Help.

[gt20001]

I was wandering if anyone else on here has ever had shin splints. If you have can you tell me what you did that helped it. I was just told that i have shin splints it has been going on for weeks now and i am trying to figure out exercises and other things that will help it get better and to stretch it out and make it stronger. it is on the outside of the legs not the inside any helpful information would be appreicated. Thanks Gena

[icedancer2]

Always, always always stretch out your Achilles and hamstrings before you skate.

An easy way to do this is to face the boards, stretch your leg out behind you and bend your standing knee while you stretch your heel towards the ice.

I have suffered from shin spints for years and if I don't do this before I really start to skate, I am screwed.

Back cross-overs will also accomplish the same thing -- when I did Synchro I always wished that our team would go to our starting spot by doing synchronized back cross-overs because by the middle of the routine my shins would be screaming, even though I had warmed them up off the ice before we competed. Alas, several of the team members couldn't do this, so we didn't do it...:cry: (yet another reason I don't do synchro anymore...)

[froggy]

yup thats what I have, I can't really blame it on skating, it's more on my off ice workout that i began a few weeks ago consisting of intensive jump roping and bench jumps, I rested this week from the off ice jumps.

common protocal is rest it, ice it, and take some anti-inflammatories (advil, motrin), make sure you have good supportive shoes, strech before and after activities, strengthen leg muscles. feel better!

[doubletoe]

Yes, rest, take aspirin or ibuprofen, and do the quad stretch, which also stretches the muscles in your shins. Here are some pictures of some quad stretches:
http://www.bodyresults.com/E2patellofemoral.asp

[Skate@Delaware]

An exercise my off-ice trainer gave me for prevention was to lift the top of your foot upward towards your knee...you can do this all day long while sitting at my desk at work. It builds up the muscle that runs down the front of the leg.

She said that shin splints are microscopic tears in that muscle because it is weak and building it up helps prevent tearing. Of course, you want to make sure you are not inflamed when you do this, but wait a bit until the inflammation has subsided.

She is a certified personal trainer with a B.S. in Sports Medicine and also a skating coach (she has been skating for 30+ years).

[skatingdoris]

oww, i know the pain. though i've never had them from skating, i get really bad shin splints from running and it is somthing that i've had to give up because of it.

The best advice i was given, apart from to give your legs a rest until the inflamation goes down, is to get your posture checked, as this is usually the cause of shin splints among dancers (my freind gets them from dancing because she tips her pelvis downwards, effectively sticking out her butt!) - pilates is good for fixing this.

also when you walk put your heel down first rolling your foot and pushing of your toe.


don't know if this will help you but i find massaging the 'bumps' that you get down the front of your shin as a result really works, but you have to be pretty brutal and it hurts while your doing it!

hope your feeling better soon

[gt20001]

Thanks for the help. The shins have been bothering me. I have been doing lots more stretching i have limited my skating cutting the time in half i am only skating 2 times occasionally 3 during the week i am not jumping either but another hitch that was thrown in on friday was i started having knee pain as well and this i dont know where it came from i had both checked out and the shins i was told was shin splints and i cant remember what he said the knee was it started with a p but he told me to lower the exercising that i didnt need to stop but to decrease it i know i need to stretch and strengthen and that is what i am trying to do but just walking up and down the stairs is aggrivating the knee. I am getting soo frustrated i dont even know how i injured my knee. I have only been skating for 4 months and i am already sidelined. Ugh

[AmandaS88]

another thing that can sometimes help are arch supports, helps align everything. Works for running anyway..

[LauraLa]

I had shin splints back when I was on my college swim team. I swam breaststroke, which the athletic trainer told me is the one stroke you can get shin spints from! Anyway, I would have to heat my shins (warm compresses) before practice, and then ice them afterwards. This helped to first warm up the shins, and then to quickly reduce any imflamation. I also got ultra sound treatments, but that's not something you can do at home!