Finally, Some Shin Splint Advice

A few days ago, I had a talk with my trainer about the state of my shins.  He gave me some great advice - some of it I already knew, but other things, such as what kinds of stretching not to do, I had no idea about.  I'm sure most of you are sick and tired of hearing about my shin splints, but in case you end up with them yourself, here's his advice:

Stop running or scale back - You can continue to run (for short distances on soft surfaces) if your shin splints aren't bad, but if they're really hurting you need to stop completely.  This is a huge deal for me because I have a hard time accepting limitations.

You don't have stop doing everything - I hate the elliptical, but I'm going to be spending a lot of time on it over the next week or so.

Ice, ice, baby - Sorry; I couldn't help myself.  In all seriousness, icing is really important to reduce swelling and pain.  I hate being cold, therefore I hate icing, but I am trying to be better about it.

Compress - It turns out I'm on to something with the Zensah sleeves.

Take Vitamin I - Ibuprofen is great for reducing swelling and pain.  I rarely take it, but, as Rob put it, "why not? this is what it's made for."  Fair point.

Foam roll - I'm pretty sure this is his solution for everything.  That doesn't make it any less right.

Get a massage - Sometimes foam rolling isn't enough.  This is when you should get a sport massage to alleviate pain and release knots in your muscles.

Take a yoga class - Yoga helps with stretching and strengthening muscles.  It's wonderful cross-training regardless of whether or not you're injured.

Stretch - This is where it gets tricky.  You should not do stretches where your sore or injured muscles are bearing weight.  I did gymnastics as a child and will forever think "if you're a little sore, keep pushing until it hurts."  This is completely incorrect.  Over the past week I have been stretching the wrong way and have done more harm than good.

I took a few photos of stretches you should and should not do with shin splints.  I apologize in advance for the funky outfit (I have limited running gear at the beach) and photo quality (it's hard to teach my 69 year-old dad who has never owned a smartphone to use an iPhone camera).

Don't do these static stretches (leg being stretched is the "naked" leg):

Do these dynamic stretches (leg in the compression sleeve is being stretched):

All three stretches start with your hands on a wall (or column) supporting your body weight.  The leg you are stretching will be behind you, at an angle, as if you are doing a shallow lunge:

Stretch #1

Bring your opposite knee up to the wall straight in front of you, as if you're kneeing someone:

Bring behind you:

Repeat.  I usually do about 15 reps.

Stretch #2

Swing your opposite knee to the outside so that your knees are pointing at a 45-90 degree angle:

Swing your opposite knee to the inside, across your body, so that your knees are pointing at a 45-90 degree angle:

Repeat.

Stretch #3

This one confused me the most.  It's similar to stretch #2, except that you are not driving your knee up.  One way to think about it is as if you're kicking opposite corners of a box (except without kicking your leg out below the knee).  This stretch was also the one I felt the most, as I was using my hips more than in the others.

Bring your opposite knee down and to the outside, as if you are using your knee and hip to drive your foot to the outside corner of a box:

Bring the knee across your body to the opposite side, as if you are trying to drive your foot to the opposite corner of the box:

Don't let your foot touch the ground or the wall.  Repeat.