Because there are so many different cases of shin splints and they all vary from person to person, there is no one set way to treat shin splints. The treatment will have different timelines and include different exercises.
However, there is a general guideline that all people with shin splints can follow, though I will be getting in depth with all the treatment methods later. Keep in mind that this general guideline will have to be altered to fit how your needs and how you feel.
The First Few Days After Injury
The first few days after you've gotten shin splints and actually realized that it's not just soreness, it's an injury, stop whatever physical activity you were doing that caused the shin splints, immediately. These days, you want to pretty much refrain from doing any physical activity even walking. Low impact exercises such as swimming can be done if you don't feel any pain doing it though you shouldn't exhaust yourself because your body needs energy to repair your shin muscles and tendons.
Stay off your feet as much as possible and elevate your feet whenever you can. During this period, it is crucial to ice your shins every few hours for 10 to 20 minutes each time. Regular ice packs or ice in a bag is okay but what I really recommend are ice cups.
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They are really simple to make. All you need is a paper or styrofoam cup. Fill in with water and put it in the freezer for a few hours until all the water is frozen. Then either push the ice partly out of the cup or tear the top of the cup down to reveal the ice. Rub it hard on your shins for an ice massage that works wonders and is ten times more effective that regular ice packs. Compression socks to improve blood flow are also highly recommended.
Also, now's the time to start massaging your shins with foam rollers, balls, and your hands. I'll talk in detail about this later.
When Most of the Pain Has Faded
After you've been injured for a few days and it doesn't hurt as much any more, you can start doing rehab exercises. Rehab exercises are the most important part of curing shin splints. That's because, by doing strengthening exercises, you can target and fix the problems and weaknesses that caused the injury in the first place.
Contrary to popular belief, just resting and icing isn't going to heal your shin splints unless if your injury was caused by pure overuse which isn't the case most of the time. Even if your shin splints do heal, you're very likely to get re-injured very soon because the weakness or imbalance that caused your injury is still there. Ice and rest aren't going to fix any weakness you have. In order to fix them, you have to do strengthening exercises.
Continue with icing, compressing, and massaging, and don't do any physical exercise that puts excessive impact on your legs, like running.
When the Pain is Completely Gone
When the pain is completely gone, or you think it's completely gone, test yourself to see if it's still there. Sometimes you may not experience any pain when walking or resting but when you jump or run, it still may hurt.
The first test you should do is jump from foot to foot on your tippy toes. Do this for a few seconds and if it doesn't hurt, you've passed. If you even felt a slight twinge in your shins, you may want to keep on resting and icing for a few days.
The next test is to run up the stairs. Does it hurt or not? No pain means you've passed.
If you've passed both tests, it's time for the last one. Do the activity you were doing that caused the shin splints which for most of you, is probably running. Do just 20 minutes of it and assess how you feel. Again, if you even felt a twinge, that means you're not ready to go back to running yet. Other physical activities that don't involve running are fine if you take it easy. If you felt no pain, slowly return to running or whatever physical activity you were doing before but continue to ice, compress, and most importantly, do strengthening exercises.
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