Muay Thai: Injuries
My shins are taking a beating.
I've weight trained for some twenty years and love to squat.
As such, my legs are fairly strong.
Strong enough that a full force kick to the Thai bag is pretty much going to create bruising.
I've been told it gets better (Wolf's law and all...) but in the meantime I'm a bruise factory.
Hence the shin guards.
Note: as of January 2007, I'm having much less problem with the bruising and soreness.
I've worked up to between 250 and 500 solid round kicks per leg each day on the Thai bag.
I alternate sets of 25 per leg, starting with leg kicks, then going to rib kicks and finally head kicks.
I finish up with 25 push kicks at belly level per side, then 25 at head level.
That's one set of 250 kicks total.
My biggest issue now is my teep (push kick) and the head kicks.
Metatarsals aren't shins.
While I can now throw the shin full force, my head kicks tend to land on the instep.
One nice side effect of being Patient Zero (a nickname I picked up in college; I was pretty much always sick) : I broke my ankle my sophmore year in highschool, something about being six feet tall and 140 pounds. In any event, It left me with a giant bone spur that spans my middle and lateral cuneiforms of my left foot. The result is a solid chunk of bone on my instep that hits like a ball-peen hammer.
Treatment
As with most any acute injury, the first treatment is ice.
I stay with ice for the first day, 15-20 mins at a time as many times as I can manage.
You can also do ice massage. Fill some small paper cups and freeze them.
Then peel away the paper from the top the top and hold the bottom.
If it's hanging around for a few days, I'll hit some contrast treatments.
This is ice alternated with heat.
There is some question of the effectiveness of this, but I find it works pretty well for superficial areas like the shin.
I alternate a hot pack for 10-15 mins., then ice for 5-10 mins. I usually start with the ice and finish with the heat.
Wackiness
I've heard horror stories of using rolling pins to "toughen up" the shins or wailing away at 2x4s... Again, Wolf's law; bone remodeling only happens so fast. If you're looking to increase bone mass, stick to the guidelines used to treat osteoporosis. Weight bearing exercise along with adequate Calcium and Vitamin D. As for the ouch factor, there are oils and balms that are sold. These are either topical anesthetics or counter-irritants (think BenGay).