While a lack of calcium combined with frequent stress on your legs may contribute to shin splints, a reoccurring pain along your shin bones, no clear connection exists suggesting that a diet low in calcium causes shin splints. However, meeting your daily recommendation of calcium will strengthen your bones, hopefully reducing your risk for other bone-related leg pain.
Calcium
Calcium is your body's most abundant mineral, with around 99 percent of it providing the structure of your bones and teeth, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. However, your body also uses calcium as a stabilizing element in several biochemical reactions, and your cells use calcium to send signals between cells. If you do not have enough calcium in your diet, your body will take calcium from your bones to use elsewhere in your body, weakening your bones.
Shin Splints
Shin splints typically occur from too much stress being placed on your tibia, or shin bone, and the tissues that connect your muscles to your shin bone, causing pain. Shin splints typically occur in athletes in sports such as running or other activities with sudden stopping and starting movements. Shin splints occur from too much force on your shin bone due to running on poor surfaces, using unsupportive footwear, or training too hard and too long, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Shin Splints and Calcium
Shin splints are not actually fractures or damage within your shin bone, but are actually pain within your muscles and connective tissues; therefore, increasing your calcium intake will not necessarily prevent shin splints. However, you do need to get at least 1,000 mg of calcium in your diet daily to prevent leg pain due to cramps from low calcium levels or actual fractures in your tibia and other leg bones. If you are a runner or athlete in a sport with lots of running, you should be especially careful to get enough calcium in your diet to keep your leg bones strong because of the extra stress they bear.
Preventing Shin Splints
Instead of using calcium to prevent shin splints, you can follow other simple steps. Use the proper shoes for your sport, and make sure they support your arches. Also, add in calf-strengthening exercises, and mix up your workouts to lessen the stress on your shins. If you find yourself suffering from shin splints, you may be able to take care of them at home by resting and switching to workouts without leg stress, applying ice, and taking an over-the-counter pain reliever.
