Shin Splints Stretches And Exercises - Feel Better FAST!
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Dr. Jared Beckstrand, a Doctor of Physical Therapy, presents six effective exercises to alleviate shin splint pain that can be done at home. He explains that shin splints are an overuse injury affecting the tibialis anterior muscle, commonly experienced by runners and athletes. For acute cases, he recommends rest, ice, and gentle stretches. For chronic cases, he suggests more aggressive measures like massage and strengthening exercises. The video demonstrates how to perform massages, stretches, and strengthening exercises, including toe taps and walking on heels, to target the anterior tibialis muscle and promote healing.
Takeaways
- 🏃♂️ Shin splints are an overuse injury that causes pain in the front of the lower leg, often due to excessive activity like running or sports.
- 🦿 The tibialis anterior muscle, which runs down the front of the shin, is the primary muscle associated with shin splints.
- 🔍 Shin splints are common in runners, especially those who've recently increased their running volume, and in athletes involved in soccer, football, track, aerobics, and weightlifting.
- ⏱️ If the pain from shin splints is less than two weeks old, it's considered acute inflammation and should be treated with rest, ice, anti-inflammatory medications, and gentle stretches.
- 👐 Massage is an effective way to loosen the tibialis anterior muscle, improve blood flow, and promote healing.
- 🧘♂️ Stretching exercises are crucial for treating shin splints, with seated shin stretches and upward-facing dog being effective options.
- 🤸♀️ Advanced stretching can be achieved by kneeling on the heels, which requires a greater range of motion and can be substituted with a standing toe drag if knee pain is present.
- 💪 Strengthening exercises like toe taps and resistance bands are essential for building up the tibialis anterior muscle and reducing shin splint pain.
- 🚶♂️ Walking on heels is a functional and aggressive exercise that can significantly strengthen the anterior tibialis but should be done carefully to avoid exacerbating pain.
- 🔗 For those interested in home exercises, resistance bands are a versatile and space-saving tool that can be used for various strengthening exercises.
Q & A
What is shin splint pain?
-Shin splint pain is an overuse injury to the tibialis anterior muscle, which runs down the front of the shin and can cause pain and inflammation in that area.
What causes shin splints?
-Shin splints are caused by excessive activity that overworks the tibialis anterior muscle, often seen in runners, soccer players, football players, track athletes, aerobics participants, and weight lifters.
How can you differentiate between acute and chronic shin splint pain?
-Acute shin splint pain has been present for less than two weeks and responds better to rest, ice, anti-inflammatory medications, and gentle stretches. Chronic pain lasts more than two weeks and requires more aggressive treatment including massage and strengthening exercises.
What is the first step recommended for treating shin splints?
-The first step in treating shin splints is massaging the tibialis anterior muscle to loosen it up, warm it up, and promote healing.
How can you massage the tibialis anterior muscle?
-You can massage the tibialis anterior muscle using your hands or fingers, or using a foam roller. The foam roller is preferred for its effectiveness and ability to reach deeper into the muscle.
What are some simple stretches for shin splints?
-Simple stretches for shin splints include sitting with legs out and pulling the toes towards the shin, and an upward facing dog position to stretch the anterior tibialis more aggressively.
What is the recommended duration for each stretch when treating shin splints?
-Each stretch should be held for about 20 seconds and repeated three times.
How can you strengthen the tibialis anterior muscle?
-Strengthening exercises include toe taps, using resistance bands for ankle dorsiflexion, and walking on heels to engage the muscle more functionally.
What is the recommended starting point for resistance training with bands?
-Start with 10 to 15 repetitions and aim to do three sets. As you get stronger, increase the number of repetitions and time spent on the exercises.
What is the most functional and aggressive exercise suggested for shin splints?
-The most functional and aggressive exercise is walking on heels, pulling the toes up off the floor and not letting them touch the ground, which can be done for time increments up to two minutes.
What should you do if the heel walking exercise causes pain?
-If the heel walking exercise causes pain, it's an indication to stop the exercise for that time period and adjust the intensity or duration accordingly.
Outlines
🏃♂️ Understanding and Treating Shin Splints
Jared Beckstrand, a Doctor of Physical Therapy, introduces viewers to six effective exercises to alleviate shin splint pain. He explains that shin splints result from overuse of the tibialis anterior muscle, which runs down the front of the shin and connects to the ankle. Pain occurs when this muscle is excessively active, often due to activities like running, soccer, football, aerobics, and weightlifting. Beckstrand emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between acute inflammation (pain lasting less than two weeks) and chronic pain (lasting more than two weeks), as treatment approaches differ. For acute cases, he recommends rest, ice, anti-inflammatory medications, and gentle stretches. For chronic cases, he suggests more aggressive measures including massage, stretching, and strengthening exercises.
💪 Exercises for Shin Splint Relief and Prevention
Beckstrand demonstrates various exercises to help with shin splint pain. He starts with massage techniques for the tibialis anterior muscle, using either hands or a foam roller to improve blood flow and promote healing. He prefers a medium-density foam roller for its effectiveness and comfort. Next, he presents three stretching exercises: a simple seated stretch, an upward-facing dog stretch for more intensity, and a kneeling stretch on the heels for an even more aggressive approach. For strengthening, Beckstrand suggests toe taps to activate the muscle and build strength, progressing to resistance bands for added challenge. His favorite exercise involves walking on heels to engage the anterior tibialis muscle functionally. He advises caution with this last exercise due to its intensity and potential to cause discomfort if overdone. Beckstrand also provides links to recommended equipment in the video description for viewers' convenience.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Shin Splints
💡Tibialis Anterior
💡Overuse Injury
💡Inflammation
💡Massage
💡Foam Roller
💡Stretching
💡Strengthening Exercises
💡Toe Taps
💡Resistance Bands
💡Functional Exercises
Highlights
Jared Beckstrand, a Doctor of Physical Therapy, introduces six exercises to eliminate shin splint pain.
Shin splints are caused by overuse of the tibialis anterior muscle, which runs down the front of the shin.
Common activities that can lead to shin splints include running, soccer, football, track, aerobics, and weight lifting.
For acute shin splint pain (less than two weeks), rest, ice, anti-inflammatory medications, and gentle stretches are recommended.
For chronic shin splint pain (more than two weeks), more aggressive treatment like massage and strengthening exercises are necessary.
Massage the tibialis anterior muscle with hands or a foam roller to improve blood flow and promote healing.
A medium-density foam roller is recommended for massaging the shin area.
Seated shin stretch is a simple way to stretch the tibialis anterior muscle.
Upward facing dog is a more aggressive stretch that requires upper body and core strength.
Kneeling on heels is a stretch that requires a greater degree of knee range of motion.
Standing stretch with one toe dragged back is a good alternative for those with knee pain.
Toe taps are an effective way to strengthen the tibialis anterior muscle.
Resistance bands can be used to add difficulty to toe taps and strengthen the muscle further.
Walking on heels with toes off the floor is a functional and aggressive exercise to strengthen the anterior tibialis.
If exercises cause pain, it's a sign to stop and adjust the intensity.
The video provides a link to a recommended medium-density foam roller in the description.
The video also links to resistance bands that are useful for the exercises demonstrated.
Transcripts
what's up guys jared beckstrand here
doctor of physical therapy toning titan
and these are six of the best exercises
that you can do at home to eliminate
your shin splint pain
coming at you right now
so what does shin splint anyway and why
do you get pain down the front of your
leg
well you've got a muscle that runs down
the front of your shin
it's called your tibialis anterior and
it looks just like this
actually that's a horrible picture it
looks just like this
okay that one's a little bit better but
basically here's your shin bone right
here
that muscle comes right down the front
and it attaches right into the top of
your ankle
when it activates it pulls your foot up
in this direction right here
so why do you get shin splints why do
you get pain in that area well
it's an overuse injury to that muscle so
anything that you're doing that causes
it to be excessively active
is going to result in some pain and some
inflammation in this area
so what are some of those activities i
most often see shin splints in runners
and especially runners who have recently
increased the amount of work that
they're doing the amount of running that
they're doing
but it's also common in other places
soccer football
track aerobics if you go to aerobic
classes often
weight lifting all are reasons that are
going to cause that muscle to be
overworked and overused and result in
these shin splint type
problems now luckily there's a lot of
really great exercises that are going to
help you out of some of this pain that
you're experiencing
however before i jump into those we need
to make one very important distinction
if you've had this pain for less than
two weeks you're dealing with
acute inflammation if that's the case
it's going to respond better to things
like rest
ice anti-inflammatory medications
and some of the gentle stretches that
i'm about to show you
if you've had it for more than two weeks
you need to be a little more aggressive
and include some massage in addition to
those stretches
and then supplement that with some
strengthening exercises that's exactly
what i'm going to show you in this video
let's get into those
right now the first thing we want to do
is start with some massage to that
tibialis anterior muscle
this is a great way to loosen the muscle
up warm it up
prior to some of the other activity that
we're doing and then also get some good
blood flow going in there to help to
promote healing
two ways that i like to massage you can
use your hands you can use your fingers
what you're going to do is just find the
inside part of your shin
and come up and down that area push in
there just as much as your pain
will allow that's a good way that we can
just work it over with some massage
i personally prefer the foam roller i
feel like that's a little bit more
effective and maybe a little easier to
get in there a little deeper
what you're going to do is get down in a
kneeling position with just that bad
shin up on top of the foam roller
and then we can use that to roll in
and out just like this it's actually
going to be a little more effective
if you point your toes inward what that
does is rolls your tibia to the outside
so that we can get right on that muscle
a little bit
more effectively and again you want to
go all the way
up and down the length of that muscle
you're going to spend
about a minute doing that now for this
i prefer a medium density foam roller
not one of those really hard rigid high
density foam rollers
this is actually the one that i have at
my house this is the one that i have in
my clinic
if you're interested in a good medium
density foam roller check the
description down below
and that's where you can find the link
to this one but again we're going to
spend
about a minute doing that doing that
massage just trying to
loosen that area up get some good blood
flow into that spot
next we want to follow that up with some
stretching
the simplest way to stretch is seated
with your legs out in front of you and
then i'm just going to pull my legs down
in this direction
you should feel a good stretch along the
top
part of your shin if you're very acutely
inflamed meaning there's a lot of pain
in that area
this may be enough for you this is a
very simple stretch
you would hold that for about 20 seconds
and then you would repeat that
three times now if this is too simple
you don't feel a very good stretch with
this
the next more aggressive stretch that i
like
would be an upward facing dog and so
you're going to lay down on your stomach
make sure that your toes are pointed so
the tops of your feet are down on the
floor
and then what we're going to do is press
up into this position
with your hands now obviously there's a
little more upper body and core strength
require
required with this one but it's a great
way that you can
put a little more stress on that
anterior tibialis
stretch it out a little more effectively
again 20 seconds
three times is what we would shoot for
with that now
if you're looking for the next level
something even a little bit more
aggressive
my personal favorite stretch would be
kneeling just like this
on the on your heels again the tops of
my feet are down
flat so pulling my ankle into what would
be a plantar flexion motion
in order to stretch that top side of my
shin right there
you're going to hold that for 20 seconds
you're going to repeat it three times
now you can see that this is a little
bit more aggressive i can put a little
more weight
on my heels but it does also require a
greater degree of range of motion in my
knees
a lot of times if people do have knee
pain as well as that shin splint pain
they're not going to tolerate this very
well and so a good substitute here would
be to do this
actually standing up you can kind of
drag one
toe back behind you and then as you push
your hip and push your thigh
forward you're going to introduce a
stretch into that tibialis anterior
muscle
now again it's not quite as aggressive
as this one
but if you do have some knee pain going
on or any other issues
that one is typically a little bit
better tolerated so those are the
stretches that i like
let's show you some ways that you can
strengthen that muscle
now i mentioned in the introduction to
this video that anterior
tibialis is responsible for pulling your
foot up in this direction
that's the motion that we want to make
strong in order to
treat and eventually eliminate this pain
the simplest way to start is just with
some toe taps i like to do these seated
all you're going to do is lift your toe
up and down just trying to get some
active range of motion just some
activity
into that muscle get it used to firing
and hopefully work it out of some pain
i would start with about three sets of
10 to 15 and you can work up to about
three sets of 30.
by the time you're doing about 90 of
these it's time to add some resistance
to that motion
the simplest way to do that is with some
bands so you'll see that i've got
all kinds of bands here i've got tubing
i've got these bigger ones i've got
these smaller loops
these smaller loops are my favorite but
let me show you how to do this with some
of these more
common things that you might have
available a lot of people have this
tubing what you're going to do
is just hold both the ends in one hand
you're going to loop that around your
foot
so right now if i was treating my right
side i've got that looped around
around my right foot in my left hand i'm
going to pull those tails
out to the side now with my left foot
what i can do is just step
on the top of that band and that's going
to be my anchor point now what i want to
do
is pull up with my toes use that
anterior tibialis muscle right there
to pull my toes up towards me all of a
sudden now
i have a little bit of resistance
pushing me down
to demonstrate that with the smaller
loop again that's going to fit a little
more comfortably around your foot
pull it out to the side step on it with
your other foot
and now you can use that to pull up in
this direction
about 10 to 15 repetitions as a number
as a good number to shoot for
and you're going to repeat that three
times if you're interested in some of
these loops this is a great addition to
a home gym
they're inexpensive they take up no room
and there's a lot that you can do with
them
once again i'll link to these in the
description down below
this last exercise is my personal
favorite it's a little more functional
it's a little more aggressive
that's also the one that you're going to
get the most awkward looks the more that
you do it especially if you do it in
public
we're going to walk around on our heels
basically what i want to do
is pull my toes up off of the floor and
then as i walk around
do not let your toes hit the floor take
you know 10
15 20 feet whatever you have available
and then we're just going to keep those
toes
up off of the floor the goal is to do
this for
time meaning i would set a 30 second
timer initially
and try to go for the 30 seconds when
that becomes easy go for 60 seconds
90 seconds up to about two minutes worth
now please keep in mind
that this is a little more aggressive it
looks simple kind of looks a little
silly
but it's a little bit more aggressive
you're definitely going to feel those
this in those anterior tibialis muscles
if it does start to hurt if it does
start to cause pain
that's your indication that you need to
be done with this exercise
for that time so i hope you guys found
these helpful hope you found them useful
of course if you did
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