Rolling Pins for shins?

TheSecondRush

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This has probably been asked about before and if it has please redirect me to the thread please.

I'm 16 years old and I've just recently started working out at a gym. I'm a wrestler who knows limited grappling and absolutely no striking.
So on the first day we worked on the basics (jab, cross, keeping guard up at all times) but on the second day (yesterday) we started incorporating some Thai kicks and defending them. The first kick I tried throwing, which was probably at like 60%, got checked awfully to the point where I didn't want to throw anymore (I still did, just half-heartedly). Today my partner asked me how I was feeling (we had gone a few live goes the day before). I told him I felt fine but my shin was still killing me. He told me to use rolling pins up and down my shin because it deadens the nerves and eventually will make checked Thai kicks hurt less. Is there any truth to this or is it just a tale? If it doesn't help is there anything that does or am I just going to have to grow some balls? Haha

Any help is appreciated, I'm completely clueless.
Thanks in advance!
 
No, no and NO. Rolling pins on your shin will only deaden your nerve and not toughen the actually bone. You need to repeatedly beat the shit out of the heavy bag and thai pads with your shins to build up the bone. Rolling pin will only deaden the nerves and make you feel like your shins are tough, but you are just asking to damage your leg thinking it's tougher than it is.
 
No, no and NO. Rolling pins on your shin will only deaden your nerve and not toughen the actually bone. You need to repeatedly beat the shit out of the heavy bag and thai pads with your shins to build up the bone. Rolling pin will only deaden the nerves and make you feel like your shins are tough, but you are just asking to damage your leg thinking it's tougher than it is.


Don't mean to start anything but doesn't rolling cause microfractures which when given enough time to rest, and repeating causes the nerves to deaden and the bone to slowly thicken its fibers? Again I just ask out of mere curiosity as I knew this before. I do know for a fact that it helps with bumps in your shin after contact with a hard object.

Umm, why not try simply a damp shirt or towel and hitting your shins with it, start slowly and let rest a day. then increase in a reasonable amount. It should be uncomfortable, not painfull.

-Hezig-
 
I say, don't use the pins, but this is a pretty debated topic.

It's unclear from your post, but you defintlely want to use shin guards when kicking and checking with partners. In my opinion, the best way to build up tolerance is by kicking a heavy bag. A bad shin bruise will happen every once and a while, but you want to try to limit this by using protection and pulling your punches (kicks) when working with others. If you got injured at 60% and were using good protection, maybe go lighter.
 
don't do it. just keep training often, and your shins will develop. don't try to do this overnight imo. make sure you wear shin guards. ~3-6 months from now your legs will be able to take some pain and you'll shrug it off. a lot of it is mental too.
 
Just kick the heavy bag! When sparring use Shin Gaurds.
If you've been running alot it might be shin splints?
 
Just kick the heavy bag! When sparring use Shin Gaurds.

end thread?

Heavy bag is what you need. You just have to stick at it. Not sure why you guys are kicking each others legs that hard on your 2nd day of training...
 
Just kick the heavy bag! When sparring use Shin Gaurds.
If you've been running alot it might be shin splints?

^ Words of wisdom. Listen to this guy, and forget about rolling pins, etc...
Bag and pad work will condition your shins just fine.

:icon_chee
 
Are you ever to old to start condintioning the shins ? I am nearly 40 and have started muay thai, I kick the bags to work on technique - but will my shins ever get tougher - hurts like f**k when I check kicks.
 
Hey guys,

I'll probably get some heat for suggesting this training tool, but it does help. Like Joshua mentioned though, rolling a pin will just deaden the nerves and not toughen the bone, only kicking a bag/pads/sparring will help for that. But I did notice that when the nerves were deaden, I didn't bruise as often and it helped me get more reps in with the bag.

Anyways, heres the training tool, its called KRUSHIN (develop shins like your Kru's) haha, but for me it did help, it's a great supplemental training tool, just use it while watching TV and it works on your forearms also. Check it out and no, I'm not getting paid for this or any way affiliated with the company. (as of now) lol.

Xodoz Products - Krushin - Monkey Grip, Buy Shin Sharpener
 
I guess people will buy into anything nowadays.

Do not roll your shins. Kick the pads and bags, wear shin guards, when a bruise occurs, you use ice and warmth and massage to care for it. Work your training around your injuries, so if you have a hurt hand work kicks, knees, or footwork; if you have a hurt shin work knees or punches or footwork; etc.

Cortical remodeling is a natural process that cannot be rushed and happens as a byproduct of normal training. If you want to do other things to help build bone density, try load-bearing exercises like jump squats, squats, and leg presses.
 
I don't want to get into a whole thing here, but I would advise against heat in order to deal with shin injuries. You want to initiate vasoconstriction after putting your shins through that kind of abuse, which will decrease swelling. Heat will draw more blood into the area, which is exactly what you don't want. Massaging the area is also a very good idea.

I came home with an enormous lump on my shin the other night, and after icing it and using some compression, it was almost gone within fifteen minutes.
 
They need to sticky a good informative shin conditioning thread so we can avoid all the clusters of people asking the same question.
 
Oh and personally i prefer dit da jow over ice since it has heating and cooling properties in it and ive found it to work quicker and better than ice.
 
They need to sticky a good informative shin conditioning thread so we can avoid all the clusters of people asking the same question.

It's already in the stickies, actually:

How do I condition my shins?

To make your shins tougher and more tolerant of pain: Kick the heavy bag, kick the Thai pads, spar while wearing shin pads, or try light sparring without shin pads. Avoid the following: Rolling bottles or rolling pins on your shins, hitting your shins with sticks or other objects, kicking trees. (Yes, I know, in the past Thai boxers used to kick soft, sapling banana trees.)


Unless you were being sarcastic. In which case, oh.
 
I don't want to get into a whole thing here, but I would advise against heat in order to deal with shin injuries. You want to initiate vasoconstriction after putting your shins through that kind of abuse, which will decrease swelling. Heat will draw more blood into the area, which is exactly what you don't want. Massaging the area is also a very good idea.

I came home with an enormous lump on my shin the other night, and after icing it and using some compression, it was almost gone within fifteen minutes.

You train in Thailand one to two times per year, right? And, I would assume that you do not use a rolling pin on your shins? Most Thai camps, to the best of my knowledge, just recommend bag and pad work to Farangs for shin conditioning.

Ps. Edit Update: You beat me to post, with your answer while, I was typing.

:icon_chee
 
You train in Thailand one to two times per year, right? And, I would assume that you do not use a rolling pin on your shins? Most Thai camps, to the best of my knowledge, just recommend bag and pad work to Farangs for shin conditioning.

Ps. Edit Update: You beat me to post, with your answer while, I was typing.

:icon_chee

Yeah, I've been visiting Thailand every 8-9 months since late 2005. I've never used a rolling pin or a bottle or anything on my shins and I've never seen anyone else (Farang or otherwise) do it. That doesn't mean there aren't people out there who DO, I'm just saying I never have, and nobody's ever recommended it to me. Now my shins aren't exactly bulletproof or anything, but they can withstand some pretty heavy shots.
 
HERE WAS MY SOLUTION TO HARDENING SHINS. IT WORKS REALLY WELL

Go to the hardware store, and in the lumber section they have these 5 foot long, quarter inch thick pine dowels; buy between eight and ten of them and a roll of duct tape.

Now go home and group them all together in a rough cylinder shape and tape ONE HALF of the cylinder pretty thick with tape.

Once you have this beat the hell out of your shins with the taped half and splap the hell out of it with the non taped half. The heavy beating helps toughen the shins and the non taped end is great for conditioning the nerves.

All of this should come second, however to kicking the hell out of a heavy bag and Thai Pads. That is the absolute best way to condition the shins.
 
Unless you want serious long term damage DO NOT use rolling pins!
 
Thanks everyone for their advice. I'll just answer some of the questions that were asked to me. No, they aren't shin splints because we didn't do much running, besides some sprints at the end of practice. When I threw the first one that got hurt (the one at 60%) we weren't using shin protectors. We spar with headgear and shin protectors and they also started me in over-unders position since I'm a wrestler, so it wasn't like they just threw me in there. I've been squatting heavily for about 2 months, so I'm going to keep that up.
Guess I'm going to just get into practice like 45 min. before it starts and just kick the shit out of the heavy bag.
Once again, thanks everyone! You've been a big help
 
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