Shoes – everyone’s favourite solution when trying to fix shin splints. The reason for this is often attributed to a person’s shoes being worn out and no longer having the cushioning and support they once did. Over time, the shoes went from protecting and aiding the runner to doing nearly nothing for the runner. 

Often times however, people forget that shoes dictate the way your foot impacts and interacts with the ground. If your shoes are too tight, too big, unstable, lack support, are imbalanced, too narrow (or wide), have a steep drop, or weird shape – you are going to have a rough time. 

IMPACT

When you impact the ground with your foot, your foot splays out cushioning the impact. Narrow shoes hinder your ability to splay when moving. This is why many people form unhealthy, narrow, stiff, and weak feet. If the shoes are too tight, they will cut off blood circulation and cause unwanted swelling, further exacerbating your troubles.

It is important to find shoes that properly fit your healthiest feet and allow them to do their job properly.

We won’t get into the debate about minimalist shoes, zero drop shoes, and the extremely cushioned shoes that are popular with different runners today. Suffice it to say, you should use what you feel is most natural and comfortable and allows you to perform injury free. Try shoes out. If they don’t feel perfect the first time, they probably aren’t for you. (Yes, you can break new shoes in, and yes, all shoes will change to your feet eventually to some degree. But by picking shoes that require extensive time and effort to break in and that may be hindering or even damaging your feet – who are you really benefiting here?)

REPLACEMENTS

You also need to replace your shoes when they become warped, deformed, or worn out. As a broad rule, you should replace your shoes once or twice a year depending on the volume of activity.

Recovery at its foundation is what we outlined in our Healing Protocol. Sleep, hydration, nutrition, supplementation, etc. These are the basic building blocks that enable you to recover in the first place. In order to optimize and aid in your recovery, you have extra tools, techniques, and activities, such as:

• Rolling/Smashing (with a foam roller or ball)
• Massage
• Flood Flow Assistance Devices
• Compression Garments
• Acupuncture
• Electrical Stimulation Therapy
• Cupping
• Sensory Deprivation Tanks 

These tools and techniques rely largely on blood flow and tissue manipulation. Using these can help reduce or eliminate bottlenecks in your body’s recovery and get you back to normal faster. Some of these you can do yourself, and some will require qualified professionals to administer care.

Stress comes in all shapes and sizes. Both mental and physical stress will not only impede your recovery but also negatively affect nearly every aspect of your life. If you cannot learn to adapt to and manage the stressors in your life, you are going to have a very long road to recovery.

There are countless books and other resources counseling people on how to manage and mitigate the effects of stress. The topic is far too large for us to adequately weigh in on the topic. We will say however, that if you continue to follow the principles layed out on the Healing Protocol page in your daily life, it will reduce a substantial amount of physical and mental stress. Most of stress management comes from remaining healthy in mind, body, and spirit. So take care of yourself and the stress will take care of itself.

One aspect of training many athletes who participate in a specific sport overlook is strength training. Most of the athlete’s attention goes into skill acquisition for their sport rather than supplementary training to increase their capacity as an athlete.

Having a high General Physical Preparedness (GPP) level is essential to performing well but also staying injury free and healthy. Sadly, there are many “running programs” circulating the web attempting to get people from the couch to a 5K. The issue with the vast majority of these programs it that they rarely, if ever, properly program in strength training. The very idea that a person with zero GPP could start towards a 5K by simply running and performing a handful of low-rep body-weight exercises is ludicrous. 

You should work with a qualified exercise physiologist to help you structure your programming to your individual needs. 

Cadence, or steps-per-minute, or beats-per-minute, has also led to positive changes for many runners. Whether taking too few strides or too many strides, the result is largely the same – too much unmitigated ground force. By running at around 180 steps per minute, many runners found that this cadence shortened their strides and pushed them to run more smoothly and softly, drastically reducing the amount of ground force produced upon landing each stride.

You can use a metronome app (or just Google) on your phone to keep your steps in time with 180 bpm. It will take getting used to but is worth trying out if you are very far below or above 180 bpm. You may find little difference if you are already very close to 180 bpm.

Posture is also integral to your overall physical health and form. Most of us sit for prolonged periods of time every day, lay down with our necks propped up under pillows to watch TV, kink our legs when sitting or laying down, and much more. These positions place our bodies under a lot of stress and also restrict blood flow, reducing your ability to heal and stay healthy. Depending on the position, you could also be shortening your muscles, tendons, etc, putting you in an even weaker state.

They can also become “locked in” over time as we spend more and more time with our necks kinked at odd angles to watch TV or use our phones and computers. This solidified negative posture impacts your overall movement and athletic ability. This is why it is important to get up and move often throughout the day. Do stretches, go for little walks for water or bathroom breaks often in order to get your body out of these stressed positions and get moving.

Human beings are designed to move. Our lifestyles today do not lend much to this goal. Use the step counter on your phone – are you even close to 10,000 steps per day? Keep in mind, this isn’t a lot. Most people will barely break 3,000 given their sedentary lifestyle.

Keep in mind, you are trying to recover from a problem in your lower leg – the body part furthest away from your heart. If you impede blood flow for long periods during the day, how do you expect to heal efficiently or effectively?

As you have likely noticed, your feet are critical to your performance. Yet, you likely never paid them much attention before now. Because your feet are the way you interact with the ground, it is important to enable them to do so in the healthiest way possible. This means proper footcare.

• Massage
• Intrinsic Work
• Rolling/Smashing
• Proper Footwear & Socks
• Footbaths
• Moisturise

You should be doing all of the following on a regular (sometimes daily) basis to ensure your feet can breathe, move properly, do not dry out, retain pliability, and can recover quickly. Allowing your feet to develop corns, blisters, dry out and crack, stiffen up and become narrow is a sure-fire way to reduce performance and increase issues and injuries.

Compression is becoming increasingly popular as a last-stitch effort cure or prevention tactic for shin splints. At its core, compression garments offer increased blood flow and some added stability and support.

We will say however that not all “compression garments” are created equal. Beware of fake compression. Most garments that are marketed as “compression” are actually just tight clothing. At best, it will feel snug at the beginning and loosen over time. Worse, it will cut off circulation and cause pressure points which can create issues. The issue is legitimate compression garments are difficult to manufacture as they require a different manufacturing process. As a result, only a small handful of companies have properly invested in this manufacturing and make true graduated compression garments.

We recommend both 2xu and DFND.

All that said, there are two ways to use compression:

(1) Active: Using compression sleeves or tights during activity in order to gain a benefit in blood flow and stability. This level of compression is usually lighter as you are expected to be able to move while wearing it.

(2) Recovery: Using compression sleeves or tights while resting to benefit from increased blood flow. The compression used in recovery garments is typically much stronger than that of active-wear compression. You are not supposed to do exercise or move around much with recovery compression garments on.