Shin Splint Treatment and Prevention By Brent McNutt At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

If you’re a novice runner or new to exercise all together, heed the warnings you’ve heard about taking it slow. Stress fractures, muscle soreness and discouragement are among the more common drawbacks when you become overzealous about your new weight loss program.

Some of you, though, may start to experience a pain in the inner part of the lower leg. The pain, ranging from mild discomfort to sharp pain with every step, is referred to as shin splints. A lesser known ailment, shin splints is very persistent. Sufferers can expect the pain to last three to ten days after initial onset. Shin splints is actually a condition called Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome (MTSS).

As it turns out, shin splints can be a bit more gruesome than just the simple inflammation of the muscle tissue surrounding the bones in the lower leg. The two bones in the lower leg are the tibia and the fibula. The tibia is the bone located in the inner part of the leg – the area that shin splints is most commonly felt. All around these two bones are situated a large number of muscles and tendons. When shin splints occur, the muscles that attach to the tibia actually begin to tear from the bone.

The two reasons that shin injury occurs are faulty body mechanics and overload. The human body was built to run in order to hunt prey or run from a hungry predator. However, with grocery stores and space between us and toothy animals of the world, we don’t have much need to run anymore.

Overload, which refers to increasing intensity too soon, is usually the trap in which beginners most commonly fall. Bad body mechanics can mean leaning back too far while running or running with your toes pointed outward. Now that you’re sufficiently horrified by the thought of your muscles have actually begun to pull away from your shin bone, you’re ready to slow down and take steps for prevention.

If you’ve already begun to feel pain in the lower leg, you should rest and apply ice to the area. And, you may want to consult a professional about proper footwear. Schedule a podiatrist visit to obtain orthotics or insoles that you can place inside your running shoes to correct any alignment issues you may have.

Once pain has decreased you can begin to exercise that now includes your shin friendly steps before and after. You
So how can you be sure that your shins won’t fail you during your run around the track or away from a large jungle cat? A proper warm-up and stretching regimen is all that is needed. A light, low-impact activity such as walking slowly for five to ten minutes will suffice as a warm-up. It may seem strange to stretch the front part of your lower leg, but here are a two ways:

- Sit on a soft surface with your legs folded under you so that you are sitting on your feet and your laces are facing the ground. One leg at a time, gently pull your knee up and toward you until you feel a stretch.

- Standing, point the toe of the leg you wish to stretch and place it behind the heel of the other. Bend both knees until you feel a slight stretch in the correct leg.

Once you’ve learned to pace yourself be sure to keep up with your prevention warm-up and stretch routine. You should be well on your way to a pain-free running career, unless you do actually run into a jungle cat or another animal at the top of the food chain.

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