Friday, January 17, 2014

Fit Friday: Shin Splints

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What are shin splints? Also known as Medial tibial stress syndrome this is where there is pain between the tibia and ankle. 
Why?! These injuries are caused by repeated trauma to connective muscle tissue surrounding the tibia. They can also be caused by muscle imbalance, for example if your calf muscles (soleus and gastrocnemius) are more muscular than the muscles on the front of your leg.
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If you follow me on instagram or are a real life friend you would know that starting at the end of last winter and during the summer shin splints plagued me and made me miserable. I have played soccer for years and have never experienced them before this year! It was bizarre and frustrating, because I usually run 15-20 km a week outside of soccer and was unable to do any running.
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Treatment: Rest! Continuing activity can make things worse, ice/heat repetition, and stretching your shins. Also if all else fails, beer and a salt/bubble bath ;)
Prevention: Strengthening of your tibialis anterior muscle (shin). One exercise that works really well and helped me get rid of my shin splints are toe taps! They're an incredibly easy exercise that are super helpful. Two different ways to work your shins below and here
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4 comments:

  1. hey, i hope your condition gets better Jenna, so you won't be miserable any longer.

    xo, Carla
    www.carlaviolet.com

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  2. Try RecoFit Shin-Splint Therapy Sleeves! You can see more about them at www.recofit.co

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  3. Ohh Jenna, this is something I can completely relate to! I ran xc/track in college and spent my sophomore year track season battling through shin splits. When I got home for the summer and could actually get checked out, I had stress fractures in both my shins. I had to take off the entire summer which was basically suicide for xc. Honestly my shins are still a little tender in spots. But I know how much that absolutely sucks! And really the only treatment you can do is rest & icing (true story- one time I left the ice on for too long and gave myself cold blisters). One more thing I will recommend for prevention- barefoot running! When I started to run again, I would run up to 45 min barefoot in the grass at the local track. Even just doing 10 minutes at the beginning/end of a run can strengthen your calves & arches, which can help prevent splints! Sorry to rant, this is just something I actually know about!! Hope you're in the clear though!!

    perfectly Priya

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  4. I've always been very athletic with gymnastics, dance, and yoga, and I have TONS of friends who have gone through shin splints. I'm so sorry that you had them! So awful!

    Xo, Hannah

    sweetsweetnoir.net

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Thank you for the love!