It’s one of the frustrating accompaniments that often strikes us when we try to do the right thing and increase our activity, such as walking or running. Within a short time of doing so, we start to feel tightness or aches in the front of our lower leg. Oddly enough, as much as this is often dismissed as a mere annoyance (albeit one that can sideline a person for a little while), shin splints — aka “medial tibialis stress syndrome” – is no innocent problem. On the contrary, it can carry the risk of stress fracture if left untreated! Early prevention is your best defense; here are some tips to minimize the wear and tear that can bring it on:
- Increase your workout durations slowly: I always feel like I have one hand on my hip and the other one in front of me, finger wagging a la your grandmother telling you to eat your vegetables, but it’s true! It’s so hard to take things slowly when you have all that enthusiasm of launching a new fitness or sports program, but your body needs a gradual ramp-up in order to adjust to the added load. This is especially true of your front lower legs; the muscles here are generally small and not particularly powerful, therefore more vulnerable to sudden increases in repeated use.
- Stretch, stretch, and stretch again! You want to particularly hone in on your hamstrings and calf muscles and here’s why: First, these are muscles become tight just due to the walking or running, as they are among the primary muscles being used to propel you forward. That’s reason enough to stretch and release the tightness, but with regard to shin splints risk, when you have tightness on one side of a joint or part of the body, it puts added stress on the opposing muscle, because now the opposing muscle has to work harder against the “resistance” imposed by the tight muscle on the other side. In the case of the lower leg, the tibialis anterior and other muscles around the shin have to work overtime to flex your foot against the resistance of the almighty and ever-tightening calf muscle and even hamstrings, often resulting in muscle tears that grow into full-blown muscle strain. By stretching especially at the end of each workout (if you’re unclear of how long to stretch or which stretches to choose, long distance students of mine can follow my audio and video instructions for this purpose here), you do your body the double service of helping the muscles recover from the workout itself, and of releasing the pull on those delicate shin muscles. And you’ll walk more comfortably out of bed the next morning — bonus!
- Strengthen your legs and core: It might surprise you that this is a crucial part of any shin splints prevention kit. Why would I need to strengthen muscles outside of the ones in question? The reason is that often, one of the added causes of over-fatigue and stress to the shins is overdependence on these muscles, due to weakness in the legs and core. Our bodies are amazing machines, capable of finding a way to allow us to walk or run by shifting the burden around if the primary muscles aren’t quite up to the task. Maybe this helped us escape the sabertooth tiger back in the day, but when we rely on this physiological “Plan B” day after day in our attempt at building a fitness program, we inadvertantly create a repetitive stress environment for muscles that were never meant to be the primary movers for that task, thereby increasing the likelihood of injury and chronic problems. By training ALL muscles in the lower body and trunk, you create a much more unified distribution of movement, even for tasks as “simple” as walking or running, which means less stress on any one particular muscle or joint. The exercises need not be particularly elaborate or intense, but what makes the difference is the consistent use of them, at least 2-3 times per week. If you don’t have access to a good flexibility specialist for such instruction, I have built these exercises automatically into all of my sport and fitness stretch workouts for members of website, and I urge you to find the workout for your goals and level and add this critical tool to your weekly lineup.
- Be watchful of signs of inflammation, and willing to respond immediately: This means if you feel some aches or pain in your shin, you’re going to rest and ice the area, and take some time off until the injury subsides. If it persists, seek the care of a doctor, as you don’t want to let this one build — the results can be disastrous, setting you back by months and derailing your fitness program entirely!
Scary, yes, sobering, for sure, but by taking certain steps to prevent trouble, you can avoid most or all of the occurrence of shin splints, and keep your walking or running program moving forward smoothly!
Evamarie Pilipuf is a stretching consultant based in southern California, and the owner/operator of www.TheFlexibilityCoach.com, a membership site where athletes stretch and do yoga online under Evamarie’s audio and video guidance.
