New Favorite Thing!

Every once in a while I stumble upon something I love - just found another one today - and I am excited to share it!  For a while I had stopped running and as of late - especially the last 2 weeks I have picked it up again.  The problem I ran into was shin splints.  So much so that I was just in pain constantly, I knew it wasn't good.  I didn't want to stop running again just when I got into it so I did some research online, and I have to say I am amazed!  Here is what my new favorite thing is!

A foam roller! Like I said before I am amazed.  I did two different stretches, one where I stretched the the calf muscle then where I would roll it on my shin.  It hurt something awful, but it worked awesomely.  And you only have to do it for about a minute!  Before I did this I could not squat, it was just too painful, right after I did this I could squat and it only hurt a little!  The article I found said to wait 24 hours then do it again if it still hurts and the pain will be all the way gone, if not already gone.  Like I said before love it!  Many articles say it is faster, much cheaper and just as effective as deep tissue massage for many different parts of your body.  And the best part - it isn't expensive at all!