Is skating advisable with shin splint?

Question

Hi doctor,

I am sidelined from running with shin splints right now. I will be foam rolling and stretching for the next couple of weeks. I was wondering if cross straining with skating would help or exacerbate the issue?

My initial thought was that skating has a lower impact than running but still requires heavy use of shin muscles, or stabilizing muscles. In turn, I thought that it would help me prevent shin splints while running by strengthening those muscles.

There do not seem to be any research articles on skating shin splints, but I have read reports of strong shin pain from that exercise. Along with the lack of research articles, there are conflicting accounts on various skating forums. Some report shin pain that would not go away no matter what they tried. Some say that the pain probably is not shin splints, but just muscle soreness. I would really appreciate an experts opinion on this.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have understood your concern about shin splint pain. See commonly any sportspersons who engage in vigorous training like skating and all, they will be getting more shin pain because it involves more front muscles of lower legs. For training and sports performance, you need both strengthening as well as stretching exercises if your flexibility of lower legs muscles are less, then also shin pain may arise.

My suggestion is to go for maximum warm up exercise before actual exercises and physiotherapy treatment will be most effective in relieving shin pain like ultrasound and IFT (interferential therapy) which will help you to come out of this pain. Physiotherapist will guide you on how to strengthen the muscles also.

I hope this helps.