A question for the runners out there...

Toe taps will help

I would also suggest you get to a place that does gait analysis / shoe fitting and take pains to make sure you are not overstriding.

Trace the alphabet with your foot - get a good full stretch with each foot movement.

I have shin splints from dancing and I found that when I loosely tape up my shins (I use horse tape) it helps a lot with the pain.

Stretch out your calf muscles really well. Also your toes and heels.

Avoiding shin splits depends on what the underlying cause is. Are you flat-footed, do you over-pronate when you run?
Good stretching, compression socks, properly fitted running shoes can all help.

Good suggestions in here. More important is to make sure you figure out the root cause of the pain. Definitely get a gain analysis done and make sure you have the right shoes.

Good info here, don't need to repeat most of it... except for the part about finding the underlying cause. Much easier to prevent than they are to heal.

I did do a proper fitting and got my gait and foot looked at. I got a proper pair of shoes that fit for me... Shin splints have always been a problem for me, but, I've never been "properly" fitted for shoes. I have a normal arch and foot type, but, I slightly underpronate and this may be my underlying cause. I've never been a runner. I was a hockey player and never had to deal with the impact and different muscle involvement for running.

I appreciate the info and the excercises suggested... I'm looking to do a warrior run in about 6 months and figure the only way I'm going to be ready to do it is stay as healthy as possible between now and then while I train.

Thanks Everyone!

Is it possible that if you're still having shin splints then you haven't been fitted to the proper shoe. I've been fitted in the past and still gotten into shoes that cause me pain/discomfort. Just because they fit you doesn't always mean they get you in the right shoe one the first try. Yes, the odds are better that they will, but not 100%.

If you are running on hard surfaces like concrete you could try to find some dirt trails. The softer surface may help.

it has been my experience that shin splints occur when I go from hard surface to soft and vice versa. Usually happens the first time I run outside in spring and the first time I run inside in the fall. Just something that happens when you change surfaces.

bump

I did do a proper fitting and got my gait and foot looked at. I got a proper pair of shoes that fit for me... Shin splints have always been a problem for me, but, I've never been "properly" fitted for shoes. I have a normal arch and foot type, but, I slightly underpronate and this may be my underlying cause. I've never been a runner. I was a hockey player and never had to deal with the impact and different muscle involvement for running.

I appreciate the info and the excercises suggested... I'm looking to do a warrior run in about 6 months and figure the only way I'm going to be ready to do it is stay as healthy as possible between now and then while I train.

Thanks Everyone!

if you have been fitted already, perhaps look into minimalist type shoes (vibrams) which are good for underprotonaters since you are supposed to land on the ball of your foot rather than heel-strking style. These helped get rid of my hip pain too!

Assuming your fit is good maybe you need to see a phys. therapist. Make sure it's one that has a history of working with athletes. Could be a muscle imbalance. They'd be able to physiologically (sp?) break down what's happening.

This used to be a huge problem for me! I could never get past 3 miles at a time. Then I joined a gym and started using the eliptical and lifting weights and running about 1 or 2 times per week. Doing that I was able to break the 3 mile barrier and then I started running more often. Now I run about 3 times per week 3-5 miles and on my non running days I do yoga (2x per week) weight lifting (2x per week) and eliptical (3-4 times per week). So my advice would be to try cross training. It's the only thing that has worked for me. And I think my mix of stretching through yoga, building my muscles through weights and building my endurance through eliptical have all helped my running.

I should also mention that in the past I had been measured and properly fitted for shoes and even that didn't help. The only thing that has helped me has been cross training. I think some people's bodies just aren't naturally built to run very often and you need to help it along.

I just want to remind the OP that running on an elliptical is a great, awesome workout, but it's not biomechanically the same as running on the road because there is considerably less impact. The moral of the story is if you can run for 6 miles on an elliptical, that doesn't mean that you can run 6 miles on the road unless you've also been running on the road, too. It's not a good idea to train for a 5K or any other outdoor running event exclusively on an elliptical (AND it's painfully boring to rack up big mileage indoors if you plan on doing any long races). Your body needs to figure out how to respond to the impact and regenerate ligaments/bones/tiny little muscles over time as you train, and on an elliptical you are not exposing your body to that type of stress (which can really be a good thing, depending on your goals and health concerns).

I used to run on an elliptical a lot because I was convinced that I had big lady hips and that would prevent me from having a good stride.( It's also nice to watch TV and be in climate control, too!) I also had a salesperson at a running store tell me that I had a knee whip, which means that one of my knees would kind of make an eggbeater motion instead of track straight when I ran. He said that this could cause knee pain as I increased mileage, and a knee brace would help.

Then, I found out at an annual health screening at work that high impact activities can be really good for building and maintaining bone density. This is a thing to balance with other needs, obviously, because high impact activities can be really bad on knees, joints, back, etc. if not done in moderation. So, I started running more, but I continued to use my knee brace. Then, I got a gait analysis at a sports and medical institute when I was training for some longer distances, and they told me to stop using the knee brace (gradually) because it was preventing me from building the muscles and other ligaments I needed. I did gradually stop using the brace, and I really haven't had any knee issues to speak of.

Running has been shown to actually reduce the need for hip/knee replacement because your body is so adaptive and will regenerate effectively when it is exposed to stress: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/phys-ed-can-running-actually-help-your-knees/ This is an old-ish article, but I ran across this an another article that I can't find right now that said although runners have more minor injuries over their lives (more pulled muscles, more weird aches, etc), they are less likely to need major surgeries like knee replacements because their knees have been exposed to this stress for so long and have strengthened themselves because of it.

BUT now barefoot running and low-profile shoes are also changing things again, because the padding is minimal, so the shoes make you run lighter and use less impact. I talked with a different shoe salesperson for about an hour last weekend when getting new shoes --- he had a LOT to say. It hurts to slam your foot into the ground when running, so shoe companies started to stack more and more padding in shoes over the decades. That has really messed with a runner's gait, and it created a disconnect between the amount of impact we were putting on our bodies and pain that it could cause. Shoes with less padding help us run naturally and respond to the road stimuli. You turn your foot over faster but with less force per stride. The sales guy was obviously really into this and got me into shoes with about half the padding that I had previously been using. I think a low-profile shoe might help reduce shin pain over time for you, but this is kind of a new thing that you could integrate slowly if you felt it was right for you.

I have been on a journey with running, gleaning bits and pieces here and there. Sometimes I got great advice, sometimes bad. So ... you might decide all of this info isn't really worth anything, and you should decide for yourself. But I think it's totally great to reach out to MFP, because hopefully between us you can find a solution that fits your needs and works for you.