I used to always hate playing soccer in the Summer because I’d always get Shin Splints from running on the 
hard ground, and I would be in agony with the pain. Even walking was painful. Your probably thinking when do we get a Summer here in Ireland well it’s not so much a Summer with blazing temperatures or anything like that, but we do get long overcast dry-spells they are rare but we do get them. And now that my local soccer club have laid down an all-weather pitch I knew I had to do something about my Shin Splints sooner rather than later.
So here’s exactly what I did:
I used to use one pair of boots (cleats) for up to 7 or 8 months, which meant I trained in them 3 nights a week, played a match every Sunday meaning I wore them over 100 times before I got new boots…and that had to stop. Why? Well it was a major reason I was getting Shin Splints, because the more I wore the boots (cleats) the less shock absorption I was getting from them, which was causing the pain.
What I started to do was change my boots (cleats) every three to four months, to stop the impact that Shin Splints was causing, but that was only one thing I had to do. I also tried in-soles (arch-supports) but I found them to be very uncomfortable and sometimes they would move in the boot (cleats) which was ten times worse, so I had to scrap that idea. I tried lots of other things but they didn’t work for me, but here’s what did work.
So my other option which helped brilliantly was to build up more muscle around the shin bone to reduce the pain.
Here’s the three things I done to get rid of my recurring injury:
- I started cycling with pedal clips. This got me pulling up the pedals with the muscles in front of my shin every time I pedaled. It was also a great aerobic exercise.
- If I couldn’t cycle I walked around on my heels which does the same thing, you tighten and pull up with the muscles around the shin each time you take a step, building up muscle around the shinbone.
- I also used this method which is more strenuous but gets results faster. I sat on the edge of a table, high enough to keep my feet from touching the ground. I then placed a sock filled with coins over my foot, the coins weighed about 2 kilos. Then I flexed my foot upwards from the ankle, then relaxed it, and repeated this as many times as I could. Make sure to do both feet with this exercise.
After doing all the things I’ve told you, hey presto, I haven’t had any problems with Shin Splints ever since. I did however suffer knee injuries including a cruciate ligament tear, nothing to do with shin splints though. It’s just one of those unfortunate injuries sports people seem to injure more, but that’s for another day (along with a broken collar-bone while playing the beautiful game, and also a groin injury which lead to me having to get my appendix out, as I say that’s all for another day!!)
If you do suffer from Shin Splints and my methods don’t work, (remember everyone is different) I have other information which may work for you, but didn’t work for me. Just Email me and I will send you on additional information.
