Your Sport >> Triathlon > Shin Splints

Shin pain is a common complaint among triathletes, athletes generally feel the pain during the running leg of a race. Pain is frequently felt hours after a race and can be an ongoing problem if not treated early.

Presentation of condition:
Localised tenderness at the middle 1/3  of the inner aspect of the Tibia (shin bone). Pain may be felt when running and/or only after a run, plus on resisted plantar flexion when assessing strength of the soleus muscle.

Treatment of condition:
-Reduce or eliminate aggravating activity
-Assess foot wear, foot biomechanics and running technique

Pain management:
-ice/heat
-Physical agents; TENS, Q magnets

Manual therapy
-Superficial massage with antiflammatory
-Ultrasound
-Soft tissue work to reduce tension of surrounding muscles; trigger point therapy, Deep tissue massage
-Progressive strengthening programme
-Stretching

Q magnet placement:

For more detailed information, see the How to use magnetic therapy for shin splints post.

The Q magnet treatment protocol for Shin Splints is to place them directly over the tibia (shin bone) where the muscle (tibialis anterior) attaches to the bone. Use one or two devices over the painful area/s. Keep at least two finger widths between each device and ensure that the directional arrows are aligned and pointing up toward the head.

For a more intense treatment use Q magnets in conjunction with TENS. Simply use the TENS as normal and place the Q magnet over the TENS pads which should be positioned in the same place as the Q magnet recommendations.

What to expect?
Q magnet placement should assist with a reduction in pain, reduced inflammation and increased blood flow. This combination will speed up the recovery process with rest. A noticeable reduction in pain should be felt within 24 hours and sometimes almost immediately. Wearing Q magnet devices should allow you to be much more comfortable and active during the rehab/recovery stages

Note:

These are recommendations from neurologists and physiotherapists who have used Q magnets extensively in a clinical setting. See the Q magnets products page for a description of each device, including the sizes and penetration depths.

It is important to get the right dose of magnetic field to the target tissue, otherwise there will be little or no effect. This may require using the information supplied with your order and on this website with a bit of trial and error to achieve the optimal placement. The best results are usually achieved by seeing an appropriately trained health professional such as a doctor or physiotherapist using their own clinical reasoning and neural anatomy to find the most effective placements.

As a general rule, the larger devices such as the QF28-6 and QF28-3 should be used centrally over the spine and over the larger deeper nerves such as the sciatic nerve, the smaller Q magnets such as the QF20-3 and QF15-2 should be used peripherally over areas such as the elbow and wrist and the smallest models QF10-2, Q6-1.5 used on trigger points. With each pain episode, you may require a larger Q magnet and as the pain diminishes substitute with a smaller device to maintain your pain free state.

The smaller devices such as the QF20-2 have a lower profile, hence may be more comfortable for daily use. The Q6-1.5 is very small and only requires a small round plaster to apply it to the body, hence it is very comfortable and inconspicuous to wear, but has a shallow penetration and a very small active surface area and is unlikely to be effective over the lower back or neck or the larger joints such as the hip, knee, shoulder, ankle and elbow.

The largest Q magnet, the OF50-3 has the advantage of covering a larger active surface area (the active surface area of the Q magnet is the boundary line between the alternating poles, this is where the magnetic field gradient is at its steepest) and penetrates to around 35mm or 1.4'. Whereas the QF28-6 and QF28-3 models cannot cover two adjacent spinal levels such as L4/5 and L5/S1 since they have to be separated by an inch or 2.5cm, the OF50-3 can cover two adjacent levels which can make all the difference if required.