The emotional and mental toll an athlete goes through when injured can be devastating.  It’s why Z-Mindset has an entire module focused on returning from injury. When it comes to chronic use injuries, such as shin splints and stress fractures, it can instill a sense of fear in an athlete; a fear that the injury will return.   Although injuries can not always be prevented, we can take all actions to do so in order to not have to mentally and physically return from the injury.

Shin splints: the painful reality of many track athletes due to the repetitive pounding nature of the sport.  This injury can hinder the progression of training, and the only sure fire way to get rid of them? REST. With this being said, it’s important for coaches to be able to recognize early warning signs of shin splints and tailor training so that an athlete doesn’t get worse, or develop stress fractures.

So if rest is only the true way to get rid of shin splints once you have them, the better solution is to make sure you never get them in the first place!  Here are some tips and tricks for coaches and athletes to reduce the risk of developing this debilitating overuse injury.

  1. Increase ankle and foot mobility

    1. Beginning workouts with exercises such as writing out the the alphabet with your toes, ankle circles,  barefoot toe and heel walks, and barefoot toe squats.
  2. Fix poor running mechanics

    1. Teach athletes to strike with midfoot and roll forward rather than toe strike
    2. Make sure when slowing down from top speed running you are not “Braking” hard, this creates more pressure than necessary
  3. Decrease running volume or don’t increase volume quickly
  4. Avoid plyometric work on hard surfaces such as concrete
  5. Avoid running on concrete if possible, run on soft surfaces
  6. Make sure you have the new shoes that are not broken down and fit your foot mechanics (Pronate, supinate, or nuetural)

Category: Track