One of the biggest threats to a runner is shin splints. If you've ever experienced this injury before you know exactly how devastating it can be. Every step you take you are faced with a shooting pain in the leg that just does not seem to go away. Luckily there are some steps you can take in order to help prevent shin splints from starting in the first place by looking at your running shoes.

One of the most common reasons that shin splints occur is because of a pronation problem with the foot. This occurs when your feet start rolling either too much inwards or too much outwards. Most commonly is for runners to pronate inwards but sometimes outwards rolling is seen as well. You can see what way you pronate by doing the 'wet foot test'. To do this, simply place the bottom of your foot in a pail of water (so at least the full pad of the foot is submerged). Then, place that foot on a cement floor and upon removing it, look at the track it left. If the middle of the print is very thin and narrow, you pronote to the outside direction and have a high arch. If it is a thicker print, that means more of your arch will be touching the floor and you have flat feet and pronate inwards. To treat this issue, a runner should usually visit a foot specialist and get orthodic inserts made to fit right into their shoes that will help support the arch better so they no longer roll in. They also might want to do some strengthening exercises for the arches to help prevent the problem that way.

Running on running shoes that are over used can also be a problem because, as running is a high impact activity, constantly coming down on a shoe that does not have any padding left is going to place more stress on the shin bone and thus increase the potential for problems. You should be looking to change your running shoes around every 500 miles. Some lighter runners may be able to go slightly longer between shoe changes and heavier runners may want to change them more frequently. Remember too that you should always bring your old pair of running shoes into the store when you go to purchase new ones because a proper sales person can detect problems you may have with your gait when looking at an old running shoe and could potentially recommend a shoe that will help you fix that.

So make sure you do not neglect to factor in the importance of your shoes in your running training. As far as injuries go, shin splints and others in general, by ensuring you are running in the right pair of shoes for your foot you can really help prevent and solve quite a few of the running injuries that occur. Some runners even have two or three pairs that they rotate between depending on the type of run they are doing (distance work vs. speed work) as each calls for a slightly different cushioning support system. If you are very into running and do a lot of training, this might be something you want to consider as well.