SHINSPLINTS AND HOW I TREAT THEM

Lower Leg Anatomy For Shinsplints - Vital to Understand!

If you really want to overcome shinsplints, its vital you know as much anatomy of the lower leg as possible. Yet another example of how “knowledge is power.” Learn some anatomy and your chances of limiting shinsplints is greatly increased. 

Here I will show you a very important part of the lower leg, the tibialis posterior. This muscle causes so many athletes too much grief! (even if they dont know it.)The more you understand what is going on when you run, you will know how to actually adapt some better running habits. Now I am not a doctor, but I have been able to do this myself with good results. Its in your best interest to learn as much anatomy and physiology as you can.

 Below is a rear view sketch of the tibialis posterior. The main part of the muscle starts up near the back of the knee and comes all the way down behind (posterior) the tibia. Most important is where the tendon inserts - it wraps medially to the ankle and finishes on the inside of the foot. As you will see shortly, this is what defines its role.

Look closely at the muscle tendon that weaves down towards the middle of the foot-close to the arch of the foot. It sits inside the ankle and finishes (inserts) to the small bones of the foot called tarsals. This picture is not the clearest, but if you can get the overall picture that’s enough.

 You would have heard about the foot “rolling in” when you run. This is called INVERSION. The tibialis posterior is the PRIME MOVER of Inversion. If you look again at the anatomy above, it is totally logical for this muscle to control the amount of inversion during any activity. Think of its role as holding the arch of the foot up. This muscle undergoes much stress to keep the right amount of inversion during activity. 

The tibialis posterior in most runners I have seen, have chronic lesions most of the way through it. And while they can feel the pain is “in there somewhere”, most people can not locate it to do anything about it. Instead they might perform some “toe taps” and exercise the tibialis anterior because they think that’s the best thing to do. Why so many people still do this still shocks me. If shinsplints are caused by the stress of “rolling” when running/walking, then shouldn’t the focus be on treating the muscle that controls that movement?

The tibialis anterior is only the focus if the pain is located there-usually in people just getting back into exercise. For long term shin splint sufferers, the approach should be to learn about, locate and treat the tibialis posterior, not the tibialis anterior.

 Now you know exactly where the tibialis posterior is and what it does, your one step ahead of most people who continue to mindlessly do “toe taps” in the hope of something happening. It will not take the strain of the tibialis posterior or alter the amount of inversion when running. If we know the amount of roll is putting much pressure on this area, that should be our only focus in treatment. Sounds simple, yet the majority of people still do not take this approach. This is the kind of approach I take in my guide to treating shinsplints.

In the next entry I will talk about how I take this a step further to do something about the lesions throughout this muscle and get some releif for stabbing shin pain.

Pronation Creates Tension Creates Shinsplints

Treating shinsplints can be very confusing for a lot of people. Not only are there multiple factors, it could be any combination of these factors that is causing YOUR shinsplints.

The best thing to do in the beginning is to break down the problem to its simplest form. Make sure you go over the basics and apply them so you can tick the common causes of your list as you progress. In other words, cover the basics well, and you will go a long way towards fixing the problem. If you decide to skim over the basics, it may be a longer and more frustrating recovery.

So what are the basic causes of shin splints? One of the main causes is pronation of the foot as it strikes the ground. Pronation is what most people see as “rolling in” when the foot strikes. Some people “roll” more than others and it is obvious when you watch them run.

Over pronation can be a main cause of tension, which is diagnosed as shin splints. Muscles and tendons pull away at the tibial lining, which causes inflammation.

If you are pronating a long way in relation to the upper leg staying normal as you run, the stress will have to show up somewhere. Exactly where depends on how much you pronate, your surrounding muscle strength and your foot type etc. But it will have to manifest somewhere along your lower leg.

A trained therapist can find where this tension has built up and use various techniques to treat it. I describe some of these in the shin splint cure report.

Being aware though, of pronation and tension build up from the early stages, is much better.

Arch supports are the most common way to minimise the pronation as you run. Most serious runners will know this, yet try one kind of arch support or new shoe and that’s it. You will need to keep trying different shoes and levels of support until you can really feel the soreness dissipate. Most people will not be lucky enough to strike the right arch support first attempt! Yet, athletes hope for this, and become disheartened when it doesn’t work first time.

Keep trying different arch supports and shoes until you get the right fit for you. Just a fractional change, can make all the difference to the soreness you feel after exercise.

So over pronation can be a common factor in manifesting shin splints. You must insure you get the right level of pronation first, regardless of how many attempts of arches and supportive foot ware you try. Simple in theory, yet how many athletes take the time to get this right? Your are un-likely to fix the problem your first attempt, but you’re much better off to stick with it and tick this of you list of causing factors of your shinsplints. For some people, simply eliminating pronation will eliminate shinsplints.

shinsplints

How I Treated My Own Shinsplints

Why am I making claims of a great shinsplints cure when so many of you have tried everything and had no luck fixing them?

I guess it is because I have been in the very situation you are, and what I know now, does not equal what I knew when I first had shinsplints. I took the same old advice and followed the same exercises that I see people following to this day - rest, stretch and do some toe pointing exercises. By doing this I was hoping something would fix the problem more than anything.

What I know now comes from diplomas in sports and remedial massage and working on hundreds of clients with shinsplints and other soft tissue injuries. It comes from being an athlete that was determined to beat this problem and apply the best techniques I learnt in the physiotherapy clinic. I had to take note of what really produced the result for people and how individual cases would differ. When I pieced everything together, I treated my shinsplints within 3 days and have not had a single re-occurrence. 

shinsplints are a soft tissue injury too!

I will tell you upfront one of the keys to treatment. So many people miss this vital point. Shinsplints are as much of a soft tissue injury as anything else. You must correct the soft tissue imbalances! Not only will it balance the problem long term, it will provide you with more short term relief than just about anything else.  

A simple “rub down” will not get this effect. But if you take the time to learn some massage techniques, similar to those a sports therapist would use, then you can get some real results at home. The best thing is you can actually feel these working strait away. If you can not feel relief then you may be doing something wrong.

As it is very hard, if not impossible, to stretch the muscles involved in shin splints, remedial massage techniques become twice as important. It is the only way to lengthen the soft tissue.

Without effective massage techniques, I could not have cured my shin splints. You either need to learn how to do this or pay someone to do it for you. The only problem with the latter is the frequency of treatment can add up costing you too much money.  

As long as you don’t do this…

You do not want to simply perform toe pointing exercises and keep running with the same form, for the same distance, as you have been up until now. I am not saying to completely stop these exercises as they are part of the overall treatment plan. But they are not the plan alone.

Whatever treatment routine you go for, you have to feel it working. If you cant feel an improvement beyond doubt in response to your treatment plan, then proceed with caution. Shinsplints have a way of going somewhat dormant so you start to think the problem has gone away. Then when you least expect it, they resurface worse than ever.

I have found shinsplints do not tend to fix themselves without the person actively following a treatment plan and monitoring the results. A good plan will involve soft tissue manipulation, a change in activity, making sure your shoes are right and closely monitoring your running action.

You can treat and manage shinsplints by following the right plan but just remember that it must involve effective soft tissue massage.