Your weight has increased slowly but inexorably, your bust and waistline have simultaneously headed south, and somehow your favorite clothes seem to have shrunk and are too tight. You, who used to run for your school and played hockey at regional level.
You are determined to stop the rot and regain at least some measure of your former fitness (and figure!). So you join a local running club and turn up religiously in kit and new running shoes. After the first run you are exhausted, but really proud of yourself - you have embarked on the New You.
All goes well for a while; you increase to 3 runs a week and your weight starts to go down. But then your shins start to ache during your run. Not too bad at first; it's uncomfortable, but you keep going - can't let those young ones beat you! But then the pain gets worse and comes on earlier in the run. You have to stop and rub your shins to try and alleviate it. It doesn't help, and you end the run at a hobble, close to tears.
So what's gone wrong? You never had pains like this in the old days. Is there something wrong with your leg bone? Shin cancer?
Relax. It's not the end of the world and you're not crippled for life. You've got a shin splint.
Shin splints are just a name for a muscle inflammation over the shin. The muscle involved is called Tibialis Anterior and runs down the front of your lower leg from knee to ankle. If this long, thin muscle is overused, it gets strained and swells up - hence the pain and the impulse to rub your shin. Bad idea, as this will spread the inflammation.
The most important thing is to stop running at once and get some ice on the area as soon as possible. Use a proper icepack, or wrap something frozen in a towel - ice must not come into contact with bare skin. Rest the leg for at least 3 days, put a compression bandage on it for part of the day and sit with your leg up if possible. Let the family run round after you for a change.
After 3 days, try some low-impact exercise such as swimming or cycling, and take it easy on the running - start with a slow jog once a week and see how your leg feels, then build up from there. Shin splints are a sign of too much of the same activity, so vary your workouts. You'll get just as fit, and should make a full recovery.
My name is Carol J Bartram. I am a Sports Therapist and a Personal Trainer and I understand the misery and frustration of shin splints because I have suffered from them in the past. There is nothing worse than just getting into your running stride and then starting to feel that stomach-churning ache in your shins that gets worse with every yard you travel.
But what if I told you there was hope for your aching shins? Advice, exercises and stretches to banish the discomfort of shin splints - for good? Ideas on what treatments to have, and training suggestions so that you can maintain your hard-won fitness in spite of the shin splints, whether you are in training for a marathon or running to lose some weight and tone up. This advice works for everyone!
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