Shin Running Pain
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008What is a Shin Splint?
A shin splint is a generalized term that is given for pain felt at the front of the lower leg. Causes of shin splints are commonly overuse or fatigue caused by regular stresses due to biomechanical imbalances of the feet and lower legs. Imbalances can be caused by bad feet, worn out shoes, and inappropriate training methods.
The term Shin Splints covers many injuries that effect the lower leg, including stress fractures, tendonitis, periostitis (the annoyance of the bone covering), muscle tiredness or fascial herniation, popliteal artery entrapment, peroneal nerve entrapment or spinal radiculopathy (which is when the spinal nerve is compressed, causing referred pain). As you can see, diagnosing shin splints isn’t all that easy when there can be many fundamental causes.
Why does this cause Lower Leg Pain?
Shin splint pain is felt in the lower leg. You may feel tenderness on the inside of the shin that may or may not be accompanied by swelling. Shin splint pain generally goes away after a time of rest but comes back when you begin training again. You may feel pain when your toes or foot are bent down and some people have inflammation on the inside of the shin. Others feel lumps or bumps along the inside of the shin bone.
In spite of the many potential causes for shin splints, most are induced by tight calf muscles inducing strain on the weaker front muscles of the lower leg. This is common in runners, whose calf muscles get a lot more work than the front muscles.
Shin Splint Treatment Options
Cold Packs and rest are a great beginning for Shin Splint Treatment. The cold helps reduce pain and inflammation. Anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen may be helpful. You may want to evaluate your running shoes to see if you need more support. Once you feel some ease, there are stretches you can do to increase the strength of your front lower leg muscles. Doing basic wall stretches to stretch your Achilles tendon several times per day to stretch your calf muscles can be helpful. You can also strengthen that front muscle by balancing a small weight of some kind on your foot and lifting up your toes. This will exercise those front muscles. Hold the weight up for a count of ten before relaxing and repeat twenty or more times per day. Over time, this will strengthen those front muscles.
Other things you can do that will help Shin Splints includes wearing shock absorbing insoles in your shoes. Change your exercise routine to include other non impact exercises such as a treadmill or cross trainer
After the initial pain is gone, apply heat to the area before training to help loosen up the muscles and increase blood flow. Taping your ankle can help support your Lower Leg.
Consider getting your posture analyzed as any muscle imbalances in your body could be making the problem worse.
A Sports Massage Therapist may be able to help once the initial inflammation has gone down.