A: Shin Splints are a painful nuisance and sign that you are doing it wrong. “Shin Splints” is a term simply meaning “pain along the shin bone.” What that doesn’t mention is just how much pain is involved. It really depends upon your pain threshold. For some it’s a dull, persistent ache. But for most others it is a waving pain that feels like someone smacking them in the shin with a metal baseball bat. Over and over and over. What caused the Shin Splint?
For most people the problem is caused by intensifying, or changing their exercise routine. I used to think the pain I felt was because I was allergic to physical exertion, but it turns out anyone can get Shin Splints. So, what can you do once you have the dreaded “Splints?” Doctors recommend rest and ice packs. Ice packs are a good idea as they can reduce swelling in the inflamed tissues. But, rest? Once you have driven yourself to the point where you are actually willing to work out you shouldn’t risk slipping back into inactivity! I suggest duct taping a ten pound bag of ice to each shin and doing a ridiculous number of leg lifts. Or you could run until all the ice melts, but if you do this make sure you have completely covered the bags with duct tape. You wouldn’t want the watery bags to sag around your ankles and trip you up. That could cause injuries that you just couldn’t work through which could then lead you back to your days of comfortable lounging and snacking on jelly doughnuts. You certainly wouldn’t want that, right?
How can you avoid getting Shin Splints in the first place? The best way to avoid them would be to slowly ease into any changes in your exercise routine. I, myself, have been slowly building up to designing a workout routine for well over a decade. My leg pushes can now propel me in my wheelie chair almost halfway across the basement. I am now able to carry several full cases of beer up two flights of stairs to my mother with only one rest stop at the landing. A considerable improvement over the times that I would pass out after the first few stairs and wake up to my mother’s smelly, old bulldog sitting on my face while licking condensation off the cans spread out around me.
So remember, once you have started working out don’t let a little thing like pain stop you. When making changes to your exercise routine go very slowly to avoid the kind of problems that might endanger your active lifestyle. And if you keep an old bulldog drunk enough you will never have to learn what his balls smell like.
