Strengthening exercises
Understanding the most common causes of shin splints is the first important step towards preventing their occurrence in the first place and, equally, ensuring they never occur again if already suffered.
The muscular form of shin splints can be further divided into a number of more location specific conditions. An effective method of preventing muscular shin splints is simply to strengthen the muscles which may be affected in each location:
Anterior tibial compartment syndrome:
Location
This affects the bulky muscles felt on the upper, outer part of the shin
Strengthening exercises
1. Strengthen your feet
- This exercise can be done with or without shoes, sitting or standing
- Press your toes down into the floor without raising your heels and without allowing your toes to curl
- Hold for a count of three before relaxing
- Aim to repeat the exercise around six times in an hour as frequently as possible throughout each day
- It may be easier to concentrate on one foot at a time and then alternate
2. Strengthen your inner shin muscles
One
- Sit with your legs straight out in front of you
- Turn your feet inwards to be able to press the inner arches against each other
- Hold for a count of three before relaxing
- Aim to repeat the exercise frequently throughout each day
Two
- This exercise should be done barefoot
- Walk about on your toes, placing one foot in front of the other so that your feet turn in with each step
- Practise daily, beginning with around twenty paces and building up to a hundred
Posterior tibial muscle strain:
Location
This affects the muscles which lie under the bulky calf muscles at the back of the shin
Strengthening exercises
1. Strengthen your feet
As detailed above
2. Strengthen your anterior tibial muscles
- Sit on a chair high enough to allow your knees to form a right angle
- Place a weight, or strap a weight, across the top of your foot
- Keeping the right angle in your knee and your lower leg still, raise your foot up from the ankle
- Turn your foot out slightly, lifting the outer edge
- Hold for a count of five before relaxing
- Aim to repeat the exercise at least twice daily with ten repetitions on each leg
- Begin with a light weight of around one kilogram and build up gradually by increasing the weight slightly every few days
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