Written By Caity
This year my boyfriend and I decided to train for our first ever marathon.
Well, I may have persuaded him a little (a lot).
We are both Physios and have run a few half marathons, and a City to Surf together.
Naturally, I thought, what could go wrong?
This week we have reached a milestone, 5 weeks to go. We are almost at Taper Weeks (in English – this means we reduce our running distances), and guess what?
I picked up an injury.
Shin splints.
Most people know it as an injury that causes pain at the front or side of the shin bone. It’s caused by tight muscles pulling at the bone (periosteum).
So like any runner, I thought why me?! What did I do wrong?
Great, I’m not alone!
But why me? Well, it’s embarrassing for a Physio to admit but I didn’t do my exercises! I needed to stretch, and strengthen more.
I guess we are all guilty of not doing our exercises. We are all human.
Here are some of the things I’m doing now, that are really helping me, and could help you.
After all, it doesn’t really matter what you didn’t do or could have done…
it just matters what you do about it now!!
- Calf stretches
Straight leg 60 seconds
Bent knee 60 seconds
- Inner Arch raises
Start in seated, then standing, and eventually single leg. Try to lift the inside arch of your foot without taking the big toe off the ground.
- Eccentric calf raise
Off the edge of a step, slowly lower the heel down, then push off the toes to lift the heel as high as you can.
- Toe extension
Tuck your toes under, and sit back on your heels. Rock back and forward 20x, then hold for 30-60 seconds.
Written by Caity Daley, our running physiotherapist at Transcend Health. If you have a running injury and need a physio, give us a call on 4961 3399