Treating Shin Splints

Rehabilitation Exercises: Shin Splints

Start these exercises when your pain has decreased by about 25% from the time when your injury was most painful.

  1. TOWEL STRETCH
    Sit on a hard surface with your injured leg stretched out in front of you. Loop a towel around the ball of your foot and pull the towel toward your body keeping your knee straight. Hold this position for 20 seconds then relax. Repeat 3 times. Start using the standing calf stretch when you don't feel much of a stretch using the towel.
     
  2. STANDING CALF STRETCH
    Facing a wall, place your hands against the wall at about eye level. Keep the injured leg back, the uninjured leg for­ward, and the heel of your injured leg on the floor. Turn your injured foot slightly inward (as if you were pigeon-toed) as you slowly lean into the wall until you feel a stretch in the back of your calf. Hold for 20 seconds. Repeat 3 times, several times each day.
     
  3. ANKLE RANGE OF MOTION
    Sitting or lying down with your legs straight and your knee toward the ceiling, move your ankle up and down, in and out, and in circles. Only move your ankle, not your leg. Repeat 10 times in each direction. Push hard in all directions.
     
  4. ANTERIOR COMPARTMENT STRETCH
    Stand with one hand against a wall or chair for balance. Bend your knee and grab the front of your foot on your injured leg. Bend the front of the foot toward your heel. You should feel a stretch in the front of your shin. Hold for 20 seconds. Repeat 3 times.
     
  5. RESISTED DORSIFLEXION
    Sit with your injured leg out straight and your foot facing a doorway.  Tie a loop in one end of the tubing. Put your foot through the loop so that the tubing goes around the arch of your foot. Tie a knot in the other end of the tubing and shut the knot in the door. Move backward until there is tension in the tubing. Keeping your knee straight, pull your foot toward your body, stretching the tubing. Slowly return to the starting position. Do 3 sets of 10.
     
  6. RESISTED PLANTAR FLEXION
    Sit with your leg outstretched and loop the middle section of the tubing around the ball of your foot. Hold the ends of the tubing in both hands. Gently press the ball of your foot down and point your toes, stretching the tubing. Return to the starting position. Do 3 sets of 10.
     
  7. RESISTED INVERSION
    Sit with your legs out straight and cross your uninjured leg over your injured ankle. Wrap the tubing around the ball of your injured foot and then loop it around your uninjured foot so that the tubing is anchored there at one end. Hold the other end of the tubing in your hand. Turn your injured foot inward and upward. This will stretch the tubing. Return to the starting position. Do 3 sets of 10.
     
  8. RESISTED EVERSION
    Sit with both legs stretched out in front of you, with your feet about a shoulder's width apart. Tie a loop in one end of the tubing. Put your injured foot through the loop so that the tubing goes around the arch of that foot and wraps around the outside of the uninjured foot. Hold onto the other end of the tubing.  With your hand to provide tension, turn your injured foot up and out. Make sure you keep your uninjured foot still so that it will allow the tubing to stretch as you move your injured foot. Return to the starting position. Do 3 sets of 10.   
     
  9. HEEL RAISES
    Balance yourself while standing behind a chair or counter. Raise your body up onto your toes and hold it for 5 seconds, then slowly lower yourself down. Repeat 10 times. Do 3 sets of 10.
     
  10. SITTING TOE RAISE
    Sit in a chair with your feet flat on floor. Raise the toes and the ball of your injured foot off the floor while keeping your heel on the floor. Hold for 5 seconds. Repeat 10 times. Do 3 sets of 10.
     
  11. STANDING TOE RAISE
    Stand with your feet flat on the floor, rock back onto your heels and lift your toes off the floor. Hold this for 5 seconds. Do 3 sets of 10.

Contact Cole Sports Chiropractic & Rehab at 540-242-4489 for an appointment with Dr. Joshua Cole, DC.

Injury Treatment Handouts

For your convenience, Cole Sports Chiropractic & Rehab has developed specific treatment handouts related to the following injuries: