Shin Splints

Do your shins throb and ache after your daily run or just sprinting to catch the bus? It could be shin splints.

The cause is stress on your shinbone and the connective tissues that attach muscles to your bones. They get inflamed and painful.

This common problem can result from:

• Flat feet,when the impact of a step makes your foot's arch collapse
• Shoes that don’t fit well or provide good support
• Working out without warmup or cooldown stretches
• Weak ankles, hips, or core muscles

If you’re active, you could get them if you make sudden changes like more intense, more frequent, or longer workouts.

How Are They Treated?

• They often heal on their own with rest.
• Rest your body. It needs time to heal.
• Ice your shin to ease pain and swelling. Do it for 20-30 minutes every 3 to 4 hours for 2 to 3 days, or until the pain is gone.

How to stop the pain from returning:

It is important to ease your way into a new running regime or activity. Be careful not to overload the shins. If you have had pain you have overdone it. It might be helpful to see a running coach or find a sensible program to follow.

Make sure you are wearing good supportive running shoes. As a guide you need to replace running shoes at around 6 months or 500km.

Bio mechanics is also very important.

This is where physio can help.

It is vital to have good core and hip strength for running and often a weakness in this area can leave you with overloading the shins while running.

For any pain relief and an assessment please do not hesitate to give us a call so that we can get you back on the road again.