Calling all runners!! Need advice please!

BeautifulScarsWECHANGED

Let me just start off by saying that I LOVE RUNNING. I look forward to my running days. I love the way I feel when I’m doing it and the way I feel after. However, I haven’t been able to run in over 5 years because every time I start running again, I get horrible shin splints. The kind that eventually hurt so bad I can’t run through them and it takes a long time for them to go away.

While on the journey of losing my baby weight, I’ve tried to listen to what my body wants….and it wants to run again. So I figured I would try the c25k program thinking perhaps in the past I took on too much, too fast. The first day was wonderful and the day after I didn’t feel any shin splint issues arising so I thought for sure this was working for me. 2 days after my first c25k run, I started feeling them come back. I ignored the pain and ran through them yesterday, but I can just tell they are going to get worse. I don’t want to stop running!!!

A little background to try and answer any questions that may come up, here are some of things I have tried:

-MANY different types of shoes (it got expensive after a while)
- Shoe inserts
-lots of stretching
-longer warm up and cool down times
-running on treadmills, pavement, and dirt all with the same result. I prefer running outside I realized this week. I am running on a bike trail with slight hills here and there.
-I am making every effort to make sure my posture is straight while running, not slumped over.

I’m not sure if supplements make a difference, but I am currently taking:

Multivitamin
Chlorophyll
Vitamin D
Fish Oil

I have asked many people for advice before, but this doesn’t seem to be a problem for them. Surely I can’t be the only person this happens to! Running should be natural right?

Any advice is appreciated! Thank you in advance!

:flowerforyou:

Chenoachem

Ever try taking off the shoes and running barefoot? You can check out runbare.com or http://www.barefootted.com/index.php?q=/

That is how I got rid of mine.

Edit: If this is to intimidating, most of shin problems come from poor form. You can check out Pose Running Method or ChiRunning to help.

jillybeanruns

I second the ChiRunning!

Have you seen a sports doc or chiro about your shin splints?

BeautifulScarsWECHANGED

I haven't seen anyone professional about the shin splints. Never really thought about it....what can they do?

amg_89

First of all, let me say congratulations on running again! Such a stress reliever and a sense of accomplishment when you increase mileage. Now, let's get to business.

Running barefoot is an option for some, but I would not go that route yet. I feel one should be very experienced in running, educated in the science of it, and educated in their own running style and body composition before running barefoot because for some it can be very detrimental to their running due to injuries. For some, though, it is a revolution and they never go back. to each their own.

There are a couple causes of shin splints. But first, let's define a shin splint. One of the muscles that lifts your foot (which connects at the shin) is strained. This can be from overtraining. But, since you said you are just starting again, that's probably not it. It's most likely from your foot strike. You are probably running from heel to toe (which most people do), but in an exaggerated way. That is, you're lifting your toes too high when your heel strikes and so your toes strike harder than they need to. Both of these actions cause strain on that muscle. Ideally, you would change your footstrike. Heel-toe used to be "the thing" but it's been shown that more of a mid-foot strike is better for you. But, that's extremely difficult, so you could try strengthening that muscle. There are all sorts of exercises you can do for this. here is a website with tons of info. hope this helps! http://www.watfxc.com/TF/TF Education/shin_splints.htm