Shin Splints

[kelly]

I play tennis and I always gets shin splints, sometimes they are so painful, and I can't even play in games. My coach has us run a lot, and we usually are running on asphalt/pavement, the courts are also asphalt so all the running on hard surfaces probably causes them. I ice my shin splints and I do a stretchs for that area of my legs. I do one stretch where I bend down and touch my toes with one leg crossed over the other. Another stretch I do is I put my foot against the wall with my toes pointing up. My shin splints are getting really bad and infereing with my playing a lot. Any suggestions on what to do about them.

[bryanc]

Rest, rest and more rest, I'm afraid. The cross leg stretch is for your IT band (nowhere near your shins); and the foot against the wall stretch is for your calves and Achilles tendon (wrong side of your shins). So, none of the stretching you're currently doing actually does anything for shin pain.

Most sport physicians would probably advocate doing a bone scan just to make sure you haven't developed a stress fracture (which feels the same as conventional shin splints). Shin spints do go away after a while as your body gets used to the loading, but continuing to play on them is a sure fire way to make them worse. I used to ice mine (from gymastistics), but I found only after prolonged rest did they just disappear.

[Will Haskell]

Just for the sake of argument....why does your coach having you running a lot? Tennis is a game of short and quick explosive moves confined to a small area. The concept of running for merely conditioning purposes is virtually useless for developing a better tennis player.

To offer another suggestion...try a change in footwear or have several different pairs of sneakers so you can rotate them.

The definition of shin splints is pain between the distal and proximal ends of the tibia lasting only for the duration of the activity. If you aren't on your feet and your shins ache you could have another, possibly more serious problem.

Will Haskell
Athletic Development Specialist

[hypersonic]

thread is old but ill post this anyway. theres a exercise that can help this. sit in a chair with feet flat on floor lift front part of your foot as high as you can off floor but keep heel on floor. you will prolly start with 20-30 reps but you can work your way up.