Shin Bang and Stress Fractures?

joshua

joshua

Active member
I'm sure many of you have seen the gnarly leg break NBA player Kevin Ware suffered a few days ago. Some articles I read speculated that he might have he might have suffered a stress fracture prior to traumatically snapping his leg on such a low impact landing. The article went on to say that stress fractures occur in sports where lots of stress is put on an athletes bones, (such as running.)

That got me thinking, are skiers who get shin bang more susceptible to breaking their leg? Is the bone weakened if you have bad enough shin bang? Is shin bang even related to the tib/fib at all, or is it just shin splints?

I realize not many people on NS are doctors, but does anyone know anything about this?

Discuss.
 
I'm no expert but I would think ski boots would help prevent some of these injuries because of how high they go.

If your scared enough you could always go a little retro...

dolomites_81.jpg
 
i've thought there was something to this for a few years. Just a simple calf spoiler could prevent a good deal of shin bang.

problem with the huge cuffed boots are that it puts more force on your knee, but I'm surprised there isn't a happy medium solution.
 
If it helps there are two reasons for the pain in your leg. The first is continious slams into the front which causes pain in both the skin tissue (especially hair sacks that get pulled and pushed), and the second is your binding tissue and tendons surrounding your leg by gastrognemeus- and soleus muscle. (Basically your lower leg back-muscles)

The key is to tighten the boot properly. Especially around the ancle, so that it won't be shoved forward. The second is to actively use the boot-power strap at the top. I'm not saying that the buckles up top are there just for show, but I'll get to that next.

When you tighten the boot properly, and use the power strap what happens is that the joint in the boot will rotate! You want the ROTATION of the JOINT and not the FLEX of the SHELL. If the flex of the shell occurs that means the boot is collapsing inn on itself. That is why Full Tilt is so effective, since the forward tounge will collapse in each partition and force the back end of the boot to rotate. All boots have this technology, but they don't have a self-collapsing front tounge, meaning that if you don't tighten the top of the boot properly, it won't rotate, but colapse inn on your shin.

^ Think that's about right. Physical Therapy studies do pay off for something atleast! (hahah)
 
i broke my tibia this year and had the same surgery as as Kevin ware but i had a gnarly crash so i don't think stress fractures had anything to do with it
 
I use booster straps and i used to get shinbang then when i used the boosters i got minimal, then i started working out a lot then shinbang doest happen lol
 
Its a combination of stretching, squats, leg press, and running.

I also do more complicated things to strengthen my lower back and calves in addition to really trying to build my thighs. I did this all summer long and it continued the leg growth from last ski season into the next, leaving me with this season NEVER getting burning thighs in long bump runs, or deep powder with my park skis for a whole day. Not only does skiing feel better and more fun now, but I have learned many new tricks, I am more stable on hitting huge landings and I never get shinbang.

The amount of energy and time you put in will reward you, all the pros are so strong
 
I'll also add to this that absolutely nothing cures shin bang more than not landing backseat. 95% of all shin bang that anyone I knew was immediately cured by fixing how they land. Landing backseat really pushes the tendon/muscle-rippy-thingy that is happening in there and causes pain.

 
^ also i have footbeds, booster straps, and I tighten my boots almost all the way when im in the park...makes mannys so easy
 
I hope you realize that stress on your tendons can cause stress fractures in your bones.. Sure it is initially all about the muscles and how strong/flexible they are, you can seriously damage your bones if shin splints/shin bang goes untreated/un-taken-care of. As the guy above said, excersize will help prevent these injuries from occurring, shin bang is caused by repeated hard impacts to the wrong part of your muscle/bone, and excersize will help your legs abosorb these impacts "in stride" instead of causing permanent/semipermanent damage. Of course an alternate way would be as Mr. Bishop so kindly put it, DON'T LAND BACKSEAT, if your not exposing your muscles to that kind of impact, they can't be hurt by it! Combine both methods and what do you get? Profit.
 
I run cross country so I get shin splints from that. When I get shin bang it's similar so I just get those little Dixie cups freeze them then use them on my shins. It works and so does stretching your calf muscles
 
Haters. Shinbang is awesome and so incredibly wonderful to have. I wish i hadd shinbang all the time. Someone teach me how to land backseat on every hit cause intense pain is just so great. Why would anyone not want shinbang?
 
My friend just got almost the exact same injury as Ware, except his bone wasn't sticking out that far (though it was sticking out). He had never had shinbang before, so I don't know if shin bang makes you more susceptible to injuries. Shin bang isn't even related to stress fractures anyway so...
 
Not really a stress fracture thing but since skiing has turned my knees to shit, a simple trip and fall could result in me tearing my ACL.
 
i had a stress fracture in my fibula in like january. took like 2.5 months to get better but it had nothing to do with shinbang
 
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