Shin splints affect countless runners, dancers, and active individuals every year, causing sharp pain that can bring your favorite activities to a halt. This common condition, also called medial tibial stress syndrome, represents up to 60% of all leg overuse injuries among athletes and fitness enthusiasts.
If you’re dealing with persistent lower leg pain, don’t let shin splints sideline your goals. The team at Associated Foot Care Clinic specializes in diagnosing and treating shin splints to get you back on your feet quickly and safely.
Understanding Shin Splints
Shin splints occur when the muscles, tendons, and bone tissue around your tibia become inflamed from repetitive stress. The condition typically develops along the inner edge of your shin bone, creating a dull ache or sharp pain that worsens during activity. While shin splints are incredibly common among runners and athletes, they can affect anyone who suddenly increases their physical activity level. The pain often starts mild but can progress to severe discomfort that persists even during rest periods.
6 Signs of Shin Splints
- Tenderness along the inner shinbone – You’ll feel pain when pressing along the edge of your tibia, especially in the lower two-thirds of the bone.
- Aching or throbbing pain during exercise – The discomfort typically begins during activity and may continue afterward.
- Pain that worsens with activity – Running, jumping, or walking on hard surfaces intensifies the symptoms significantly.
- Swelling in the lower leg – Your shin area may appear slightly swollen or feel puffy to the touch.
- Muscle pain and stiffness – The surrounding muscles often feel tight and sore, particularly after exercise.
- Pain that improves with rest – Unlike stress fractures, shin splint pain usually decreases when you stop the aggravating activity.
What Exactly Causes Shin Splints
Overuse and Training Errors
Doing too much too soon is the leading cause of shin splints among athletes and weekend warriors. When you suddenly increase your mileage, intensity, or frequency of exercise, your muscles and bones don’t have time to adapt properly. Your body needs gradual progression to build strength and endurance safely. Many people make the mistake of jumping into intense training programs without proper conditioning, which overwhelms the tissues around your shinbone.
Biomechanical Issues
Poor running form and structural problems in your feet can create excessive stress on your shins. Overpronation, where your foot rolls inward too much when landing, forces your shin muscles to work overtime to stabilize your leg. Flat feet or high arches can also alter your gait pattern and increase strain on the tibia. These mechanical issues cause uneven distribution of forces during movement, leading to inflammation and pain along your shinbone.
Improper Footwear
Wearing worn-out or inappropriate shoes significantly increases your risk of developing shin splints. Old running shoes lose their shock-absorbing properties, allowing more impact forces to travel up your leg to the shinbone. Shoes that don’t match your foot type or running style can also create biomechanical problems that stress your shins. The wrong footwear fails to provide adequate support and cushioning, leaving your legs vulnerable to overuse injuries.
Hard Running Surfaces
Consistently exercising on concrete, asphalt, or other unforgiving surfaces pounds your legs with excessive impact forces. These hard surfaces don’t absorb shock like softer terrain, meaning your muscles and bones must handle all the stress from each foot strike. Indoor tracks with tight turns can also contribute to shin splints by forcing repetitive stress on one leg. The combination of hard surfaces and repetitive motion creates the perfect storm for developing painful shin problems.
How are Shin Splints Diagnosed
Diagnosing shin splints typically involves a thorough physical examination where your doctor will assess your pain patterns, medical history, and activity levels. They’ll press along your shinbone to identify tender areas and may ask you to perform specific movements to reproduce your symptoms. Most cases of shin splints can be diagnosed based on your symptoms and physical findings alone, without the need for expensive imaging tests. However, if your pain is severe, doesn’t improve with rest, or your doctor suspects a more serious condition, they may order X-rays or other diagnostic tests to rule out stress fractures or compartment syndrome.
Ruling Out Similar Conditions
Several other conditions can cause lower leg pain that mimics shin splints, making an accurate diagnosis crucial for proper treatment. Proper diagnosis ensures you receive the most effective treatment and prevents complications from mismanaged injuries.
- Compartment syndrome – This condition causes severe swelling and pressure buildup in the leg muscles, creating intense pain, numbness, and potential muscle damage.
- Tendonitis – Inflammation of the tendons around your shin creates pain that’s typically more focused on specific tendon locations rather than along the entire shinbone.
- Nerve entrapment – Compressed nerves can cause shooting pain, tingling, or numbness that radiates down your leg in specific patterns.
- Blood clots – Deep vein thrombosis causes swelling, warmth, and pain in your calf that may be mistaken for exercise-related shin pain.
What are the Risks of Untreated Shin Splints
Stress Fractures
Ignoring shin splints and continuing to exercise through the pain can lead to actual cracks developing in your shinbone. These stress fractures are much more serious and require complete rest for 6-8 weeks to heal properly. Unlike shin splints, stress fractures cause sharp, pinpoint pain that doesn’t improve with rest and may worsen with simple activities like walking.
Chronic Pain Syndrome
Untreated shin splints can develop into persistent, long-term pain that becomes difficult to resolve even with proper treatment. The longer you ignore the symptoms, the more inflamed and irritated the tissues become, creating a cycle of chronic inflammation. This chronic pain can last for months or even years, significantly impacting your ability to participate in sports and exercise activities.
Compensatory Injuries
When your shins hurt, you naturally change how you move to avoid pain, which can lead to injuries in other parts of your body. Altering your running gait or walking pattern to protect your shins places abnormal stress on your knees, hips, and back. These compensatory movement patterns often result in additional overuse injuries that can be even more problematic than the original shin splints.
Complete Activity Limitation
Severe, untreated shin splints can progress to the point where any weight-bearing activity becomes extremely painful and impossible to tolerate. This complete limitation of physical activity can lead to significant fitness loss, weight gain, and a decline in mental health from being unable to exercise.
7 Tips for Reducing the Risk of Shin Splints
- Follow the 10% rule for training increases – Never increase your weekly mileage or exercise intensity by more than 10% each week to allow your body proper adaptation time.
- Replace your athletic shoes regularly – Get new running or training shoes every 300-500 miles, or when you notice worn tread patterns and decreased cushioning.
- Warm up properly before your exercise routine – Spend 5-10 minutes doing dynamic stretches and light movement to prepare your muscles and joints for activity.
- Strengthen your lower leg muscles – Perform calf raises, toe walks, and resistance band exercises to build strength in the muscles that support your shinbone.
- Choose softer running surfaces when possible – Run on trails, tracks, or treadmills instead of concrete sidewalks to reduce impact forces on your legs.
- Listen to your body and rest when needed – Take rest days seriously and don’t push through pain that could indicate developing shin splints.
- Consider orthotics if you have flat feet – Custom or over-the-counter arch supports can help correct biomechanical issues that contribute to shin stress.
How Do You Fix Shin Splints
Rest and Activity Modification
The most important treatment for shin splints is giving your legs time to heal by reducing or stopping the activities that caused the problem. Complete rest isn’t always necessary, but avoid high-impact exercises such as running and jumping until the pain subsides. Low-impact activities such as swimming, cycling, or using an elliptical machine can help maintain your fitness while allowing your shins to recover.
Ice and Anti-Inflammatory Treatment
Applying ice to your shins for 15-20 minutes, several times a day, helps reduce inflammation and effectively numb the pain. Don’t forget to wrap a thin towel around the ice to prevent frostbite. Place it immediately after exercise for optimal results. You can use over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications to help control pain and mild swelling.
Physical Therapy and Stretching
A physical therapist will design a specific exercise program to strengthen weak muscles, improve flexibility, and correct movement patterns that stress your shins. Stretching your calf muscles, Achilles tendon, and hip flexors can reduce tension that pulls on your shinbone and surrounding tissues. Regular physical therapy sessions often prevent shin splints from returning and improve your overall athletic performance.
Professional Medical Treatment
Severe or persistent shin splints may require advanced treatments from a foot and ankle specialist. Your doctor might recommend custom orthotics to correct foot mechanics or prescribe stronger anti-inflammatory medications for stubborn cases. In rare situations, imaging studies like X-rays or MRI scans help rule out stress fractures or other serious conditions. Some patients benefit from procedures like dry needling or corticosteroid injections when conservative treatments aren’t providing adequate relief.
Conclusion
Shin splints don’t have to keep you from enjoying your favorite physical activities if you understand how to prevent and treat them properly. With the right approach, combining rest, proper footwear, gradual training progression, and targeted exercises, most people recover completely.
Don’t let persistent leg pain hold you back from an active lifestyle. Schedule an appointment with Associated Foot Care Clinic today for expert diagnosis and treatment. Follow us on Facebook for helpful tips and check out our Yelp reviews to see how we’ve helped other patients overcome their foot and ankle problems.
