Hello all, I have been diagnosed with severe shinsplints. The doctors believe this is leading to or led to stress fractures in my shins. I am looking forward to a long recovery time. They were so severe as to wake me at night from a sounds sleep. Now I have done the RICE treatment, I am unable to hit a swimming pool, I do train on an eliptical trainer for muscle stamina and all the physical therapy I can stand. My question is this: What excercises are low/no impact out there that I can do to increase my capacity to run or perform rigorous (think grappling and mixed martial arts) without losing my breath in 2 minutes? Please keep in mind that I can not avail myself of a swimming pool due to training or the times it is available and I am not. Bicycles are one thing I had thought of. Anything else out there? My goal is that when I am able to run again to be able to do so and breathe, if not easy, then without running .25 miles and slowing down to catch my breath.
Please explain exactly what your current training/exercise routine has been in order to get "severe shinsplints". Thanks.
I used to not run on hard surfaces except for the required semi-annual PFT. Usually on a track or an eliptical trainer. When I received orders to my new duty station we ran 3-5 miles a day 4 days a week. Usually on Thursdays we played Basketball or Raquetball. So basically I went from doing little hard surface running with low/no impact to nothing but hard surface running which is of course high impact. I was also told it may have something to do with the way I run, i.e. flat footed rather than heel to toe. Either way I went from doing not much to doing what is considered normal for most Marines. Over exertion in doing an exercise I was not conditioned to doing is what the doctors said.
some people are just prone to them, you might consider getting some orthotic inserts made to correct the muscle imbalance, otherwise they will probably just come back.
Excellent article. You have got to stop all running until the shinsplints have cleared up. Visiting a Sports Injury Clinic will offer great advice on rehab plus advice on avoidance in the future. Lower leg massage has been known to help the situation ...... you will probably get advice from the Sports Injury Clinic. Stretching and warming up the legs properly before a workout, especially the calf muscles has also been noted to help with the problem. The most important piece of advice I ever give people who are including an amount of running is "Invest in some proper running shoes". As you run 'flat-footed' it would also seem that you would benefit from running shoes that have full-sole impact cushioning. Over 90% of running shoes only have heel impact cushioning, or are biased towards it. So, you need a little bit of help with your choice ...... So, my next most important piece of advice is "Visit a specialist sports shop for runners". These are usually run by people that do a lot of running. They see and speak to other runners every day. They are a great source of advice and information. Take a couple of pairs of old/current running shoes with you because they will be able to analise the tread and work out what type of shoe would suit you and also help to reduce future shin splints. They may even ask you to run on a treadmill or walk across the floor with your current shoes on - Not something you usually get at your 'run of the mill' sports shop. These days there is quite a lot of 'technology' in running shoes and you are very unlikely to get best advice from the 'Weekend Assistant' at the local sports superstore. When you do get you new running shoes, wear them a few times casually before you use them for running - A great tip to help avoid blisters. I usually wear mine for a week or so before using them on a run. Cushioning in running shoes wears out. This means that every so often you need to replace them - even if they still look 'good'. It depends on how often you run and how far you go - the running shop will advise you on this also. Good luck.
JohnnyX covered a lot of ground with his post. Some that will be repeated below but... copy paste. I posted this on a previous thread about shin splints that you might have missed due to its title "...shin pain". Anyway - it might help:
Marinerhodes, The only other thing I would suggest is a Chinese herbal liniment called Dit Da Jow, it is very good in helping injuries heal. It comes from the Chinese art called Hit Medicine and is for martial art type injuries and was originally used by Generals on the battle field to get their soldiers back out into action as soon as possible. You can e-mail me direct for more info! OOH RAH! Sincerely, Teacher: Eddie Ivester
