For me, shin splints are something in your body’s timings (movement of your bones) that will be out of sync. .....

Elle X

Shin splints, if you have ever had them you will be aware of the burning stabbing pain on the inside of your shins you can feel. How do they come about? What do you need to do to stop them? Let me give you the low down on how I view them. For me, shin splints are something in your body’s timings (movement of your bones) that will be out of sync.

To find out what might be out of sync, I would start by taking a really good injury history to work back to which joints might have got stuck. Often what I will find is the client’s feet will appear flat, either one or both. This causes the position of the talus bone (bone between your ankle joints) to be rotated in. This can often link with an anterior tilt of the pelvis (sticking out duck bum!). With the joints in this position it links with putting more stretch to the muscles on the inside of the shin and shortening to the muscles on the outside of the calf. This imbalance to the muscles can create an uneven load on the lower leg.  Which in turn equals pain!

What to do?

“What about using a foam roller? Have a massage or use colourful tape to cover your calves??”

This unfortunately will only create some short term relief (aka – chasing a symptom!)  As well as potentially causing your body A LOT of pain.

What it doesn’t do is answer the question – WHY they came about in the first place.

“Am I a getting Shin Splint because I am running on hard ground?” Probably not is the answer as plenty of people manage to run on the surface without getting shin splints and if the shin splints are only on one leg what made that leg more susceptible than the other?!?

These are better and bigger WHY questions. Much more useful when getting to the root of the injury.

A better solution would be to create balance between the two muscles groups by changing the position of the talus bone. With the talus bone positioned more centrally in the ankle joint, you are allowing the talus bone and the bones of the foot to begin to open and close as you weight bare and push off – what we like to call pronation and supination.

With the talus bone able to internally rotate (pronation) and externally rotate (supination) you are able to take the inside and the outside of the calf through it’s full range of movement, optimising the muscle, which were once imbalanced to now become balanced.

By changing the position of this little bone you can have huge effects not only on the lower leg but all the way up your body. https://youtu.be/PQzV2b6SbBY

 

Remember the body is all connected, from your toes right up to your head. If you are only looking at the site of pain and not the big picture you are likely to end up chasing the problem around your body.

Until next time …

Knowledge is absolutely power but only when ACTION is taken

Elle x

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