{"id":6332,"date":"2009-11-24T12:07:18","date_gmt":"2009-11-24T17:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/?p=6332"},"modified":"2020-03-04T15:19:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T20:19:08","slug":"running-shin-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/running-shin-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid Shin Splints and Stress Fractures"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Anterior<\/a>

Image via Wikipedia<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Shin Happens<\/h2>\n

Shin pain sucks.\u00a0 It’s so frustrating to feel that your fitness is improving but the small muscles in your shins are preventing you from becoming the runner you know you can be.<\/p>\n

During my first three or four years as a runner, I was plagued by shin problems.\u00a0 As soon as I began training for my first marathon, I developed shin splints.\u00a0 Being a new runner and not knowing what might happen, I did my best to manage the pain and keep on training.\u00a0 I even shaved the bottom six inches of my legs so that I could tightly wrap them in tape! This probably did more harm than good, and within a few months I was diagnosed with a tibial stress fracture and had to wear an aircast and stop training.\u00a0 Against doctor’s orders, I ended up doing the marathon, though “running” isn’t the word I’d use to describe the second half of it.<\/p>\n

I endured several more starts and stops over the next few years, each time committing to really run a marathon, and each time having to stop as my shin pain became unbearable with the increasing mileage.\u00a0 Finally in 2006, after four years of frustration, I figured out the magic formula and ran the marathon I had — quite literally — dreamt about.\u00a0 Since then, shin pain has become a non-issue, so far removed from my focus that the days of fighting it feel like part of another life.<\/p>\n

Here’s a list of the things I did that allowed me to beat shin pain once and for all.\u00a0 I’m sure that not all of them mattered, but it’s hard to know which helped and which didn’t.\u00a0 I’ve put them in order of decreasing importance based on my gut feeling.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: this is what worked for me; everyone is different.\u00a0 Do more research before incorporating these ideas into your training.<\/p>\n

How to Avoid Shin Pain<\/h2>\n