I’ve read a lot of the previous threads on shin splints and how to treat them. I don’t recall seeing any of the threads discussing which exercises help strengthen the ankle/shin muscles. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Take a thera band and stretch it out horizontally between a couple of bedposts…pull it with the top of your toes towards you while sitting. With the resistance against the top of your toes, flex your shin in (towards you) and out (away). The pos. and neg. resistance will work any inflammation out.
shin splints - medial tibial stress syndrome. It’s not so much your ankle as your calf muscles - excessive eccentric soleus contraction places stress on the periosteum (outer layer of the bone) and causes tiny cracks.
To treat: ice, and rest until the pain goes away. Stretch your calf muslces too.
I wrote a paper on this for an Anatomy and Pathology of Athletic Injuries class this semester - if you want all the long and boring details, PM me your email address and I’ll send it to you.
walk on your heels, like 100m every morning.
I’ve read a lot of the previous threads on shin splints and how to treat them. I don’t recall seeing any of the threads discussing which exercises help strengthen the ankle/shin muscles. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
I struggled with shin splints for a long time. I started using the Apec mchine to strengthen the tibialis anterior. You actually use weights on it so you can measure your strength gains. This is a serious machine that really isolates the tibialis anterior. It has made a big difference for me. I now can put in long miles without my shins holding me back.
What will walking on my heels do? Does that strengthen a particular muscle group?
Strengthen the muscles on the front of your shin.
I did a lot of things to combat my shin splints:
some rest
strengthening of that muscle on the front of your shin by walking on heels etc
stretching that muscle
switching to Nike frees
They went away eventually, could have been any of these things or none of them.
Never really used ice or heat
Thanks all for the replys. I’ll try it all!
Heel walking is the best thing I’ve found.
Another trick is to sit on a counter or table with your legs hanging off. Hang a weight ( I use my laptop in the case by putting my toes through the handle) off your toes and raise it up as high as you can and lower it as far down as you can several times. Sort of like a reverse calf raise. You should feel it working the muscles around the area where the shin splints hurt the worst.
Strengthen the muscles on the front of your shin.
…strengthening of that muscle on the front of your shin by walking on heels etc
stretching that muscle
“That muscle” is called the tibialis anterior. It’s primary action is to dorsiflex the foot. Heel walking forces you to maintain an isometric contraction of the tibialis anterior to prevent the foot from dropping. Isometric exercises do not cover the full range of motionn of a muscle and cannot be counted on to provide optimal muscle development. If you really want to develop “that muscle in the front of your shin” (tibialis anterior), you need to work the full range of motion. The only way to really do it correctly is to get that apec shin exerciser that I mentioned on my previous post.
Stretching is also helpful. You can try swimming with fins to promote ankle flexibility.