Shin splints is a term that describes pain along the front lower part of your leg, and sometimes down the sides of the calf. It usually happens when too much stress is put on the bones in your legs when exercising. If the problem isn’t dealt with, it can cause a lot of pain and make it impossible to continue with your workout routine. The good news is, there are a few simple measures you can take to prevent it. Here’s how to avoid shin splints when exercising.

Take Supplements For Your Bones

In order to prevent shin splints, you need strong bones in your legs that are capable of bearing the weight of even a rigorous workout. Taking bone strengthening supplements gives you all of the vitamins and nutrients you need to grow healthy bones. Not only will this help you avoid shin splints, but it will also improve your overall health and prevent fractures and breaks.

Wear The Right Shoes

The shoes you wear for your workout have a direct effect on how likely it is that you will experience shin splints. Make sure the shoe has enough cushioning and support- a good rule of thumb is to look for one with a shock absorbing heel. It’s also important that your foot isn’t impeded by being too small or too large, so be sure to fit them right.

Strengthen Your Leg Muscles

Strong leg muscles are the key to preventing many injuries. When your leg muscles aren’t up to par, they can overwork themselves when you exercise and cause all kinds of different problems. If the muscles are weak, the bones absorb the majority of the impact and that’s when you will experience issues with shin splints. It’s important that you make sure your legs are strong enough for any type of workout that you want to do- if not, consider adding some exercises specifically designed to strengthen your leg muscles.

This is particularly important if you do a lot of high-impact cardio exercises like running, without doing any strength exercises. You need a good balance of strength and cardio workouts if you want your body to be healthy.

Take Rest Days

If you work out every day, sometimes even one workout too many can lead to shin splints. That doesn’t mean that you have to stop exercising all together; just be aware of your limits and take a rest day once in a while. The most important thing is that you listen to your body. If you notice any pain or fatigue, that’s your body telling you that you have been pushing it too hard and you need to take a day off. Everybody is different so there are no direct rules about rest days, but it’s a good idea to have at least one or two days off per week.

Shin splints can be incredibly difficult to deal with if you don’t take measures to prevent them. In some cases, you will be unable to exercise at all because the pain is so bad. However, you can avoid them if you just follow the precautions listed above.