Injury & Tips Day 8
So you have been good this New Year and are following through with your resolutions. You’ve run a majority of the days and you feel good. Then while walking down the hallway you feel a slight twinge in you left leg. What the heck is that. Oh no, shin splints. Classic overuse injury. What do you do ?
What are shin splints ?
[from wikipedia]
Shin splints is a general term used to refer to a painful condition in the shins. It is often caused by running or jumping or sprinting, and may be very slow to heal. A formal medical term for the condition is medial tibial stress syndrome.
Running and other strenuous lower limb activities, like basketball and other sports which include flexing the muscle, should be avoided until the pain subsides and is no longer elicited by activity. In conjunction with rest, anti-inflammatory treatments such as cold-packs and drugs, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (in particular, NSAID gel) may be suggested by a doctor or athletic trainer. Over-the-counter pain relievers can also be taken, though there is some controversy over their effectiveness.
I’ve found that ice and an ace bandage wrapped tightly around the shin tends to help.
Unfortunately, you need to be really careful and probably need to stop running until the pain goes away.
Don’t worry though. You can do some cross-training. Bicycle, swim or something that doesn’t stress your legs.
Don’t give up. If you continue to run, you might get something more serious like stress fractures so take it easy. I’ve run through shin splints before but I never run hard when I get them (at the beginning of a long rest period). I also have been running for 30 years and pretty much know the limits of my body.
Be careful.
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