<p>My son is encountering shin splints for the first time and I'm looking for advice on treating them. Is rest and ice the best thing to do? He's a distance runner in track and has a couple of weeks to go. I've heard that shin splints are just a painful inconvenience and that he can still train with them. Would appreciate the thoughts of those who have dealt with shin splints.</p>
<p>Never had them (not bad, anyway), but that's probably because of (insert voice of Heinz Lenz here) the EXERCISES TO PREVENT SHINSPLINTS! (Trust me, you had to be there.)</p>
<p>The exercise is simple. Before each workout, sit on the floor with your legs out in front of you. One foot at a time, have someone pull your foot down and away from you (as you would if you were pointing your toes) while you resist, trying to lift your foot UP (as you would if you were walking only on your heels). Hold for 10-15 seconds, and switch feet. Repeat 3-4 times.</p>
<p>Now, if that's meant to PREVENT them, I don't suppose it would work for HEALING them? I'm not sure. I'm not a doctor, and don't play one on TV or the internet.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>As a veteran of a 60 mile breast cancer walk, I found that wrapping them helps with the pain if he's going to slog through it. I used a size small ace bandage knee wrap which fit pretty well on a muscular calf. The heated ones might help too. I used them on my knee when I had many a mile to go.</p>
<p>I had really bad shin splints in junior high, and a lot of it was from improper shoes/inserts. If he's a distance runner he's probably already got the good stuff, but it never hurts to spend $100 on NICE shoes and NICE inserts...</p>
<p>Also, something to help make them feel better: Sit in a butterfly or indian style position. Place the palms of your hands right where it feels like the muscle connects to the bone and press deeply with your palms (like a massage). Sometimes it hurts, depending on how bad your shin splints are, but then running is always more comfortable for me afterwards. Icing and Advil are always good too. :)</p>
<p>Best to get them healed before Plebe summer (or beast) or he will be in a world of hurt.
CM</p>
<p>What Zaphod describes sounds like a tibia exercise. The tibia is the muscle that directly opposes the calf muscle.</p>
<p>What I've found causes my shin splints is a weak tibia muscle. This is because on impact of the foot to the ground the tibia can't absorb the impact, forcing some of it onto the shin.</p>
<p>I'd suggest doing the icing and whatnot. Once they're gone I'd recommend training the tibia up some more with some exercises. It's a hard muscle to train. Hammer Strength makes a little doohickey that works, but would be pricey. You can just do standing on the ground reverse calf raises, or do them on some stairs.</p>
<p>The best is to get a calf roller bar (cheap or found in a gym) and do them on there. Do not use weights, just some high rep work.</p>
<p>As stated here, it results from muscle overuse. I would lay off the running a bit when strengthening the tibia, otherwise you'll exacerbate the condition.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: The above should not be construed as medical advice. I am not professionally qualified in any way to offer medical advice. You engage in physical activity at your own risk. As always, please consult your physician before beginning a diet and exercise program.</p>
<p>An interesting way that is employed by my track team is when you are in class, write the alphabet with your big toe. Do it over and over and it will build up and soon eliminate your shin splint pain. Good luck.</p>
<p>Truthfully, I would call the podiatrist and get him in right away, since he's got to be ready for plebe summer. I didn't see that this was under service academies when I initially responded, I just saw it under new threads.</p>
<p>I'd go to a doctor as well, failed to mention that.</p>
<p>However, in my experience physical therapy due to the onset of sport-related injuries involves this: b.s. exercises and stretching while stopping the activity that started things in the first place. Then they magically call you cured.</p>
<p>The key is to try to figure out why it is happening (most likely weak tibia) and correct that. If you have a good physical therapist, hopefully they'll address this.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the helpful advice. Now I need to get the boy the listen to me. How does one do that?</p>
<p>Tell him that he won't last through the summer if he isn't in top physical condition.</p>
<p>If the shin splints result in a medical profile there may be problems such as a delayed APFT or worse yet, a failed APFT. Also, some of his squadmates may not appreciate the fact that he isn't allowed to run - especially when they are doing a long run uphill.</p>
<p>Well if he's serious about doing this, then he'll listen to you and should listen to his body as well.</p>
<p>
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Now I need to get the boy the listen to me. How does one do that?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Dying.</p>
<p>You never realize how much you should have listened to your parents (in my case, my mother) until you can't anymore.</p>
<p>Ask me how I know. :(</p>
<p>Fortunately, I now listen to my Dad more than I ever have. Too bad I'm now twice as old as your son, and had to go through hell to learn that lesson.</p>
<p>Some folks never learn.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Also, some of his squadmates may not appreciate the fact that he isn't allowed to run - especially when they are doing a long run uphill.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yup.</p>
<p>Unless attitudes have changed, shinsplints are considered an excuse for bagging it. </p>
<p>It may not be medically accurate, but it's reality in the Hall.</p>
<p>Shin splints can lead to a stress fracture. Better to back off now and be completely pain free prior to R Day (not sure where your son is going). Being completely pain free meaning for more than a week. If he goes back to running too soon, he'll be right back where he started or worse.</p>
<p>I know of cadets who have been on a soft shoe profile for almost their entire time at WP due to chronic shin problems. As mentioned before...the low quarters are the problem. Not the boots. Spend as much time as possible in the shoes. 1st detail is lots of standing in the low quarters.</p>
<p>Due to a lack of diagnistic precision, shinsplints used to be the collective term for any lower leg/calf pain. Today it is a term reserved for tibial or fibular bone strain. Bone strain develops through 4 stages 1) vague discomfort, poorly localised in the calf and noted after exercise; 2) as training continues, discomfort comes on during exercise, 3) if training is continued without treatment, the pain becomes so severe that running becomes extremely painful or impossible 4) a stress fracture develops.</p>
<p>It is important to differentiate bone strain from a chronic tear in the tibialis anterior or tibialis posterior muscle. To do this feel for the site of maximum tenderness. In bone strain this is along borders of the bone.</p>
<p>When bone is subjected to excessive loading, the initial body reaction is to remodel which makes bone weaker before it gets stronger (90 day process). This is why army recruits often suffer shin splints and stress fractures during basic training. Low bone density, excessive ankle pronation, and overstriding are also common causes. </p>
<p>Things you can do to prevent/treat shin splints:
wear good shoes that match your biomechanics, watch the training surface you are running on, try to run on softer surfaces that have an even camber, alternate the direction that you run (especially on a track) frequently, do not suddenly increase the distance or speed that you are running at, introduce hill work slowly, stretch and strengthen your calf muscles, ice shins after running.
A podiatrist can evaluate the need for orthotics</p>
<p>Ref: Tim Noakes MD, Lore of Running</p>
<p>TacticalNuke: The tibia is your main shin bone not a muscle.</p>
<p>Muscles of the leg: Tibialis Anterior.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/shin.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/shin.htm</a></p>
<p>Both the tibia bone and tibia muscle are commonly called "tibia". If you want to be anatomically correct, then you would refer to the muscle as tibialis anterior and the bone as the medial tibial. We would also call "shin splints" "medial tibial stress syndrome".</p>
<p>However, using common language, the tibia is both a bone and a muscle.</p>
<p>If you're going to correct someone, first spend 30 seconds on Google and make sure you're right.</p>
<p>TacticalNuke: "If you're going to correct someone, first spend 30 seconds on Google and make sure you're right."</p>
<p>After three years of anatomy training which included post mortems I'm not sure that Google would be my first choice of reference ;). </p>
<p>"Both the tibia bone and tibia muscle are commonly called "tibia". If you want to be anatomically correct, then you would refer to the muscle as tibialis anterior and the bone as the medial tibial."</p>
<p>Yes one of the muscles is the anterior tibialis muscle, but the shin bone is not the "medial tibial". Medial just means the inside edge, as opposed to lateral which is the outside edge. The medial tibial surface is the inside edge of the tibia (which is the bone).</p>
<p>"We would also call "shin splints" "medial tibial stress syndrome"."</p>
<p>Terms that are more anatomically correct than shinsplints include; posterior tibial syndrome (James et al 1978), tibial stress syndrome (Clement 1974, Clement et al 1981), medial tibial stress syndrome (Mubarak et al 1982), but the term bone strain is the term that describes the most likely site of the pain (Batt et al 1998).</p>