Wikipedia says that shin splints are "a general term used to refer to a painful condition in the shins. It is often caused by running or jumping or sprinting, and may be very slow to heal." Since I'm not running, I can only assume that the shin splints are caused by all the lovely jumping that Jillian has us do during the Shred. I had been getting a bit of a twinge in my shins last week, and then when I started level 2 yesterday, the suffering really began. By my second day of level 2 today, there was no doubt. I had the splints.
So I asked my trusty Twitter network of friends (which includes a lot of runners) what to do, and faster than I could google the symptoms, I got three replies. All three mentioned ice, which I've never tried for shin splints before and one of them said RICE - rest, ice, compress, elevate.
So I got out my compression socks (LOVE these by the way), put my feet up on another chair by my desk, and got a couple of ice packs for my shins. Let's hope they're a quick heal! We'll see how things go, but I may take tomorrow off from the shred to give my legs a break.
I should mention that shin splints are no joke, by the way. "Untreated shin splints can lead to a stress reaction mid-shaft in the tibia, which can eventually lead to a stress fracture. A stress fracture can be diagnosed by a bone scan or an MRI and takes much longer to heal than shin splints." I know someone this happened to in college, our first week of orientation, and he walked with crutches for years, and has a limp now. So it's definitely not something I want to fool around with!
Does anyone else have shin splint cures that have worked for them? Shin splint horror stories? Well, those I may not really want to hear...
.JPG)
Posts
