jarring on the shins. The goal is to have just the right amount to meet
your biomechanical and performance needs. In general, the more a runner
weighs the more cushion he needs. The lower the arch the more rigid a
shoe needs to be to support the arch. The higher the arch, the less
rigid a shoe needs to be as it needs to emphasize cushion and
flexibility for an arch that is rigid to start off with. You can
click
here to learn how to choose running shoes in more depth.
More Running Injury
Prevention Links
How to Prevent Running Injuries
How to Prevent Running Shin Splints
How to Treat
Plantar Fasciitis
How to Prevent and
Treat IT Band Injury
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