Running and shin splints

I'm not sure i would run through them. What helped me back in the day was changing the way I ran ( I was a heel striker) and stretching. I don't get them anymore.

You really need to let them heal. I tried running through mine and got to the point that I could barely walk. Look up exercises for shin splints, pointing your toe and writing the alphabet in the air and lowering yourself up and down with your heals hanging over the edge of a step are the two I do. Make sure you really warm up before you run, I walk for 5 minutes, including walking on my tip toes for some of that time. Wrapping with sports tape and compression sleeves both helped me. Also you have to have the right shoes, Asics have really made a difference for me, but everyone is different. Shin splints can be caused by trying to do too much too fast, so increase your distance slowly, don't do too much.

Used to get shin splints something fierce as a sprinter on my high school track team, to the point where I couldn't even walk that day or the next. Ice water helps immensely with immediate pain, though the numbness wears off after a while so you need additional steps to help prevent them in the first place.

My coach prescribed me two exercises to accompany my normal running routine:

1. Walk backwards a quarter mile
2. Walk slowly forwards, but try to keep your toes pointing to the sky the entire time. Not quite walking on your heels high, as you still want the entire heel-ball connection to touch the ground, but keep the toes up. Until you get used to it, you'll need to walk very slowly.

Alternate steps 1 and 2 for a mile to a mile and a half daily. This will greatly strengthen the muscles on the front of your legs (where your shins are).

You also need to keep in mind the amount of shock travelling up your legs. Running places an insane amount of weight on your lower legs with every step, several times your body weight every time your food lands. Some ways you can reduce the impact:

1. Make sure your shows are actual running shoes -- hightops and tennis shoes have their place, but serious running deserves running shoes
2. Run on softer surfaces -- pavement is softer than concrete sidewalks, rubber tracks are better still, running on grass is ideal. Sand actually takes the concept too far and increases shin splint incidence IME. Treadmills fall somewhere between pavement (streets) and tracks.
3. Monitor your foot placement. Sprinting calls for rising up onto the balls of your foot, heels never touching the ground. Distance needs a rolling motion, heel-ball-toe. Running barefoot can help subconsciously force you into this correct rolling motion to reduce impact to the souls of your feet, since slapping bare skin onto hard ground repeatedly can hurt if not done right.

My coach also had us eating high-potassium foods like bananas regularly, but how much of that was truth and how much a placebo effect (plus trying to get high school teens to eat healthy) I cannot testify. Can't hurt, though.

The good news is shin splints aren't forever. My first year of track I suffered daily (and I mean tears in eye suffered) for the first couple months, started to get better by the third month, and my final year running I didn't have a single incident of shin splints despite running harder and faster. I got over them, you can too.

I work a desk job so my legs and used to get tight very often before I got a standing desk.

I would recommend steching your shins/ calves more often throughout the week.

For shin splints, place your heels together and bring your feet to a "V" and rise up to your toes. Do 5-10 reps of this when you have some time in the day. Do the same thing with your big toes together.

By doing this it will help stretch out the shin.

I've found it helps my ankle mobility as well to incorporate regular body weight calf raises.

Have you tried getting fitted for new shoes?

My shin splints went away when I changed from neutral to stability shoes. A deep leg massage also helped a lot.

Please be careful, cross train, STRETCH-- listen to your body or they can definitely get worse... Learn from my mistakes!!!! Stretch your calves, some physical therapy places (athletico) offer free screenings and advice!

I had them and didn't know what the shooting pain in my legs were. Eventually I collapsed and couldn't walk.

Doctor told me to rest and gave me some antiinflammatories to help. I rested for a month or so as advised then stepped back on the basketball court and the pain came rushing back.

I'd rested for a month and it didn't make a difference so this time I decided to try it my way.

I bought some of those neoprene compression sleeves for my shins which I wore when I ran or felt the pain and did daily stretches. I changed my shoes and made sure I had adequately supported insoles to use and finally I started to do leg weights, calf raises, squats etc really seemed to help me as it built up the muscles.

Fast forward 8+ years and I'm ok. I avoid road running like the plague but can do whatever else I want. I do still need to ensure I have the right shoes and protection though.

Good luck !

I used to get them on ocasion when I was in the Military. I could never find anything to fix the problem. Then it got to the point where extended walking would cause pain. What finally worked for me is calf raises, and a lot of them. Something you can do practically anywhere.