Managing Shin splints

Hi Peeps,
So I was down with shin splints. As I already have told you all about shin splints, which feel like pain in front portion of lower leg, can be quite debilitating.

Yet I have managed to stick to my diet. I am feeling a little derailed due to injury. But as they say, whether a day is good or bad depends on your attitude; I decided to make it good.
Eating salad, yogurt and boiled legumes. Feeling pretty good. Light and healthy.
Will not weigh myself for a week, instead will be happy about how I am feeling aboyt my body :-)

Now lets talk a little bit about shin splints.

So what causes shint splints is, extra shock to the lower leg, for example running on treamill. It can be due to:
1. Improperly fitting shoes
2. Sudden increase in running/treadmill speed, distance or duration
3. Uneven surface or slope
4. Flat foot, unequal leg lengths

How to treat it?
1. Rest
2. Ice
3. Compression
4. Elevation
5. Evaluation

1. Rest- give the leg complete rest. Do not walk around or exercise for next 72 hours.

2. Ice- apply ice pack over painful area

3. Compression- use compression bandage to give some pressurr and support to the affected region

4. Elevation- keep you feet elevated. Easiest way is to keep 4-5 pillow under your feet

5. Evaluate- if the pain doesn't improve in 72 hours please refer to your doctor.
And after the pain subsides evaluate the reason of injury and fix it.

Other tips:
1. You can take a pain killer everyday to manage with pain and help in recovery

2. Keep your treadmill in gym always atleast 1% inclined to reduce incidence of shin splints

3. If you have flat feet, wear shoes with arch support built in.

4. Massaging the area lightly may also provide you some relief.

5. Warm up before the workout to reduce injuries

6. Stretch to keep your muscles flexible.

7. Keep the muscles of your leg (tibialis anterior) strong by working it out. It is generally very neglected by everyone.

Image source:http://www.nhs.uk

First speed breaker- Shin splints

Murphy's law: If something can go wrong, it will.

This seems to be working with all the force in my case.

I was determined to work out and eat healthy. So I chose to do some cardio.

Walking at the pace of 6 km/hr, felt good for 10 mins. And then.... my lower legs started hurting! Ouch!
I pushed my self to walk more but the pain kept getting worse, I had to stop. :-(

So little cardio. Still better than no workout. I am still on my diet. I have consumed salad, boiled legumes, brown rice, bran biscuits and low fat milk.

This experience taught me a few things:
1. Some days will be bad no matter how hard you try. Accept the fact, move on and do whatever you still can.. e.g. still eating responsibility

2. Start slow. Slower than your body can tolerate and then slowly build up.

While I am at it, let me talk a little about lower leg pains after a run or walk, on a treadmill or road. They are called shin splints, as they are felt along the shin ( anterior border of the lower leg). They are quite painful and one might need to take a break from workouts due to it.

So, in my next post I would talk about shin splints in detail with a little blabber about my progress.

Love,
Determined Diva