Shin Splints: Steps for Prevention and Treatment

Shin splints. Even if you don’t know what they are, chances are you’ve experienced them once or twice in your life. You know that feeling you get when you’ve been running or jogging and suddenly you get this overwhelming pain in the muscles and tendons around your ankle? The kind of discomfort that makes it nearly impossible to even think about continuing? The kind of pain that has you reaching for your cell phone to ring up a ride?

Shin splints.

Of course, you knew somewhere deep down inside that there was an overly syllabic term for this discomfort that isn’t nearly as adjectivally perfect as the name shin splints right? Shin splints, medically speaking, is called medial tibial stress syndrome. I guess MTSS just doesn’t have much of a ring to it. The problem is that running, despite all the latest improvements in footwear, is an impact sport. Each time your foot comes down during a stride, the leg is acting as a shock absorber for up to three times your weight. Multiply that by how many strides you take during a two to five mile jog and the outlook ain’t rosy.

There’s probably no way yet to actually get a guaranteed pass on shin splits, but there are several steps you can take to reduce the risk. Obviously, you should already be stretching your legs before you hit the track or pavement, but let’s be honest: not every runner does. Or else you may just kind of give the stretching part lip service, so to speak, and rush through it. That’s a mistake. Stretching is vital if you are going to be jogging or running for a long distance, especially. You need to get that blood flowing and you want as much elasticity in your muscles and tendons as you can get. In concert with stretching, make sure you take your time warming up. Walk around a little bit, let your body get acclimated to whatever weather conditions are present. Taking your time also applies to cooling down.