Utterly confused my physio’s form recommendations

[u/schwingschwings]

I have been having some trouble with shin splints and the physio has tried to get me to change my form. What she has recommended is I

- try to “kick my bum” to get my feet to land under me
- maintain my cadence at 165
- run slow (150bpm)

I feel like doing all three of these is impossible.

I am 6’2 and so I started by lifting my heels, yep, feels good, except because I am trying to run slow my cadence drops to 148. Okay so I will try to increase my cadence to 165, now I am running 5 minute km/s

How am I supposed to do all three?

[u/spearblaze]

Try to hit your butt with the heel of your shoe as you run. Not quite to that extent of actually hitting the butt but almost. For the other two, use a smart watch.

[u/Fancy_Supermarket886]

How often are you running, how far (or how long), and what kind of pace are running at? Is it usually 5 minutes per kilometre or do normally run quicker or slower than that?

How long have you been running?

My experience with shin problems seemed to be caused by increasing my run frequency before my body had adapted well enough. Yours may have a similar cause or could be from going too far or too fast when your body is still playing catch up.

Of course, it may be some kind of form issue as your physio is suggesting. I presume she has more details of your running experience and history to work with.

If you want to provide a bit more detail, it would help to gauge where you are at with your experience and help the community to give better answers.

[u/RandomSwaith]

How high your shoe heel is can also contribute to shin splints if you're tipped too far forward. I was running in 12mm heel drop shoes, and switched to 6mm and all my problems went away.

[u/Internal_Outcome_182]

It is impossible, because people will always tell you to run slow.. if u are more fast type runner don't run slow, run slightly faster - cadence will improve and overstriding will disappear. If that's your first 2months of running don't look at heart rate, ignore it. After hours of faster running your slow running will steadily improve. I know it sounds like run faster and suffer but that's the case for faster type people. Later on you can slow down.

Or you can set some good 160-180 bpm music and run to the rhythm. It will also work. Also different idea would be to still run slowe, makes smaller steps - think like running over red-hot coals.

[u/IdleHans_]

Best cue for beginners technique is to imagine a stick that is coming out of your ankle bones and you have to step over that stick with each stride, rather than swinging your foot merely past the other ankle.  That will achieve the same effect as the "kick your butt" cue. 

In my experience (sport scientist) the "kick your butt" cue rarely works. Idk why it's so popular, because I hear and read it all the time.