Shin Splits???

[jokerjkny]

hey all,

i feel the speed in my left foot really taking off these days, and all the hard work is paying off.

but, i'm still getting pain in the shin area of my fore-leg.  and it happens when i'm not playing.  actually, its been happening when i'm no where near a drum set.  its as if i have shin splints again, when i used to run on both grass for soccer, and concrete for track.

its been a while, since i've had shin splints, but forget if i'm supposed to be icing them or heating them?  i think heating, so as to get my blood going again within the muscles, whereas icing would help with swelling, but i'm not necessarily suffering from that.  been using some sportscreme, but i dont wanna be a doper everytime it happens.  any other ideas?

[DR]

Try stretching your calf muscles.  While I'm not saying this is your particular problem, pain in the front of the lower leg CAN be caused by "too-tight" calf muscles that are pulling at the tissue in front.  Stretch each calf at least 90 seconds total each session.  For eample, 3  30-second stretches or 6  15-second stretches each leg for each session.  The more sessions each day the faster the recovery.  (By the way my username is just my initials.  I'm no doc.  Just a former athlete who learned this the hard way.)  Peace.

[jokerjkny]

thx DR!

i'll give that a try.  been using a heating pad after each practice session, and it has been helping.

[slambang]

Shin splints is a condition which develops from over use of one of various muscles in the front of the lower leg. What usually happens is the tendons are stressed and swell causing pain after a workout.

What you can do is:
- Warm-up the muscle before use. Massage, stretch, etc.
- Stretch-out / massage after pratice.
- Drink water.
- Eat more bananas (potassium).
- Develop your calf muscles a bit.
- Heat to relax the muscle.
- Cold to reduce swelling.

good luck.