Shin Splints, Anterolateral Shin Splint, Posteromedial Shin Splint

A shin splint is a painful condition that occurs from damage to muscles along the shin, and the pain can occur anywhere from just below the knee to above the ankle. The typical cause is continued, repeated stress to the lower leg, and is common in runners.

Shin splints may be caused by:
• An inexperienced runner just beginning to run (too much too fast).
• Running on side slopes (ie. banked tracks).
• Tight Calf Muscles, exerting extra force on shin muscles.
• A sudden change from soft to hard running surfaces.
• Poor or worn out footwear.
• Excessive uphill running.
• Poor running mechanics. This could include: heavy forward lean, excessive weight on the ball of the foot, running with toes pointed outward, landing too far back on the heels causing the foot to flap down, and overpronation. Of all of the possible causes, pronation (foot roll) is the most likely to be overlooked.

Anterolateral Shin Splints

Anterolateral shin splints affect muscles in the front and outside parts of the shin, and is the result of a natural imbalance in the size of opposing muscles. Shin muscles pull the foot up, whereas the large and powerful calf muscle pulls the foot down everytime the heel strikes the ground when running. These calf muscles can exert a lot of force, enough force that can actually injure the shin muscles. Anterolateral shin splints will cause pain in the front and outside of the shin. Initial pain is felt when the heel strikes the ground though eventually the pain just stays constant.

To allow this type of shin splint to heal, the person must stop running and do other kinds of exercise recommended by their doctor or physical therapist. Such exercises usually involve stretching the calf muscle, as tight calf muscles put a lot of pressure on the shin muscle and tendons. A constant regimen of ultrasound is commonly recommended to help massage the affected muscles and tendons, allowing them to heal more quickly and reduce inflammation and pain in the area. Treatment of the calf muscle with ultrasound will also help increase the flexibility of this muscle, thus indirectly reducing the average level of strain on the shin muscle and tendon group.

Posteromedial shin splints

Posteromedial shin splints affect muscles in the back and inner part of the lower leg. These muscle groups are responsible for lifting the heel to support the runners weight on the ball portion of the foot when running. This type of shin splint is often caused by running on a banked track or non-level running surface or wearing improper shoes that do not protect the foot from rolling (pronation). Pain begins on the inside of the lower leg (usually within 7 inches above the ankles), but will worsen and continue to rise up the leg. Initially, only tendons of the muscles will become inflamed, but if running continues, the muscles themselves could become affected. At the worst, the tendon could become detached from the bone - a painful occurrence that causes bleeding and excessive inflammation.

To allow a posteromedial shin splint to heal, the running must temporarily stop running and do other kinds of exercise recommended by their doctor or physical therapist. Special shoes may be prescribed during the healing phase, and it may be advisable to look into potential problems with pronation of the feet. This can often be solved by researching and using shoes that better prevent pronation and/or the avoidance of running on side slopes.

Tips on Tendinitis

The strained tendon is a common yet painful injury that will occur in almost everyone at least once in their lifetime. The trick with a strained tendon is to make sure it heals properly which will provide the lowest chance of reinjury. Reinjury of a strained or stressed tendon occurs more easily than the first time and there is usually much more inflammation around a reinjured tendon than there was during the first occurrence of the injury. Tendonitis is a degenerative condition in the tendon fibres that attach muscles to bone, and sufferers generally complain of a severe, burning pain in the area, which gradually worsens and is exacerbated by stress on the joint.

If you got it from a workout, heavily reduce your workout intensity (eliminate it altogether if possible) through the healing stage, and make sure the injured tendon be warmed up (and down) properly before and after a workout where it will be stressed. When treating tendinitis, rest the area, apply ice for 10-20 minutes at a time for at least 3 times a day. Do this to the injured area for the first day up to 3 days. Moist heat may be used after the acute swelling is improved and rest prevents further muscle injury. Ice will reduces initial inflammation and swelling and the moist heat circulates blood through the area to speed the healing process. This can be further helped by the use of ultrasound applications over the affected area, as it reduces swelling quickly and increases blood flow to the area. If the patient gradually starting flexing and mobilising the area, the muscle would probably heal very well.

However, this is not what typical person does; they may ice once or twice and rest a bit, but most often just take some pain relief pills and continue to commence their activities. If the strain was minor, their body may be able to heal the muscle fibers normally. Unfortunately, this is not the usual result because the injured muscle is being used instead of rested. Because of the stress on the muscle, their body heals the injured muscle fibers by binding them together with fibrotic adhesions or scar tissue. This is done in an attempt to prevent further damage to the injured area and is a normal protective response of their body.

To prevent scar tissue buildup the patient should apply ultrasound treatment on the area up to three times daily (ask your doctor!). Ultrasonic energy will naturally "work" the tendon, increasing its flexibily while softening and breaking down scar tissue - which is not something you want in your tendon. Scar tissue is inflexible (non-elastic), and can quickly lead to reinjury of the tendon later down the road. If you choose to use steriod injections or are using steriod injections, do NOT treat the area with ultrasound until 30 days after the last injection. Steriod injections break down the tissue in the treated area in an attempt to get it to re-heal properly. Applying ultrasound over areas injected with steriods may increase the damage and can potentially tear the tendon.

The trick to any tendon injury is getting it to heal with minimal scar tissue formation and with as much realignment of tendon fibres as possible - something Ultrasound is great at! Even with optimum healing there is always less elasticity in a previously injured tendon. The trick is to make sure you heal this the best you can, that way your chance of reinjury down the road is much lower than average - which is well over 50%.

Therapeutic Products

Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy

You can help your body repair your plantar fasciitis, heel spur, arch pain or tendon injury by boosting the natural healing process using an Inferno Wrap™. The Inferno Wrap's patented design delivers the most effective Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy you can find. By stimulating the flow of blood to your foot you are increasing the amount of healing oxygen and nutrients to the area. Unfortunately, we need to rest in order to heal and this decreases the blood flow throughout our bodies. Since you can't work your foot without danger of further injury, you need to stimulate the blood flow another way. Our innovative Inferno Wrap™ gives you the best Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy available. The Inferno Wrap™ creates energy waves that stimulate blood flow while you rest by penetrating through the outer layers of your foot. The energy waves reach deep into your foot reducing your pain as they heal the inner tissue.

The Inferno Wrap™ provides effective, non-invasive, non-addictive pain relief with no side effects. By treating your heel spur or plantar fascia in the morning before stepping out of bed, you will warm the area and prepare it for use during the day with less risk on re-injury. When your injury has healed somewhat and it comes time for more aggressive rehabilitation, stretching and activity, Blood Flow Stimultation Therapy warms the tissues in the injured area which increases range of motion and allows for a safer stretch with less risk of reinjury.

Therapeutic Ultrasound

Ultrasound Therapy is also a great tool for pain prevention of heel spurs, plantar fasciitis and tendon injuries, and having a therapeutic ultrasound device at home can be a powerful and convenient treatment tool. If you are suffering from a heel spur or have an injured plantar fascia or are recovering from a tendon injury, using ultrasound on a regular basis before your activity or throughout the day will help relax the area, diminish pain and inflammation, soften scar tissue and contribute greatly to the healing of your injury.

Therapeutic Ultrasound warms and massages your soft tissue giving you three primary benefits. First, it increases blood flow in the treated area which speeds your body's natural healing process. Second, it reduces swelling and edema which are the main sources of pain. Third, ultrasound softens existing scar tissue and minimizes the build up of new scar tissue resulting in reduced pain while healing and greater flexibility once healing is complete.

Eucalyptus...
It's in our Gel!

Ultrasound can also be used to administer therapeutic medicines into the body. This is a process known as phonophoresis. Ultrasound with Phonophoresis is rapidly becoming more popular than Ultrasound Therapy alone.

Peppermint...
It's in our gel too!

Our MendMeShop Lavender Infusion Gel is the only topical therapeutic gel that is also a Phonophoretic Ultrasound Gel. It is made with natural medical ingredients including eucalyptus, peppermint, Bulgarian lavender and menthol. These effective ingredients have anesthetic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, decongestant, and circulatory stimulant properties. When applied topically and massaged into the skin, MendMeShop Lavender Infusion Gel relieves pain and speeds healing without any side-effects.

Freezie Wrap™ Cold Compression Therapy

Our cold compression wraps work by interrupting and slowing nerve and cell function in your foot. Once blood vessels are damaged they can no longer carry oxygenated blood to the damaged tissue and therefore cells begin to break-down. The deep cold provided by our cold compression wraps slows cell function thereby reducing cellular break-down. Furthermore, because the cold wraps serve to numb the nerves, the wraps also reduce pain!

With the non-migrating gel that holds the cold for your cold therapy, our Freezie Wraps are the best. We have noticed over time that our customers are so fond of our cold wraps that they are frequently coming back and ordering a second one - this way they can cool one while wearing the other. The wraps are becoming very popular with baseball and soccer trainers, and the wraps can be conveniently stored in a cooler for quick application on the field when needed.

Always allow the injured area to return to normal body temperature between hot and cold treatments by waiting 60-90 minutes before applying a different therapy.