Taping for Pronation

I've complained before (Ok... I've complained A LOT!)

 about my shin splints, but I've finally gotten them under control. I read and googled and asked around for weeks or months about what to do. I took time off, I iced, I stretched.... Nothing was helping.

I read more about what was causing them... pronation. My ankle rolls in because my arch is falling.....Great, right!?! Such wonderful news! I don't have the money for fancy orthotics, appointments with specialists or even new shoes with more stability at this point, so I read into my other options....

That's when I found THIS!



I've taped like this for the past few days and my leg is PAIN FREE! I cannot believe the difference it makes. I ran a full 5 miles on Sunday without any shin pain and 6 miles on Wednesday. (I know, that was a big jump in distance from Sunday to Wednesday, but I was having a great run and didn't want to stop!) It feels so good when it's taped, that I hate taking it off! I know this cannot be a full-time fix, but until I can get new shoes, I think I have solved my problem.

I can tell that the pronation has caused other muscles to do the work (thus, creating the pulling and pain in my shin) and that the correct muscles haven't been built up the way that they need. My calves/shins feel so tight when I run and seem to tire quickly. I'm hoping this goes away soon. I love that I can run again with limping and hobbling around!

The first few times, I was using really think foam white sport wrap that my husband had leftover from college or something. It was actually about 2 1/2- 3 inches in width so I was cutting the length I needed and then cutting it in half width wise. I was getting low on that roll, so I went to both Wal-Mart and CVS and could only find 3M sport wrap waterproof stuff. It's a little shy of an inch wide and is much thinner (it's skin colored). I can tell it's not as tough and strong, but it's doing the job. I liked that the old stuff I was using was sticky enough that I could use the same piece 2 or 3 times, but the new stuff can only be used once.

If you have shin splints from pronation, I suggest you try taping before more expensive techniques. Let me know if it helps you!
Until next time...

Krista