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To start things off, our track is really crappy, leaving our team with a history of shinsplint issues, especially in the polevault runway. What types of precautions should i take this season in order to prevent the development of shin splints throughout the season, luckily right now i havent felt any symptoms but im anxiously awaiting them. I picked up some compression socks so ill see how they work. How do you guys go about with shinsplint issues?

Learn to run properly; striking on the ball of your foot with your foot dorsi-flexed, and minimizing "ground-contact time," the amount of time each foot stays on the ground with each strike.
This can be practiced on your walking plant drills and pole runs. Do your pole runs, strides, plyos, and sprints on the football field, not the track or runway. Only vault 2 days a week; 1 long, 1 short.
Good luck!
Tom

tsorenson wrote:Do your pole runs, strides, plyos, and sprints on the football field, not the track or runway

Your whole team should be doing as much as possible on the grass, not the track. Talk to your coach about letting you do as much as possible on the grass, including the warmup jog.

rainbowgirl28 wrote:Your whole team should be doing as much as possible on the grass, not the track. Talk to your coach about letting you do as much as possible on the grass, including the warmup jog.

Doing your light jogging barefoot on the grass does wonders for shin splints since your feet are put in the most natural positions possible.

You should also (especially now if it's preseason) work on strengthening the muscles around your shins and make sure you stretch!! Walking on your heels for a certain distance and then for the same distance on just the balls on your feet (like you have heels on if that makes sense) do it maybe 2-3 times a day for I would say at least 2x a week. You could also do dorsi flexion curls. Sit on something like a bench press bench and sit far enough so that your feet and about half of your calves hang off. Have someone provide resistance. Do about 20 "curls" where your feet go from just hanging to dorsi flexed. That should help. I had a stress fracture in each leg last year because i didn't take care of my shins. I've made it through almost 5 months of college track now (I'm a freshman, so big adjustment in workouts) and haven't had any problems with my shins this year *knock on wood*

EDIT: Forgot to mention. SHOES!!!! Make sure your shoes have arch support! The wrong pair of shoes will damage you almost more than a bad track will. So the first thing you need to make sure is that your shoes still have adequate arch support! Even investing in a decent pair of orthodics might help as well. Good luck with the season and stay healthy!

here's a link to the dorsi flexion exercise i was talking about. You can do this on the ground also, we just always do it on a bench with our feet hanging off because you can go a little further.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC5tZFBLtdE

achtungpv wrote:

rainbowgirl28 wrote:Your whole team should be doing as much as possible on the grass, not the track. Talk to your coach about letting you do as much as possible on the grass, including the warmup jog.

Doing your light jogging barefoot on the grass does wonders for shin splints since your feet are put in the most natural positions possible.

Friend of mine has been doing his sprint drills on the grass barefoot and loves it (post collegiate athlete). Your arch should increase from the tension of the musculature in your foot, HOWEVER, don't go running 10 miles barefoot or in those Vibram FiveFingers... that will not go over well (jumping into the whole barefoot concept right away...not to mention 10 miles isn't an ideal workout for a PV)

Lots of really good suggestions here. I would also recommend getting a compression sleeve for your calves. It helps prevent the heavy jarring feeling of your lower leg muscles when you make ground contact while running. That jarring will promote inflammation in the tendons particularly on the anterio-medial (front and inside) part of the lower leg. This is particularly helpful if you have really big calves

I had a huge case of shin splints when I first started pole vaulting. Almost made me want to stop for weeks at a time, it was so painful I would have to walk/waddle like a duck the day after it flares up. My coach and I worked at it for almost one and a half years and it went away. It was a combination of correcting my running technique, getting the right shoes, minimizing heavy contact by staying on the grass, wearing the right aids (comp. sleeve and ankle support) and conditioning over time. I would still get shin splints now if I ran on the track with spikes for two days in a row sprinting (I don't really have the time to train specifically for pole vault anymore, just fitness). But I would really have to thrash my legs and actually try to get shin splints to get them to come on. I no longer have to wear all the aids and I could spend the whole session on the track if I had to for some reason.

Taking every measure I could and being diligent in following them really paid off for me. I don't think it was one thing in particular that was a magic bullet for me. It might end up being that way for you but if you end up being more like me you really have to stick with it. If it's working then you will feel it getting better and better every month, it may be a slow process but it's going somewhere.

- Andrew

i have pretty bad shin splints as well and what i do is get a shin brace but socks works as well and also ice atleast 5 times a day i usually took a break half way through practice and iced on top of icing before and after practice.

another option is using icee hot i liked using that on my shins

one thing that helps me is before every practice i walk down half of the runway on my heels and have of the runway on my toes and it just helps warm up/ strengthen those muscles.... also, shin splints seem to get better each year you do track.... I had them really bad freshman year, a little bit sophomore year, and I am in my junior year now and they barely ever rise up, my parents said you normally outgrow them by college.