If you’ve never run before, then you have probably been lucky enough to never have heard the term shin splints. However, if you are a runner or have friends that run, then you have definitely heard the term at least once, quickly followed by an exasperated ‘…and now I can barely walk’. Let’s have a quick introduction into what shin splints are, and how you can reduce the risk of getting this issue while running this summer. 

What are shin splints?

‘Shin splints’, is commonly know amongst healthcare professionals as medial tibial stress syndrome, or MTSS for short It described a pain on the inside of the shinbone, most common in runners. Some people describe pain in the tibias anterior muscle (big meaty muscle on the outside of our shins), but this actually isn’t shin splints, and we can talk about this in a later post. Shin splints often occur gradually, sometimes occurring in just one leg, but can often cause pain in both sins. The pain in some runners can become so bad, that even walking becomes a struggle, and often people resort to full rets from all activities. 

How are shin splints diagnosed?

Assessment of diagnosis is made by a physiotherapist or a sports medicine doctor, usually based on a  subjective examination (history taking of your medical history and training history), and some clinical tests performed in clinic. Shin splints are often described as a periostitis, which is inflammation of the periosteum, which is the connective tissue that surrounds bone. Shin splints can begin as an annoyance, but can progress to a very painful pathology that can make almost all running and walking activities too painful to continue, and can take months to recover if left too long. Shin splints left untreated may result in stress fractures if the runner continues to train through the pain without any activity modification.

Why do I get shin splints?

Shin splints is often a multifactorial running injury. This means that one single thing doesn’t cause the injury, but a combination of factors. These include:

• Recent training volume changes

• Changes to footwear

• Changes in type of running surfaces, and environments such as trails, tracks, or hills

• Lower limb strength and control deficits

What can Physiotherapy do for me?

An important first step when someone first gets symptoms is to ensure that current symptoms don’t get worse. After an assessment and diagnosis of shin splints, the primary focus of our MVMNT physiotherapists are to enable to runner to train as much as possible, without causing an increase in symptoms. This may range form some manual therapy techniques, advice around footwear and training environments, the implementation of a tailored strength and conditioning program, and drafting a running program with respect to how severe the symptoms are. Physiotherapy can aim to decipher the root causes of the shin splints in the first instance, and try to formulate long lasting training changes to ensure that the runner becomes as robust as possible, to manage their desired level of training.

If you are currently experiencing runners knee and you would like a a plan to get back to running pain-free, book an assessment with one of our physios.