Video: Exercises to Prevent Shin Splints

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Shin splints are an imbalance in the muscles that pull the foot up and point the toe down, and exercises that help prevent shin splints are those in which these muscles are pushing and pulling against resistance. Find out how to improve running form to avoid shin splints with help from a certified personal trainer in this free video on preventing shin splints.

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Video Transcript

Hi my name is Tanya Batts and I'm a personal trainer with Gold's Gym. I'm just going to show you a few exercises that will help prevent shin splints. Basically what shin splints are is an imbalance in the muscles which pull the foot up and point the toe down. So when you get a shin splint you're getting in that anterior tibialis muscle right here. So I'm going to show you an exercise that will strengthen that muscle. Kind of a hard area to work but this is a great and simple exercise to help do it. You just want to place a ball, any ball, and I'm pushing and adding resistance. I'm pulling my foot against the ball. So I'm pulling it and then lowering it down. That is strengthening the shin muscle. So just do it like ten times on one leg then switch it and do it ten times on the other. So we've got to work the other muscle, the calf. So a great thing to do is grab a step, it's actually a great idea to grab two hand weights when you do this as well. And all you want to do, lift and lower. Kind of called heel dips and that's just going to strengthen, fell free to hold on to something when you do it, it's going to strengthen those calf muscles. Another thing that is a really great idea to help prevent shin splints. It's your stride. So if you're a runner you really, when you run, you really don't want to push that foot way in front of you. I'm showing you slow motion. You really want a short stride in the front and longer in the back. So when you run you want it short and long in the back. Yes I look ridiculous. But it really helps when preventing those shin splints. So those are just a few exercises you can do. So we take your stride, strengthen you calf, strengthen your anterior tibialis muscle. You're not going to have anymore problems with shin splints.

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Exercises to Prevent Shin Splints

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