Have you ever been unfortunate enough to be the victim of shin splints? This article will cover different methods I have used to treat shin splints as well as some different ways to ice. Keep in mind that I am in no way, shape, or form a doctor and cannot offer medical advice. All I can do is tell you what I use to help treat shin splints to hopefully give you some ideas to try to treat your shin splints.
Icing
Icing is an amazing way to reduce inflammation (if you remember from my other article, Why do People get Shin Splints?, inflammation is why shin splints happen) and numb the area to decrease pain. To ice, simply put some ice cubes in a bag and place them on the affected area. There are many popular ways to ice, but what I do is ice for 10-20 minutes, 2-4 times a day because let’s be honest, athletes do not necessarily have time to do some of the more extensive icing methods.
Paper cup method
You can get a small paper cup that is dixie cup sized, fill it with water, and place it in the freezer. Once all of the water is frozen, take the cup out of the freezer and tear a little ring of the paper cup off the top. The ice should be exposed now. Rub that along the affected area, gently applying pressure until the area is numb. As the ice melts, continue tearing little rings of paper off of the top of the cup until the desired effect is achieved.
Ice baths
Taking ice baths is another way I treat shin splints. I took one a day every other day, normally skipping the weekends. I would put a couple buckets of ice in a tub full of water and sit in there for no more than 10 minutes. I of course had to build up a tolerance because my first time, I was miserable and only was in the ice bath for a couple minutes. It also helps tremendously if you wear socks because if you’ve never taken an ice bath before, your feet will definitely feel weird and you won’t be used to it. By weird I mean either tingly, numb, or even hurt before anything else. A possible reason for this is because your feet are far away from your heart so it takes longer for the blood to circulate to your feet.
Muscle Rub
A great way to decrease pain is to apply a cooling muscle rub to the affected area. This helps take my mind off the pain due to the cooling sensation the rub provides. Apply this as often as needed, or as the bottle directs.
Stretching
In addition to icing, you should be doing stretches to treat your shin splints. I will try my best to explain how to do these stretches. For the first stretch, go in a push-up position, raise your butt in the air while leaning back to put pressure on your feet. Make sure to keep your legs straight while you slowly lean back and raise your butt. Hold the stretch for at least 10-15 seconds, but hold as long as you want. You should feel it in your calves. Then while still in this position, cross one foot over and rest it on your achilles, which is essentially the back of your ankles. Hold this for the same amount of time and then switch which foot is crossed over.
Rolling
While stretching is a good way to loosen up some of the tightness, another way to relieve shin splints is to roll out your calves. You can do this with either a hand roller or a foam roller, or even a massage gun. Hand rolling is pretty straight forward. Pretend your calves are dough and you’re rolling them out with a rolling pin. To foam roll, you simply sit down, cross your legs like I mentioned with the stretches, and put all your pressure on your calf, which is on the foam roll. Lift your butt off the ground and roll yourself back and forth using your hands to push you.
These methods are amazing ways to reduce the pain associated with shin splints and the inflammation that caused the shin splints. While these are not miracle treatments, they do make your time with shin splints not as miserable and hopefully make it so you can still train. If your shin splints do not go away after a while, then you might just need to take a break and get some rest. As you may know from my article Why do People get Shin Splints? shin splints are a stress related injury and may need time away from the intense use to heal properly. If you are wondering how to prevent them next time, check out How to Prevent Shin Splints.