Potential injuries are always a constant threat to our training goals, and its vital we deal with them in an efficient way.
Shin Splints are one of my least favourite injuries, having suffered with them badly when I was 18.
Shin splints are an injury that affects the front part of your leg and in particular your shin. Also, the surrounding tissue can be often painful to touch.
Common symptoms also include pain in this area in the first few minutes of exercise, then it can go away and return just as you finish your run or walk, followed by pain the next couple of days.
I have one lady who is doing the Moonwalk in London in May, and is struggling with the very same complaint.
I have advised two weeks rest from walking to give that area a chance to heal and calm down.
Shin Splints can be caused by running or aggressive walking on hard surfaces, they can be made far worse by using poor quality trainers (you should chance your trainers every 500 miles or 6 months in general).
Icing this area a couple of times a day for 15 minutes at a time can bring a lot of relief, and help greatly with inflammation. The pain can be quite severe and if left unchecked, can lead believe it or not to stress fractures in the shin area!
Simply “running through it” will not cut much ice with this injury, in fact it can make it ten times worse.
When you do feel like getting back walking and running after a rest, I would advise only very soft surfaces such as grass to do your workouts on. Hard concrete type surfaces will only bring back this injury.
Non weight bearing exercises will only be good, such as swimming and cycling, and inside weight training/resistance training of all kinds. This means you can keep very fit and strong whilst you are recovering.
These are all handy tips to make sure you make the most out of a potentially nasty situation, and certainly don’t make it worse!
