Shin Splints

madbabe(",)

Hey i'm not sure if this is the right place for this but anyway!
I'm a fairly serious dancer and i do 12 hours training plus extra practise a week. before christmas my shins started to hurt when i jumped after talking to my teacher today she thinks i've shin splints she suggested ice because i can't stop training because i've a competition a master class and 2 exams very soon.

Does anyone have any ideas of what my help quickly? i need it to start working as soon as possible because the master class is in a week!

Stark

I think you're going to need a week's rest no matter what you do.

There are different kinds of shin splints but the treatment is generally ice, stretching, and strengthening of the muscles in a low-impact manner. If you have stress fractures then it's doubly important to rest as you don't want to develop a full fracture. Don't take anti-imflammatory painkillers if it's stress fractures.

Superdub2

if the shin splints are serious they cud be down to fallen arches which can only be combatted in the long term with Oerthotics or an operation if that doesnt work.

Id advise goin to the physio

madbabe(",)

its not fallen arches i have very strong high arches. how wilL i know if its a stress fracture?

Sonderval

I'm no doctor (lol) but it strikes me that if you have the same pain in both legs, its not a fracture.

As advised, low impact excersizes & ice are good solutions.

Rogueish

First of all best of luck with the competition, the masterclass and your exams.

It sounds like you may have posterior shin splints or posterior tibial stress syndrome as it can also be called. They hurt like hell especially when warming up, not so bad once you are fully warmed up and hurt like hell once you have cooled down again. Stress fractures are painful throughout any high impact activity - the pain doesn't ease once you are warmed up.

You said that it happened before Christmas after jumping up, what way did you land (slam dunk on the floor, properly or did you fall?)? Had you been having any stiffness in the shins prior to this? Shin splints usually have an insidious onset. Had you upped your training/practice considerably in the weeks/days prior to the incident.

You say that you have very strong high arches. This may seem like a good advantage but as flat feet or fallen arches can cause problems so can high arches. If this is the case and as you are a dancer this needs a specialist opinion of a trained orthosist who specialises in feet.

In the mean time get yourself to a doctor they will probably send you for an x-ray to check for a stress fracture (a bone scan is better as stress fractures are quite often missed on an x-ray). They may also prescribe some anti-inflammatory medication which will decrease the pain and swelling which are associated with shin pain. This may be enough to get you through your master class but NOT a long term solution.

I realise that you may not be able to stop training but can you decrease the number of hours of extra practice that you are doing for the next week or so? Try to get heat into your shins prior to training e.g. a heat pack (moist heat if possible) and ice them down immediately after. A good trick is get yourself a styrofoam cup fill it with water and freeze it. When it is frozen peel about an inch off the top of it and run the ice up and down your shins for ten minutes. Keep the ice moving at all times - I've found it twice as effective as any ice pack. Then refreeze for next time.

In the mean time stretch your calf muscles especially the deep Soleus, your peroneals and tibial muscles. Hold each stretch for 25-30 seconds reapeating each stretch 3-5 times.

Find time to get yourself to a professional experienced therapist who has had practical experience in working with Dancers. They will be able to check you out for a possible muscle imbalance and advise on any necessary rehabilitation therapy that you might need to stop the problem reoccuring.

I hope that the above is helpful to you once again good luck. Let me know if I can be of any more help.

P.S. Sonderval it is possible to have bi-lateral stress fractures especially in dancers

Sonderval

Cool - thank god I'm no doctor so !

youcancallmeal

I used to have terrible shin splints. Even though you couldn't see it when I was walking or running my right foot is a few mm shorter than my left and this was the cause of my shin splints. Basically I wasn't walking properly because I was overcompensating with my right foot and this caused undue stress all round. I had to get orthotic inserts for my runners/shoes. Took ages for me to adjust to them but well worth it in the end. Unfortunately there is no real quick fix for shin splints and 'playing' through the pain will do untold damage in the long term.