would improving your calcium and vitamin d intake have any effect?
what about fish oil?
Well now I’m looking even deeper into this. I know electrolytes and some minerals affect muscle firing, so if there’s an imbalance in the diet this could potentially lead to problems with the muscles.
do you pronate your feet? pelvic tilt?
i didnt think i did, until i had the ppl at the shoe store video tape me walking/running on a treadmill, i pronate my feet like crazy.
this causes tight hips and shin splints.
THANKS FOR THAT LINK!!
I’m gonna give that a shot, thanks!
It would be interesting to start a list of all the things you’ve tried along the way! :o
Steel, my shins are getting better! I’m basically learning to dorsiflex during warm ups and tempo (even sprinting, but I’m trying not to think too much when doing that, as it should come naturally… ). I can definately feel my shins getting stronger, and much of the stress being taken away from my poor calves. And the running itself is so much more efficient…
Tempos are starting to feel nice! And even my speed session yesterday was successful (despite a knee issue, but that’s another story…).
I guess once you find out what really makes even the slightest difference to the way your shins feel, STICK to it and see if it makes a bigger difference long term, rather than trying 5 different solutions in one week.
I’m really crossing my fingers for the both of us! It’s a stinky injury 
I’ve tried everything, that’s why I’m so desperate here!
Rest: Months off of running and lifting…no serious training since Jan 06
Ice: that probably just made them worse
Heat: Seems to be working lately
Self-massage(strong): seemed to help too
Compression Sleeves: only seemed to mask my pain I think…because once I took them off I eventually got the achy pain back within a day or two, but the impact pain was never truly gone.
Anti-inflammatories: didn’t help my pain at all
DMSO + powder aspirin: only irritated my skin. Didn’t work =/
Arch supports / Orthotics: didn’t really help me out
Stretching: it makes me feel better when I’m loose, so this somewhat helps me. Stretching the calf/hamstring area is helping a bit now though
Grass runs barefoot: it doesnt hurt to run like this, but yesterday I was pissed and ran like 3 miles so I definitely overdid it and it did hurt a littleee bit after 2 miles. Shins hurt a lil more today, but not incredibly more. My arches actually feel worked out a little though!!
EMS: This one’s interesting. I probably never used EMS right, so I didn’t notice much of a benefit. I got my shins and calves extremely sore if I used it on high though.
Change of shoes: I kept getting shoes for over-pronators and with tons of heel and cushioning, but my shins weren’t getting better. Maybe its a coincidence that once I take out the orthotics and get shoes with little cushioning and no over-pronation support that my shins start to feel better? Dunno…it could just be a coincidence
Physical Therapy: DIDNT DO SHIT
ART: didnt really help…I THINK I NEED DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE or sports massage though…im looking into it
Anterior Tibialis(dorsiflexion) exercises: I have a feeling this WAS helping for a week…
Rubber tubing resistance exercises(all directions): didnt really help…just got me sore and tired
I was told I have tight hips, and it does feel like my hips shift backwards(could cause some over-pronation)…so I’m gonna have to try fixing it up with that link TJ provided.
Stef: I forgot if you told me, but do you have the medial/posterior shin splints? That’s pretty much what I’m dealing with right now, the lower 1/3 of my shins. So wait, you focus on pointing your foot up as high as you can for each step or something? it sounds so awkward to me, and you’d definitely have to land on your heel for that. am i getting you right?
write back more! we gotta make it through this
Ok let,see 
(this is fun, it’s like detective work…)
- I don’t think ANYBODY should take a year a half off from running and lifting for shin spints!! Lets not do that again
It didn’t even work, so… - Ice: I personally think ice is overrated… Ok, it works short term sometimes, but for prolonged injury it doesn’t do shit…
- Heat: do you heat before exercise? how does this work?
- Self massage: please lets keep this one, because it’s doing wonders to me…
- Compression sleeves: never tried it… can’t comment, but according to you, lets keep it aside since it didn’t really help.
- anti-inflammatories: I’m really surprized they didn’t help, they probably weren’t strong enough?? Here in Europe I take Mesulid and the pain vanishes completely… But once I stop taking it, shin splint pain comes back, so I wouldn’t recommend anti-inflammatories for treatment, but only for “emergency”: for example getting ready for competition and pain seems to get in your way… So lets leave these aside too.
- Orthotics: I really can’t comment on these… I’ve heard positive and negatives… I dont’ even know if mine will help when they come and I’m a little hesitant, but I think I ought to try them for other reasons as well, apart from shin spints (stress fractures, bunion, knee issues…) Your case is different though, and if you shins feel fine w/out them, why keep using them really…
- Stretching: ALL athletes need to stretch… and more so you and I (I vote for calves and hamstrings mostly)
- 3 miles running?
with no shoes on?? Come on dude :o I would personally avoid any kind of continuous running. If you wanna run barefoot, do it in short intervals to strengthen whatever you wanna strengthen. Shin splints are VERY common in distance runners for a reason… > continuous pounding, and you managed to emulate their "sorrow training 
" and add to the problem by removing all the extra cushioning under your foot.
I don’t think barefoot running is a problem at all, just don’t do 3 miles of it :o I’d personally just do a little for strengthening purposes, and not do my whole workout like that. After all, what’s the purpose of buying new comfi sneakers??? - EMS: never tried it. I HAVE tried electro acupuncture though, if that hardly compares with EMS, but I do know that electro acupuncture is widely used in Europe and there are some very good results from it. (I had very good results from it as well).
- Shoes: Not sure, I personally try to get shoes with the most cushioning and shock absorbtion possible (I have the Saucony Hurricanes) and legs feel SO good with a new pair!
- Physical therapy: same experience!!
- ART: sorry, what does this stand for?? I’ve seen it around a lot, never bothered to look into it…
- dorsiflexion exercises: I really believe these help . But from my experience, when shin splints are deep into trouble, they don’t do shit… They work better as preventive exercises, and only after resting the shins, getting rid of the sharp pain, and then building the shin muscles slowly (after the big inflamation is gone).
- rubber resistance: I kind of agree…
Yeah, I have the same kind: posterior ones. Running with dorsiflexion is something I was lately told… it makes sense… Look at the pros do it during races! Go to the “analyse this” thread", and look at pictures.
(look at these ones and more…)
http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=12672&page=14&pp=15&highlight=dorsiflexion
Boldwarrior had explained to me (do you mind Bold? ) (and this is covered in the “analyse this” thread):
"If you Dorsiflex, you get a Re-bound elastic effect from the track and yourself and you propel further. Much like say, a spring;
if the spring is already wound up, and upon landing releases its energy, v’s (heel toe or dorsoflexion)
a spring with no tension hits the ground, it has to 1st, absorb and coil up, then release its energy. (running on toes)
I’d practice it during tempo ( and your shins will get so much stronger… ) and then it should become mechanic in sprinting (or close to it…).
So do you want to come to a short term treatment for now, try it for a couple of weeks and see if there is any impovement?
This is my suggestion: (and it’s really working for me!!)
- Massage before the workout w/a creme preferably.
- Warm up slowly, and stretch well…
- Do tempo for a week, on grass, with comfortable sneakers, and really try to dorsiflex.
- Stretch well afterwards.
- Massage calves.
- Maybe Contrast shower your calves/shins/hamstrings
Does weightlifting bother you? It actually helps me… It also replaces all those silly rubber resistance exercises, in my opinion…
I’d use weightlifting too…
Pfeew that was a long post :o I HOPE it helps… If anybody thinks all the above is nonsense… it’s working for me (so far…). I’m not an expert (by no means)… just talking from experience, and my shin splints have kept me out in the past… so.
Damn, that was a long ass post…you make a good detective though 
About the heat, I basically just bought these heat wraps, and I just like to put them around the lower shin. Not necessarily before a workout, I just do it whenever. You think before a workout is probably a good idea?
How hard do ya massage before a workout? I massaged again yesterday hard enough so that the soft tissue hurts, sort of feels like a bruise but there is no black or blue if ya get the idea.
ART: active release therapy. It’s a form of massage, basically trigger point but they take your muscle through a range of motion and resist the motion as well. I think that’s probably better after deep massage has taken out a lot of stuff I suppose…
Okay the dorsiflexing sounds like a good idea. Definitely gonna have to do that =)
Weightlifting doesn’t bother me actually. The only thing is, I have no idea where to begin again. I obviously need to start light, but I just have no clue how to set up a routine. It’s not like I’m a beginner, it’s just been so long since I’ve seriously worked out!!
Yeah so the first week just tempo on the grass, focus on dorsiflexing…okay sounds good.
I really wanna sprint again, but I think my body as a whole needs some major re-conditioning to handle the forces. I wish I never took so long off of training…!!
Hmm so yeah…I was just brainstorming and came up with a general strength routine for me. What do you(or anyone else) think?
Monday: Upper Pull
- Pullups: 3x8
- One arm Dumbell Rows: 3x6
- Hammer Curls: 3x10
- CG Underhand grip pulldowns: 3x5
-Rear Delt raises: 2x10
Tuesday: Tempo Runs
Wednesday: Lower Body + Hips
- ATG Squats: 3x6
- Front Squats: 3x5
- Good mornings off of pins: 3x10
- Reverse Leg Press: 3x8
Thursday: Tempo runs
Friday: Upper Push
-Some sort of bench variation: 3x5
- Military Press: 3x8
- Tricep extensions: 3x10
- Dips: 3x8
Saturday: Tempo runs or Off
Sunday: Off
*Start off light…each week progress easily.
The idea will be to reacclimate my body to actually working out, rebuild strength in various angles, and to not neglect any muscles
Just wanna make an update. I did that routine I listed above up until today so far, and everythings feeling pretty good. I’m shifting into my old mentality of actually wanting to train again…so this is a GOOD thing! My shins are feeling gooooodd…there’s no achy dull pain really right now…and there didn’t seem to be much impact pain…until I decided to do my tempo runs! I tested my shins with stomping…no pain really…so I thought I’d be doing these runs pain free today, but I was wrong! Although the pain wasn’t nearly unbearable. I’m still working on dorsiflexion…but that feels more natural in a full out sprint to me, because I’m pretty sure thats how I USED to sprint before I got into a mess of injuries and forgot key sprint technique.
Also, just for walking around, I have a pair of Nike Frees 3.0, and I also have the arch strengthening insert from barefootscience. Hopefully just WALKING like this will help me strengthen my feet. Running will always be done with my running shoes with tons of cushioning and support, but I’ve ditched the orthotics. My arch seemed higher yesterday just by touching it, but that could just be a temporary raise for whatever reason…maybe from that insert I hope
Oh yeah something that might help anyone else. After a workout, or even on off days, I’ll contrast between cold showers and going into the whirlpool/jacuzzi. I find this to be helpful, not only for shin splints, but for recovery in general.
yet ANOTHER update! I don’t know if I’m developing an arch now because of those inserts, but at the tallest part of my arch, my arch almost has a clearance height of 3 stacked quarters. the arch touches the stack, but barely. Actually the outer most part of my arch can just barely clear the stack without touching.
okay so I definitely have SOMEWHAT of an arch…not completely flat footed. I took a pic too haha…but I doubt anyone cares to see
Hey, show us your foot
Haha what the hell…
just to show I’m not completely flat footed. I took one from a different angle which clearly shows an arch, but this pic is fine:
whats weird is…I can form an even higher arch than that(perhaps almost double), but I have to actually “control” the muscles of my feet…
hmm okayy so I walked like 8 miles today because I was bored lol…I just couldn’t help it though…I ended up sprinting a few times. my shins don’t feel any bit aggravated from it…but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see til tomorrow huh? Oh yeah Stef, I kept your dorsiflexion tip in mind when I did them hahahah …I like how it feels!
I remember some random dude who saw me sprint said I was really fast. That was awesome haha
Cool
8 miles huh? Report back tomorrow :o
Your arch looks exactly like a friend of mine’s, who is flat footed and doc gave her orthotics to develop an arch. Isn’t that painful?? (trying to develop an arch when you naturally don’t have one?) I think arches should be left alone (unless they are dropping… ). But I’m not a doctor. Although I am successfully healing my own shin splints (while training > well not FULL training, but still… )
Later Steel.
Okay well the shins right now don’t have any achey dull pain, and the impact pain is abouttt the same…so I didn’t really make em worse…whew
The doc gave her orthotics to DEVELOP an arch?..or to “give” her an arch?
I was just reading the paper today, and a paralympian who doesn’t even have shins ran the 400m in 46 something seconds. He’ll never get shin splints luckily LMAO, but thats so fkin inspiring. The dude doesn’t even have lower legs and he could burn me. He wears those special prostetic legs though.
wtf…okay so I did tempo runs yesterday…only 6x100m with NO IMPACT PAIN… and I didnt have any dull achey pain either…so basically my shins felt pretty darn good yesterday.
Now out of nowhere, my shins feel a bit worse today…RANDOM!!! wtf!!! I’m starting to also suspect dehydration might have a big part to do with that…because I woke up really dehydrated this morning and felt worse before I even left the bed.
I guess I’m gonna have to experiment with drinking lots more water…and keeping water by my bed when I sleep
I didn’t even do anything really physical yesterday…so I can’t explain the apparent worsening of my shins. dont get me wrong…im not cringing in pain here…theyre just a bit worse
Did you do those 6x100 on the grass or on the track?
Most of the times I’d get shin pain the day after something… (especially the day after running on track).
It was on the grass…but the grass field is all uneven and could be softer…so its kind of a bumpy run
Yeah but…I was doing fine the day after even crazier stuff…like even after doing a few 40m sprints on the road just cuz I felt like sprinting.
Yah even though my shins are consistently feeling better lately, I think I’m always gonna be stuck with at least some pain, you know what I mean? I think it’s almost impossible to totally get rid of it now…especially if there’s scar tissue there. So I think no matter what…7 weeks from now I should be starting up a real sprint routine again. Maybe I’m jumping the gun here, but I’ve already been out for practically 2 years =/
Maybe I misunderstand what it means to have overcome shin splints? Do people actually become pain free??? lol I forgot what pain free feels like…
I was just thinking back on my bad ankle sprain from July 2005, and how I thought I’d never be free of pain from that, yet I never even think about my ankle anymore, because it IS pain free! I had pain for well over a year with that too…I wonder if my shins will be the same way…
Once again I’m just extremely confused. I have about a month to go before I COULD get new orthotics…but I dunno wtf to do…wear orthotics, dont wear orthotics…get a new pair of orthotics, wear cushiony supportive shoes, wear unsupportive shoes to build up foot strength(HOW DOES THAT HELP IF YOU HAVE LOW ARCHES ANYWAYS??). I just keep reading more and more about shin splints on the internet, and some people swear by strengthening the feet, but I don’t see how that’ll help if you have flat feet anyways…and then I’m thinking okay, well if stronger feet aren’t the answer, then surely correcting the mechanics with orthotics are the way to go…but then I think, what if that’s just messing up the mechanics of the rest of my body, and will lead to other problems?
this is like the trickiest thing I’ve ever dealt with though. Every other injury of mine has been pretty responsive to any treatment…but these…oh man…these are something else. it’s like anything goes with these…