Shin Splints are something that most people experience at one time in their lives. This is especially common if you’ve been out of the fitness game a while. Picture this, you have made the effort to get outside (or to the gym), you’re having a good (ish) time enjoying running or jogging again, then, after so long, you suddenly feel a sharp shooting pain in your shins with every stride.
Why is that? Well rest assured, a lot of people experience this and there are some good ways to prevent shin splints before you have to lob an ice pack onto it. We’ve also compiled some helpful tips on the causes and treatment of shin splints for those suffering now.
What are Shin Splints?
Officially, shin splints are known as ‘Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome’, but that’s a mouthful so we’ll stick with shin splints for now. Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome can mimic the pain of Compartment Syndrome, most commonly found in runners. Read runnersconnect.net’s guide on Compartment Syndrome..
Shin Splint Symptoms
Shin Splints can come in all forms of pain. Healthline lists several symptoms on their website. Shin Splints are pain that goes along your Tibia (the largest bone in the front of the lower part of your leg). It can be a dull ache in and around your Tibia which will develop during and after exercise. Muscle pain around the lower leg and your feet feeling numb & weak also.
Who is at Risk of Getting Shin Splints?
Risk factors are higher in runners/joggers, dancers/athletics and army/military recruits. Runners and walkers are especially at risk when there are pavements or tracks that aren’t level – even people with flat feet or overly high arches are at risk!
Additionally, those that participate in football, weightlifting, running or swimming and have time out from exercise and immediately resume their activity at their previous level of intensity tend to suffer more pain. This is because the lower body and leg muscles are under immense pressure, either continuously or instantly.
What Causes Shin Splints?
Shin splints are caused by tired or inflexible calf muscles putting too much stress on tendons, which become strained and torn. Whilst not listed as a common contributor to shin splints, immediately picking up a sport that involves a lot of leg work, and pressure on your lower body can have bad effects on your tibia.
Typically, shin splints go away with rest, ice and time but they can rapidly return if you aggravate the injury without the proper recovery time and method. They can even return by lowering the intensity. The best line of defence is to try and prevent them before they occur.
How to Prevent Shin Splints
If the thought of shin splint pain is making you anxious about running or exercising again, there are a number of ways to ease the pain:
Record yourself and review your technique
Record and watch your running technique or how you exercise via video. This is a great way to analyse what may have caused your previous shin injury. Sometimes having a heavy foot, or jogging unevenly can have a big effect. A little change to your technique could be the way to solve your shin splints altogether. However, this isn’t guaranteed, although it can be a way to reduce the chance of developing the dreaded leg pain.
Use insoles to soften the impact on your shin bones
Arch Support is another good way to prevent shin splints, especially if you have flat arches. Whilst arch supports are good, using shock-absorbing insoles whilst undertaking these activities will have undeniable benefits. This is due to the soles taking the impact that your leg would usually have.
Don’t over-pace yourself!
One mistake that people tend to make after taking time out of exercising is that they try to jump straight back into the level of fitness that they were at before.
If you are running, running at the same speed as you did before over the same distance will put unwanted stress on your muscles and bones, which can lead to a running injury – likely shin splints. Overdoing activities that have high-impact over a long period of time will overload and overwork the shin area.
Another good rule of thumb for runners is that you should replace your shoes every 350-500 miles.
Vary your fitness activities
Choosing a different way to get active again before you move back to your chosen activity is a great way to prevent shin splints. In fact, sports such as swimming or riding a bike will not place anyway near as much pressure as running or dancing would. Once your body is moving again, then slowly get back into your chosen activity.
If you’re a dancer, you could try dancing on a softer surface, have a look at our exercise mats – they may be perfect for you.
Strengthen your muscles first
Doing a leg workout is a great way to prevent shin splints. Certain exercises will strengthen your lower leg muscles which will also prepare your body to deal high-impacts.
MUSCLE BUILDING EXERCISES
- Leg Press
The leg press where you push the resistance away from yourself using your legs. The leg press works all kinds of lower body muscles and Leg Press refers to the exercise itself or the resistance machine you use to perform the exercise at the gym.
- Box Jumps
A plyometric move which strengthens your muscles in your lower body such as your calves and glutes. Not only are they good for cardio, they burn calories and help build the muscles in our legs. However, one recommendation we have for people who have shin splints is to step off the box not jump off. This is because if you jump off your leg will have more impact with the ground.
- Lunges
An exercise which is performed but using a single leg. Lunges help you develop strength in your lower body, and it is easy to perform as it is a great beginners exercise.
- Squats
Squatting is when you lower your hips and stand back up. It works most muscles in your legs and it is known as one of the most gruelling workouts you can do at the gym – most people either love it or hate it, there’s no in-between.
We have a wide variety of free fitness plans in other blog posts which you can find here. However, with shin splints you may not want to go back to the gym so why not check out the best home workouts or even the best kettlebell workouts for a full-body workout with just one piece of equipment.
Check out or fitness equipment that will help you do the weighted exercises you want.
Warming up properly is always a good way to prevent injury no matter what. Going back to William. A Morris MD says that the best exercise for shin splints is to strengthen the calf muscle by placing your toes on the edge of a curb and after transferring your weight to one side of your body, lower yourself to the ground then up back onto the curb.
Shin Splint Treatment
The shin splints page on the NHS website says that there a several recovery factors you should follow when trying to recover from the injury.
USE PAIN RELIEF AND REDUCE THE INFLAMMATION
Firstly, you should take either paracetamol or ibuprofen to ease the pain around your leg. If the pain still persists, then either put an ice pack or frozen veg on the affected area for a maximum of 20 minutes every 3 hours.
GENTLE EXERCISE
Once the pain has gone away, make sure that you are exercising more gently, perhaps by taking up swimming or bike riding – this would massively reduce/wipe away the pain you feel afterwards. If you suffer, make sure that you are warming up properly before exercise and stretching your muscles afterwards and always choose the right shoes.
REDUCE YOUR INTENSITY
A few things you should not do is continue playing the sport you were playing at the same intensity (unless you like shin splints). It’s advised by the NHS to first start another less-impact sport then build up your fitness again before you go back into another sport at high-intensity.
COMPRESSION SOCKS, BANDAGES AND ROLLERS
Several other good ways that you can have short term relief from shin splints is by using a foam roller and wearing elastic compression bandages. Both of these items are widely available on Amazon.
How Long Will I Have Shin Splints For?
According to Medicineplus.gov, shin splints can take up to 6 months to heal, so it is very important to not injure yourself again by overdoing it during this period. For up to two weeks, rest your legs and only do walking that you do regularly during this time period.
After two weeks, if the pain is gone, you can begin exercising again. Just make sure that you start off small and slowly increase it so your body can keep up so the impact activity can’t hurt you.
When Should I See A Doctor about my Shin Pain?
Sports Medicine has come a long away, but I don’t think a protein shake is going to be able to fix this. If you have had long term shin splints and want to receive more health information then you should see your local doctor or GP. The reason why you should see a doctor is that over time, shin splints can either develop into a stress reaction or a stress fracture.
You can use this NHS tool to find your local GP service in the United Kingdom.
