Shin Splints Causes And Prevention

Shin splints is a very common ailment that affects athletes but can also occur in the non-athletic individual. It is an inflammatory condition occurring either in the front of the lower leg or in the back. The cause for each is different.

Typically, with shin splints, a person will be doing some kind of athletic endeavor (walking a long distance would qualify), and begin to notice soreness in the lower leg, either in the front or back of the leg. The more the person moves the more the condition worsen. Should the person stop, the pain will diminish somewhat only to worsen once the activity is resumed.

What Causes Shin Splints?

Now that we've discussed the technical aspects of what causes shin splints, we can look at the outward causes of this pain. Basically, there are two categories of shin splints, and they are:

Overload: Often called "training errors," this category generally involves sports or activities in which the person runs a lot or exerts extreme pressure on their lower legs. The pain isn't necessarily caused from the running, but rather the repeated impact force and direction changes during the activity. The tendons become tired and this makes them unable to absorb the shock.

Biochemical Inefficiencies: This is typically known as "flat feet," a term causes extra exertion in the lower leg after the heel hits the ground. As a result, the foot flattens upon impact and continues to roll inward, or "over-pronation."

Things To Do:

Warm-Up

When you go out for a run, if you just start up and start running, you're putting a lot of stress on the bones, ligaments, and muscles surrounding the shin.This is going to put you at a higher risk for experiencing shin splints and the pain related to them, making a proper warm-up critical.

Wear Proper Footwear

Next up, you need to be extra sure you're always wearing the right type of running shoes to prevent shin splints.If your running shoes are not fitting properly, whether the arch is not the right size for your foot, or the shoe is causing you to pronate inwards or outwards, you're going to run into problems.

Stretch

While I wouldn't advise you to perform a great deal of stretching right before the workout as the body is still cold at this point, after your run is finished (or soccer game, or whatever activity you're choosing to participate in), performing some solid stretching is a very smart move.

Stretching will not only help to reduce muscular soreness that might develop from the workout, but it will also help to reduce the tightness in the ligaments and tendons, both of which will contribute to you experiencing a great deal more pain and shin splints over the long run.

Strength Training For The Ligaments and Muscles

Finally, the last thing you should be doing is performing some type of strength training for the muscles and ligaments that surround the shin bone.You can do this with rubber tubing or with light weights wrapped around your ankle.

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