How to avoid shin splints

A Painful Injury

People who experienced shin splintsknow how difficult this situation is. It is a potentially seriousinjury which needs the significant time to heal. Therefore, one shouldgive his or her best in order to avoid it at all times.

A Fact or Two about Shin Splints

Shin splint is a term used for tendonor ligament inflammation, affecting the front region below our knees.Sometimes, due to various different reasons, this part of our bodygets hurt, giving rise to inflammation and other complications knownas a shin splint. Shin splints can affect a person while running overan uneven terrain, or, generally, by overstraining the muscles,tendons or ligaments in the area. Improper warming up or footwear,lack of stretching before engaging into demanding physical activitiesand many other similar things, all may give way to the development ofthis condition.

Means of Prevention

First and foremost, if you are a realrunner, capable of conquering many different terrains during yourjogging sprees, you need shoes which can support you. These cannot bejust any shoes out there. Rather, you should seek for shoes which arespecifically made for your purposes. They need to provide youadequate support and cushioning, reducing the amount of force yourfoot endures to the very minimum. Also, change your shoes as soon astheir damage starts interfering with your running. Then, buy yourselfa new pair and get rid of the old ones.

Secondly, you need to warm up beforerushing into your exercise routine involving running and all theother actions involving your shins. Thus, stretch and warm up withsome easier physical activities to get into the right shape for yourusual, demanding routine.

Also, do not overdo it. In fact take itslowly, one step at a time. Before you implement jumping, climbing,sprinting and all other extreme abilities into your jogging schedule,make sure you are able to do the basics properly. This will make yourshins stronger and more flexible, capable of enduring all theadvanced innovations you will challenge them later.

Finally, where you run is crucial.Thus, even though asphalt and concrete seem the safest, they stillprovide quite a shock to your feet, since they are the only onesabsorbing it. That being said, try to find softer, but flat terrainswhere your feet can share the force with the ground beneath you,relieving them of extra pressure. Whenever you realize that you havegone a bit overboard with your running, try applying ice onto yourshins. This will relieve them from tension, decrease or completelyremove any swelling and inflammation and stop any pain you might befeeling.