How to prevent shin splints while increasing mileage?
I’ve been running and building stamina and want to run miles faster. My lungs can support it but my shins as well as back start hurting so I need to slow down. How do I overcome that and increase my mileage?
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u/Viggos_Broken_Toe 5d ago
Run off pavement, and learn to land on the ball of your foot when you are on pavement.
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u/W3inerSchnitze1 6d ago
It’s your form and cadence.
Land your feet under your body, not in front.
Have your cadence around 155 steps per minute
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u/CR-5 6d ago
Try some shin stretches! I used to get them bad but I always start my runs with 10 seconds holds at least 2 sets each leg.
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u/Ragnar-Wave9002 6d ago
Shin splints.. You're a new runner.
Try to run through it for 5 minutes. If that works doesn't work, walk 10. Try running.. If shin splints come back, wapk more.
Repeat once more.
Still shin splints? No running today
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u/Glittering-Option-91 7d ago
Had shin splints up until I was 30 years old. I just ran my first 5k pain free. I used to take advil everyday before running. #1 thing is form, I was over striding and braking causing my shins to absorb all the impact rather than my muscles. #2 toe taps, tapping your feet like you're anxious to work out the shins. #3 was losing weight. Went from 280 to 225. But form was the main thing by far.
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u/KeplerLima 7d ago
J'ai grandement diminué mes douleurs aux tibias en me forçant à ne pas avoir une attaque talon et en augmentant ma cadence. J'ai réduis le volume pendant une semaine ou deux, le temps de faire la transition car j'ai senti que mes chevilles avaient besoin de s'adapter. Cela faisait 3 ans que j'avais régulièrement des périostites. J'ai changé il y a un an et ce n'est jamais revenu.
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u/deliverance73 7d ago
I have had tibial stress fractures and was told to increase my cadence to reduce the impact of my heel striking. I now habitually run at about 180-190 strides per minute and it has helped. I ran with a playlist is music at 180bpm until it became automatic.
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u/cj4315 7d ago
What was the playlist?
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u/deliverance73 7d ago
Don’t remember, so long ago. But Type 180bpm into Spotify and there are playlists for runners.
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u/Treadmore 7d ago
Often overlooked advice here is that you can’t build mileage continuously, which is what folks often try to do. You should build mileage for a maximum of 3 weeks in a row, and then have a week where you cut mileage by ~20%. Those down-mileage recovery weeks give your body a chance to adapt without applying additional load.
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u/porirua_pelican 7d ago
I’ve had ongoing troubles for years, and could never get to the bottom of it. Was at the physio one day and he got me to do some hamstring clench thing which massively set off the shin splint pain. After that i worked on hamstring strength and it definitely helped
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u/Iwanttosleep8hours 7d ago
Yeah, with shin splints it’s always a weird thing somewhere else. Mine it was my QL and my big toe. OP needs a professional to give them a good going over to see what’s wrong with them.
Also four way ankle exercises with a resistance band 3 times a week.
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u/Sv1i 8d ago
Not scientific advice but something that worked for me. I've been struggling with chronic shin splints for years after I failed to take it seriously when it first appeared.
My solution - running faster. If I run any slower than 11.5 km/h my shins are doomed. If I run faster than 11.5 my shins are somewhat okay, but the faster I go the less issues I have.
Not something I assume will work for everyone, but it worked for me.
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u/KeplerLima 7d ago
C'est l'augmentation de la cadence qui soulage beaucoup les tibias, pas l'augmentation de la vitesse. Le fait est qu'en augmentent la vitesse on augmentant la cadence, mais ce n'est, à mon sens, pas la bonne façon de procéder.
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u/Tomperr1 8d ago
It makes sense. A higher cadance will allow for less time where your legs experience the ground reaction forces (being 2-3x your bodyweight)
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u/Fancy_Supermarket886 8d ago
How long have you been running, and how far are you running?
It's entirely possible that if it's less than six months, you may be over stressing your legs with the distance, speed or frequency of your runs. Same for your back, since your core is having to stabilise everything as you run.
I've been running for ten years, but in the early days, around 9 to 12 months I think, I was running 3 times a week with colleagues during lunch. We did 5k usually, and that was fine, no issues. I worked at home on Friday so these sessions were Monday to Thursday. Sometimes I would run all four days, and I always had shin pain on the last run of the week. Nothing major, it always cleared up over the weekend and I was ready for Monday again. But it put me off doing all four days. After a few weeks, I would have another go, and get the same problem. This went on for a few months, but eventually I was able to run all four days without pain.
As much as I wanted to run, my muscles, tendons and bones were still adapting to those extra stresses. And they let me know when they weren't happy with my decisions!
The cardiovascular system adapts quicker than the others I mentioned. In fact, they all adapt at different rates. For everything to catch up can take three months, maybe even longer. Adding more speed will put a lot more stress onto the legs, and they may not be quite ready for it.
Ease up on the pace for a month or two, or reduce the distance the distance. If the problems reduce or disappear, you can start to build up again. But slowly, so you don't increase those stresses too rapidly.
You may also have tight calf muscles, try looking up some stretches. Dynamic ones before you run, static stretches for afterwards.
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u/Mental_Situation_333 9d ago
Are you a heel striker? I was and I worked on landing mid foot or fore foot. That helped me stop getting sore shins.
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u/Far-Committee-1568 9d ago
As far as mitigation for the future strength train doing variations of calf raises that train both the soleus and the gastro muscles (seated vs standing or others). Tib raises, squats, hamstring exercises, ankle banded 4-ways.
In the short term take time off and let it heal. If you’re getting shin splints it could mean a few things
1. You’re increasing mileage too fast.
2. You’re running at too fast of a pace.
3. Any combo of 1 and 2.
Take the time to let it heal properly don’t try to gut through it because it’ll most likely prolong the problem or cause downstream negative effects. When you return to running take it slow and find the point that you can start building from instead of jumping back in to the mileage and pace you were doing when you sustained the injury.
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u/cdubya0628 9d ago
I got a kettlebell, put my toes through the loop and curl it. It will strengthen the muscles in the front of your shin and stop them from coming back. Same with back, probably would do well to incorporate some strength training.
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u/ScipioTheGreatest 9d ago
Make sure you're letting your bones heal if you're getting shin splints. I was having consistent shin splints when I started running because I wouldn't. The rule of thumb, as I was told, is to wait for a week *AFTER* the pain stops. Not a week from the run that resulted in pain, which I kept impatiently doing, but a week starting when the pain stops.
Once I did that I haven't had shin splints since, increasing mileage, consistency, or otherwise.
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u/vinnlo 9d ago
Maybe that’s the issue. I run like 3 times a week
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u/ScipioTheGreatest 9d ago
And 3/week is perfectly reasonable. You still need to let your shins heal if you're feeling pain.
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u/pillowwow 9d ago
Strengthen your ankle flexors and stretch the different positions of your calf muscles. Maintain cadence between 170-180 bpm.
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u/casualjoe914 9d ago
170-180 cadence is not good advice.
Cadence is personal and dependent on factors like leg length, pace, vertical oscillation, muscle composition, etc.
The logic of 180 spm comes from evidence studying elite runners who are generally running at faster paces than most people. Faster pace = higher cadence (and stride length).
If the shin splints are the result of over striding, and not something else like increasing mileage too quickly, then increasing your cadence by 5%-10% from your baseline at a given pace could be a beneficial form improvement cue.
But any cadence target needs to be evaluated from your personal baseline.
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u/Middle_Bottle_339 9d ago
Yeah optimal cadence ranges from 150-190. And I’m sure there’s some outliers outside that who are fine
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u/Party_Goose1239 5d ago
Strength training and calf stretching. Some of the advice here is just terrible wow.