ow shin splints

you gotta stay away from running, I'd say atleast a week. Stay away from jumping rope too, if you want to keep up cardio bike or swim. I don't know what anti-inflam(sp?) are out OTC, but Piroxicam, Motrin, and Naproxen seemed to work pretty good. just follow dosage instructions and take em with food or milk. I don't remember the exact dosages for all of them, but I know you can take 800mg of Motrin(Ibprofen) per dose 3 times a day.

word.

Shoes help out a lot, but you do have to exercise the front calf muscle. It's really over looked, if you look at runners they half that front calf just poking out there. A good way to exercise it is to put a weight on it like an ankle weight and point your toe down and point your toe up keeping your leg stiff. simple, but it works. You should feel better after taking a break from running and doing this exercise.

I just spoke with my friend who is a MD and have his fellowship in sports medicine. He said the cause is really unknow, but as everyone has stated the most important things to do is to: get good shoes, decrease the amount you are running or jumping for 2-3 weeks, ICE,ICE,ICE, and anti inflammatories. ( like advil,or even aleve). Hope this helps

Rid

Hot baths are bad. A shin splint is actually the sheath around your bone swelling. Swelling comes from heat. Swelling+heat=more swelling. More swelling=more pain. Ice and anti-inflammatorys are your best solution. To prevent them, stretch out that muscle by pointing and flexing your feet before running. That will stretch out those shin muscles and prevent them from getting irritated and swelling. It's a pilates trick I learned on a drumline :D .
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There's actually a "shin buster" workout we learned doing pilates as well thats great for preventing shin splints. You lay on your back, left foot planted by your tailbone, right leg held bend by both arms. Start flexing and pointing your ankle 16 times each (16 points 16 flexes). Then draw big circles with your big toe clockwise and counterclockwise. Then extend your right leg (the one you were holding) while flexing the ankle. Then bend it back down towards your butt (not moving your thigh, so it's strictly a knee bend) while pointing as hard as physically possible. Then re-extend while flexing, and bend while pointing. Keep repeating for 8 of each. Then flex up (leg should be straight up in the air) and flex as hard as possible. (You can hold your thigh to help keep it in the air). Start again with the point flex ankle routine like when your leg was bent. Then do the ankle circles again. Your shins should burn really bad by now, but I promise it'll help prevent those shin splints. I wouldn't recommend doing this with shin splints, you might die.

I know that was really confusing, if anyone has questions, just PM me. I'll try to make a video of me doing it so you can see it.