hey guys

I was wondering suggestions for suggestions of exercise....I have bad shin splints, and in the past have had to worry about forming stress fractures because they get so bad. I had been walking an hour a day or jogging 30 min and mixing the jogging/running to every other day but the shin splints are getting bad again. I wear insoles and stretch before and after, and ice, but it doesn't help much. Does anyone have suggestions for some type of exercise I can try?

Do you have access to a pool? Swimming could answer your needs while the shin splints heal, or perhaps a bike; riding could do a good part of the needed exerecise without further straining your shins. Have you consulted a sports doctor? one who is geared to dealing with athletic injuries, it might be useful to try one. You could go to someof the exercise sites online and ask some of their experts. I have noted in passing it seems to be a fairly common problem. You may discover you will only be able to jog or run on a treadmill in future as this was one persons solution. Or maybe you should consider cross training, do jogging 2x week and some other type of exercise the other days. It has been proven that the benefits of walking are as good as jogging. Would switching to walking exacerbate the shin splints? or would it help. First get them healed and do more research meanwhile. try some areobic tapes at home or in a gym.

Hope this was of some help. My problems are quite the oppisite. I have bad knees and am so limited in what i can do; shin splints are not even a vague possibility for me. I do wish you well.

O2BN....Copenhagen
peace,
walkin2bfit

Shin splints can definitely lead to fractures. There are a variety of causes of shin splints: not warming up properly, doing too much too soon, your stride being too long, not cooling down, not stretching, weak muscles. There are a couple of good sites that have information: coolrunning, exrx.net, thewalkingsite, etc.

I agree that walking is an excellent exercise and certainly doesn't impact your feet and legs the way running does. I also like to use dvds a few times a week, too.