Aaarrrggghhh shin splints! Anyone sort them out for good?

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Heartburn Sep 2012 10:14pm, 29 Sep 2012 4 posts	0 Heartburn I rest, they settle, i run they come back. I extend length of rest, reduce speed and distance when start to run, all good....they come back. What is underlying issue likely to be? Tried shoes, physio, massage. Not looked at orthotics altho i think i tend to roll my heel out and oversupinate rather than .overpronate Has anyone has ongoi issues that they have finally nailed without actually taking months and months off?
Bex66 Sep 2012 10:19pm, 29 Sep 2012 134 posts	0 Bex66 Yes, think i have at last - dealt with it by changing the way I run to forefoot striking under the body instead of heel striking in front. Just done a 10 mile run Sat last week plus 11 mile run today - no pain at all. Back up to 20 miles a week. And believe me, I have had this on and off for years!! Also had god knows how many gait anaylsis done and different shoes prescribed - all different results! Including last one which told me I urgently needed to see a chiropractor as they thought I either had one leg longer than the other or a twisted hip - all tosh - it was the way I ran.
ReturnoftheJuddi Sep 2012 10:21pm, 29 Sep 2012 1,613 posts	0 ReturnoftheJuddi I managed to shift mine with a lot of patience. But basically stretching and icing after every run, pain or not. I kept that up for a few months after I symptom free too.
richmac Sep 2012 10:23pm, 29 Sep 2012 6,365 posts	0 richmac What length of rest have you taken? and more importantly who has diagnosed it, have you been to your docs & got a got a referal for an x ray to check for the dreaded stress fracture?
ChrisHB Sep 2012 10:27pm, 29 Sep 2012 7,951 posts	0 ChrisHB I think I have - the same way as Bex66. I'm on ~40 mile weeks at the moment. And welcome to Fetch.
Stumpy Sep 2012 10:29pm, 29 Sep 2012 14,471 posts	0 Stumpy heartburn - go check out the efficient running and pose running threads and ask the question there. if an overuse injury like shin splints keeps re-occurring it's probably because you keep straining the same muscles. the trick is to learn not to do that by not overusing those muscles and running more efficiently. there are multiple approaches to this, but you do need to learn to do it properly. if you just hear bits and pieces and try to change without understanding what you are doing will just strain your achilles or calf instead. but go ask them, get some theory and then decide if that approach would work for you.
Heartburn Sep 2012 10:37pm, 29 Sep 2012 5 posts	0 Heartburn Thats really interesting folks thanks so much for answering. I have rested from six weeks down to the odd week. Used to do 30 on typical week but got she splints by running too soon after a marathon earlier in year. Not got anywhe near back to thirty since. I have thought about the whole heel strike issue but nervous of such a big change but ill investigate it better. I have some more minimalist shoes that i use for cross trainign and walki and occasioanlly for short bursts on the tready but it feels very odd. Always my left leg that gets injured, if not these splints then it was hip, quads etc. gait analysis just revealed i ran like a loon but nothi specific!! Maybe time to take a more drastic approach?. Thanks all.
Velociraptor Sep 2012 10:38pm, 29 Sep 2012 21,755 posts	0 Velociraptor The main causes of pretibial pain(shin splints - it's a description rather than a diagnosis) in runners are the classic "too much, too fast, too soon" so that the tendons and their attachments don't have an opportunity to adapt gradually to the load-bearing activity, and running with a heel strike and an overstride. It would be well worth getting your running form looked at. I've had a tibial stress fracture on one side then, a few years later, a bad dose of shin splints on the other. I didn't do anything other than stop running until the pain went away. I can only assume that although I didn't think I was pushing my training too hard, it was more than I was ready to cope with at the time.
Pestomum Jan 2013 8:33pm, 20 Jan 2013 1,712 posts	0 Pestomum I ran a long race (for me) today and an hour or so after I had real constant pain in the lower shins: in both legs but more in the right leg (that's my bad leg) It's subsided to a dull ache when I flex my feet. How should I regard this? An actual injury? A warning to train better for the next one? How long should I/ should I rest? I'm a lot heavier than the last time I raced, so I'm imagining that had a part to play. That and wearing off road shoes to run an on road race when only the last 2k had any kind of ice.
plodding hippo Jan 2013 8:50pm, 20 Jan 2013 46,526 posts	0 plodding hippo I am a heel striker Big time and ok about it I do between 1500 and 2ooo miles per year No issues the only time I had shin splints was doing aerobics on a concrete floor in plinsolls So it would be cushioning for me agree also with too much too soon, tho I didnt start conventionally myself(mara before even a half) youll get loads of diff opinions