Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and today
I'm going to show you some exercises and
stretches on how to relieve anterior
shin splints. So let's get started.
Before we get started a lot of people comment
on my socks, and the folks at
dollarsocksbox.com sent me a whole lot of
cool socks that you can see are
protecting my shins, and so keep an eye
on the socks. So to get started, I'm going
to show you on the model where the
anterior tibialis muscles are because
that's where the shin splints happen. And
if you can see right here on top of that
shin bone, or the tibial bone, is the
anterior tibialis muscle, and it goes
right along there, so when you have that
pain, you usually feel it right there and
sometimes people say it feels like bone
pain because there's a lot of pressure
in that area, so you want to stretch and
strengthen all those muscles, even the
calves on the back. The first stretch is
going to be a calf stretch. I like to
prop up my foot so my heel can move
easily. That helps you get a better
stretch, so if you don't have a role or
something to prop it on, you can prop it
off of the edge of something. Take a
strap. If you don't have a strap you can
use a belt or a towel or even a dog
leash if you have a dog, and put it
around the ball of the foot. You want to
relax your foot, and then pull towards
you. So you're not actively moving the
foot, you're passively pulling it towards
you until you feel a stretch underneath
those calf muscles on the bottom there.
And hold that stretch for about 30
seconds and then after the 30 seconds
relax and do a total of three times. So
just pulling it towards you, you want
that stretch to be tension, slightly
uncomfortable, but not painful. So if it's
painful when you're pulling, take off
that pressure just a little bit. After
you're done stretching the calves, you're
going to roll over and stretch the
anterior tibialis muscle. So I like to do
an upward dog stretch for that, so
rolling over, putting your feet
down on the ground, and if you turn them
in slightly, that helps get that anterior
tibialis. And then put a lot of the
weight on the back and then arch your
body up holding that stretch if you can
for about 30 seconds. If your arms get
tired, you can do 5 sets of 15 verses 3
sets of 30. Then you can take a foam roll,
if you don't have a big foam roll you
can just take a pool noodle and cut it
up so 99 cents from any local store, and
then you're going to roll out that shin
area. So kind of on the outside just
place it starting up at the knee and
then just roll downwards all along that
shin area and all along that anterior
tibialis muscle. So you want to push
firmly, but again you don't want it to be
so painful that you can't tolerate it, so
if you have shin splints this is
probably going to be pretty sore, so you
might want to start off just lightly
rolling it and then after you start
loosening it up, then you can start
putting a little more pressure on it. Alright,
now we're going to roll over and
do some strengthening exercises. So now
taking a resistive band, start off pretty
light the yellow in the thera-band
series is the lightest one, so again put
it around the ball of your foot because
if you put it too low, you're not going
to get that exercise, and if you put it
too high, it might slip off and hit you
in the face. Try and get it around the
ball of your foot area. I like to prop it
up again so the heel is free to move. If
you don't then it's kind of hard to push
down, but with this one just taking it
and pushing as far as you comfortably
can, and control it back up. If you feel
like when you're coming back up its kind
of wiggling like that, that's probably
too much tension on the band, so either
let it up a little bit so it's not as
resistive, or maybe even just start off
doing these without the band at all
because you want to be nice and
controlled while you're doing it.
Just start off with about 10 of these,
probably two sets of ten, and then if
those become easy, you can start working
your way up he hit 20-25, and if it's really
easy, then you can go up to the next
stronger band. The next one is going to
be going the other way into dorsiflexion,
so this time you have to anchor it on
something and you want it to be
something solid, or if you've got somebody
at home, they can just hold on to it the
other side. So now is anchored where the
resistance is coming that way, and this
time just pull your foot up towards you
and then slowly come back down. And this
is really working that anterior area so
again if it feels painful, either take
the tension off or try it some without
the band at all, but once it becomes easy,
then you can start working your way up,
but make sure it's that controlled
motion, not just going up and down really
fast, but controlling that band. Alright,
now we're going to finish with some
standing up exercises. The next exercise
is just a toe drag. You want to place
your toes downwards onto the floor, and
turn your foot in slightly, and then just
drag forward, and that works those
muscles right there that anterior
anterior tibialis muscle. Just dragging
through. If you have some balance issues,
make sure you're holding on to a
countertop or a sturdy chair while you
do it, but you're just dragging it
through, and again if those are irritated,
you're going to really really feel that,
so just use as much pressure where you
feel tension but it's comfortable. So you
might have to start off just really
lightly, and then you can start getting
more pressure on there as it gets better.
The next ones are just going to be
walking on your toes and then walking on
your heels, so just a simple up on the
toes walking back and forth, and you can
go about 10 or 15 feet and then walking
on your heels. And same thing, just start
off with about 10 or 15 feet, and that's
really going to work those muscles in
the front and the back. Those were your
stretches and exercises to help relieve
anterior shin splints. Thanks again to
dollarsocksbox.com
for donating all of the socks. Leave
in the comments which one is your
favorite, and if you want to help us
continue to make awesome videos, make
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Remember be safe, have fun, and I hope you
feel better soon.