Re: shin splints
Shin Splints are almost 100% weight related.
Simply not true.
I had them 25 years ago, when pre-training, for the Military. I was well below average weight. My teenage niece got them, starting track and she is pencil-thin.
Shin splints it seems, like nearly every other ailment, went from a relatively simple problem, to something akin to cancer. It even received a new name. Tibial stress syndrome (or TSS). Everything needs to be complicated. I remember reading about them, in a 1960 sports training book. They just called them shin splints.
The problem is usally pretty basic for shin splints. Since birth, calf muscle tissue has grown around and attached to the tibia, with many, many very small fibers. A quick jog or normal walking, thoughout one's life, puts little stress on these fibers, so there is no pain.
When you start running longer, or start any leg movement activity, where the leg movement is different than normal, the calf muscle works more, in different directions and starts to tear some of these little fibers away from the tibia. That's where the pain to the "shins" comes from. Keep working the muscles too hard and the pain (and damage) will get worse quickly.
If you take it easy, rest and ice, the fibers that are torn, will "heal", but they won't re-attach to the tibia, which is good, because you don't want them to re-attach, if you are going to continue whatever activity is causing the tears. Over time, the occurrance of shin splints should get less and less and then go away for good.
I have horribly flat feet (almost did not make the USAF), used both cheap and expensive running shoes and stretched, warmed up before any activity. Had very painful shin splints at first. I'd stop and wait a day or two before running again. When the pain started, I'd stop and rest. the "splints" went away after a while and I have never had them again in 24 years, even when I skipped regular running for over 10 years.
Take it easy and you should be all right.
