Shin Splints Advice Sought

Hi,

I started running with my local running club in August and have built up gradually to a half marathon level and my first half marathon is this Sunday.

I have run my last 5 mile per race run tonight and have started to feel what I believe to be mild shin splints as I have a dull niggling ache pain in my shins. I am not in pain, can run through it and is more of an annoyance.

However, I am concerned as my half marathon is on Sunday.

How can I prevent/minimise this?

Are there any shin supports I can consider buying or anything else I can do?

Thanks

Sorry to hear that james.  Apologies if I'm recommending things that you've already tried, but...

(1) check out Youtube for shin splint exercises...eg toe tapping (sit on chair with legs bent at 90 deg, raise feet and tap until exhaustion...) or kneeling with feet under glutes.

(2) ice bath immediately after running.  Or stand in the garden and hose cold water on your shins for 5 mins

(3) single leg strength exercises, assuming the problem is not bilateral

(4) acupuncture eventually cured mine

(5) mueller shin splint compression sleeve is very good if you can get one before Sunday...good luck

I got great relief from the ice cold water thing, but I just stood in my shower every night and turned the water to cold after I'd had a scrub clean. Don't much fancy hosing off in the garden! But anyway, that only treats the symptom, not the cause of it. I finally traced mine back to knackered trainers that weren't supporting my feet/ankles any more. Slow-mo video gait analysis highlighted the problem instantly. Some people will have more of a problem tracking down what's causing it, but popping into your local running shop for a gait checkup wouldn't be a bad idea...

Something that worked for me was

1. Ice, (which I have continued to do after every run)

2. Get yourself a golf ball, put it on the floor. Take your shoe off and massage the underside of your foot by rolling the ball about, concentrate on any painful areas.

3. Definitely do not run through the pain, you might finish the race but you will be in incredible pain afterwards ( I couldnt walk properly for a couple of weeks with mine)