Dr Drew says..

I've never experienced this before, despite having been a regular gym bunny for the last 6-7 years (okok with a 2 year hiatus in between). So when I casually mentioned to the BF last evening with American Idol blaring in the background that my shins were hurting.. Dr Drew immediately diagnosed it as "shin splints". Hmm this is new to me. So to Google I consult. The term "shin splints" refers to pain and tenderness along or just behind the inner edge of the tibia, the large bone in the lower leg. A formal medical term for the condition is medial tibial syndrome. Shin splints are classified as members of the group of injuries called "overuse injuries". The overuse or aggresive use is caused by the overstraining of the muscles that are attached to the tibia. As a result of the tibia being overstrained muscles are torn off the bone and it can easily put any athlete out of activity for a certain period of time. The pain feels like a bruise and is only felt when I run my fingers down the tibia. It hurt at the beginning of the gym class as I was doing jumps on the riser, but didn't hurt anymore as the class progressed. Certain factors seem to contribute to shin splints. The condition commonly affects runners, aerobic dancers, and people in the military. Shin splints often develop after sudden changes in physical activity, such as running longer distances or on hills, or increasing the number of days you exercise each week. Flat feet are another factor that can contribute to increased stress on the lower leg muscles during exercising. Hmmm that must be it then. I've been trying to commit myself to a 5-day week gym regime for a few weeks now, and although not every work-out is a high-intensity group session - I alternate between the elliptical machine and a gym class that combines cardio and resistance training or just the latter, the stress on the lower legs from all the jumping/ landing, fancy legwork and impact training has certainly taken its toll. Now I'm going to try to warm-up, cool-down and stretch a lot more seriously. Shin splints go away!