How to Treat Your Shin Splints at Home

If you have any spring races coming up or you’re trying to get a jump on spring/summer training, you’ve likely had some solid weeks of running these past few weeks

If you’ve had a sudden spike in training volume or intensity, maybe you’ve begun having some pain in your lower leg

A diffuse ache throughout your shin with some definite tender spots

That ache is present at the beginning of your run and it actually hurts quit considerably for the first mile or so

But once you get going, the pain seemingly disappears and you finish your run without too much discomfort

Only for it to come back a couple hours later and definitely at the start of your next run…

If this is describing your current state of affairs, you probably have shin splints

There are many different types and location epicenters for shin splints but the problem boils down to this:

The muscles in your lower leg are pulling too aggressively on the lining of your shin bone (the tibia)

If the pain is on the inside of your shin, the 2 primary suspects are the soleus and the flexor digitorum longus

One simple treatment for shin splints is to foam roll those 2 muscles

Luckily for you, I created a video explaining exactly how to do that

 Click the image below and I’ll show you HOW to foam roll your calves to treat shin splints

In the video I go through some basics about HOW TO FOAM ROLL in general

If you already know how to foam roll, you can skip ahead to about 5:54 to get started on foam rolling the soleus

Once you give these muscles some love and massaging with the foam roller, follow it up with some heel raises to get them stronger

You can foam roll these muscles before and/or after your runs for however long you’d like

Happy Runnin

– Dr. Michael