QuestionI have run track for several years and have had "shin splints" just about every year. However this year they have gotten so unbarable that some days I can barely practice. Do you know of any exercises or massages I can do to ease the pain? If not, perhaps you can give me other types of tips. I appreciate your help!
AnswerHi there Rob-my apologises for taking so long to reply to you. I typed out one answer and then tried to correct something. I lost the whole reply. Sorry about that.
Shin splints are very common. Well researched-well catered for-well treated-bad prevention.
It is a general thought only-that it is a design flaw from the times when we used to get around on all fours. There is very little that can be done about it. However,
I assume that you approached all the usual guru's: shoe and gait guru's, biomechanical experts, all the usual doctors, all the usual physiotherapists, all the usual alternative practitioners like myself. I assume that you have already had enough experience to know that your body adapts to the stress and strain of training during the rest and recreation cycles in your training. That is why rest and recreation is so important to an athlete. I assume that you also have some type of balance in your training. That is, do you swim at all? In swimming there is not jarring on the joints. Very good exercise for VO2 and very easy on the body. If you don't swim-don't worry if you swim like a chocolate fish to start-everybody does too. Do you do Pilates at all? If you get Pilates under your skin-running will become far easier to do and far easier on the body.
Don't buy any products like Deep Heat. These preparations do nothing more than create a sensation of wellbeing. But, in reality-do not cure.
Now, a word of caution-do not try medication without a doctor's prescription. If alternative preparations worked all that well-believe me the pharmaceutical companies would have been into them years ago.
I realise that a lot of people put a lot of trust in these preparations-but the results are always subjective and therefore beyond critical evaluation.
This is how we handled shin splints with considerable success. When I say success, I mean that the symptoms were not as easily noticeable as the underlying inflammation.
As for massage. Our practise thinks that the shelf life of a massage is about fifteen hours of training. Whatever good you received from the treatment-you worked out during those fifteen hours of training. Why did I mention this?
Unfortunately, very few practitioner's of any kind will ever tell you what the limitations of their treatments are. That is why we hear so often-"I tried that...it didn't work". (Whatever 'that' was). It probably did work-but the client was not told that it won't last forever. This is a relatively new field-Management.
After training or events I always tell my clients to have a cold shower, swim or whatever. The cold water-ice-whatever stops internal bleeding. Never have a massage or anything of that nature after an event. The longer you are in the cold water, the faster you will go into recovery and remission.
Remember always that treatment itself does not heal injury. Only your body can heal injury or inflammation. All the treatment does is create an environment where your body repairs itself. That includes surgery.
That same statement includes physiotherapy, massage, accupunture, steriods. All of the above only support your body to heal itself.
Now, I have done nothing more than ramble on with mostly remarks that you know already.
My advise is limited to saying that you may not be using your down time well enough. By that I mean-that your training is below the shin splints radar. Everybody has to live below that radar. Talk to a Personal Trainer about your training. If you have shin splints you are not balancing your training with rest and recreation.
The reason that I have not gone into orthotics, steriods from a doctor etc-is that I assume that over the years you already know where you stand in relation to these areas and if I inspected your running shoes that I am not going to find something that I won't put on a Clydesdale horse for instance!!
That is about all I can muster up at the moment. If you would like me to cover something in more detail, please do not hesitate to let me know. I am only too happy to help if I can do so from experience. Cheers and I hope you keep training. Thank you for the question.
