"Shin Splints" is the layman's term for a condition called Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome and refers to inflammation of the muscles, tendons and bone tissue around your Tibia. It is a condition caused by a variety of factors but is commonly bought on by a significant increase in someone's exercise routine.
If you are reading this article, the chances are that you are suffering pain at the edge of your shinbone and you are hoping to reduce this pain and reduce this impact on your overall activity levels. Luckily this is a commonly treated complaint at our Woolloongabba and East Brisbane Remedial Massage clinics.
In this article we will discuss what shin splints are, how they are diagnosed, what you can do about your condition and how we can help you. We want to give you the skills, tools and information you need to get you back to your favorite activities.
If you are reading this article, the chances are that you are suffering pain at the edge of your shinbone and you are hoping to reduce this pain and reduce this impact on your overall activity levels. Luckily this is a commonly treated complaint at our Woolloongabba and East Brisbane Remedial Massage clinics.
In this article we will discuss what shin splints are, how they are diagnosed, what you can do about your condition and how we can help you. We want to give you the skills, tools and information you need to get you back to your favorite activities.
What are Shin Splints?
Otherwise called Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome, this condition refers to pain along the inside of your Tibia. It is common in runners, dances and military recruits. The condition is associated with overuse and is often caused by a combination of muscle tightness, poor lower limb biomechanics or sudden increases in duration, frequency and intensity of training. It can also be associated with poor running technique and inadequate equipment such as inappropriate shoes.
What causes Shin Splints?
As we mentioned earlier, overuse of the lower limb or sudden increases in physical activity will make this condition worse. There is also a chance you did nothing wrong and are suffering from this condition anyway. There are a variety of contributing factors that may make this condition more likely beyond just having done too much exercise. In clinic we normally see a combination of the following factors contributing to the onset of Shin Splints:
- Your feet -
- Do your feet roll in (eversion) or roll out (inversion) when you walk/ run?
- Do you have flat feet or high arches?
- These factors change the way weight is distributed through your ankle and tibia (shin bone). When any of these four factors are considerably outside the normal range they can cause irritation with enough repetition.
- Joint Biomechanics
- Refers to how your bone, muscles and joints interact to create movement.
- Each joint has a specific range of movement, which it should be able to move through.
- Whenever something in the body prohibits this range of movement, such as muscle weakness or tightness, joint stiffness and/ or a structure, such as a bony spur, the biomechanics of the joint will change.
- This causes load to be distributed through the muscles, bones and joints differently which is where injuries like Shin Splints can occur.
- Decreased Flexibility (Impacts your joint biomechanics)
- Stiff joints can cause your muscle to have to work harder. Equally tight muscles can stop your joints from functioning efficently and change the way load is distributed through your shins.
- The range of motion in your hips, knees and ankles can all impact on your shins.
- Muscle Weakness (Impacts your joint biomechanics)
- Muscle weakness can be just as significant a factor in Shin Splints as muscle tightness. Glut and hip stabiliser weakness can change the way your hip, knee and ankle function. Weak calf muscles can also play a part in shin splints. If your tibias posterior and foot arch muscles are weak your arch can collapse (flat foot) which changes the way load is distributed through your tibia. An interesting test is to see whether or not you can do 30 single leg calf raises without fatigue - this is number recommended for the average person to be able to perform to stay injury free, running 5km. (Please note that this test is not a specific test for shin splints)
- Muscle weakness can be just as significant a factor in Shin Splints as muscle tightness. Glut and hip stabiliser weakness can change the way your hip, knee and ankle function. Weak calf muscles can also play a part in shin splints. If your tibias posterior and foot arch muscles are weak your arch can collapse (flat foot) which changes the way load is distributed through your tibia. An interesting test is to see whether or not you can do 30 single leg calf raises without fatigue - this is number recommended for the average person to be able to perform to stay injury free, running 5km. (Please note that this test is not a specific test for shin splints)
- Training & Technique
- The surface you train on, your technique and/or the shoes you wear can contribute to shin pain.
- Sudden increases to training load be it frequency, intensity and duration can all lead to shin splint like pain.
- The way you run and how your feet impact the ground as you land can change the way load is distributed through your shins causing pain.
What can we do to help this condition?
- Prevention! This is a multifaceted condition that can be tricky to solve once you have it. This is where we come in! Getting regular massage to improve muscle tightness and help with joint biomechanics is essential. Couple this with some strength training and finding someone who can assess your running/ sport specific technique (we have people we can connect you to). Check in with your training load and ensure you haven't build up too suddenly. You can talk to your coach or a health professional about this too.
- Diagnosis - We like to bring in a team approach to treatment for this condition as it takes a combination of strength, mobility, and sport-specific retraining to resolve it. Getting into see a good physio, who can assess you running style/ technique specific to your sport that could be causing pain. They will likely assess your muscle strength as well as your flexibility in order to get a clear picture about why you are experiencing Shin Pain. We have a variety of physio's who we work with to get on top of this condition that we can recommend.
- Rest - Take the load off the structures that are under 'stress' such as your tibia. This may mean taking some time off training. (Which is why prevention is so important!). Learn the right time to use Ice, pain medication and anti-inflammatories to help you to reduce the stress of your training load further.
- Improve your Joint Biomechanics - As discusses previously working out why your joints aren't functioning effectively and starting to correct this is essential to solveing Shin Splints. This could involve
- Improving your Flexibility - through things like deep tissue massage and trigger point therapy, self massage or stretching
- Strength Training - for muscle that have been identified as weak and are impacting your your joint biomechanics.
- Normalising you Foot Biomechanics - either with orthotics, strength training and or mobility work
- Changing Equipment that is potentially contributing to your shin splints for example your shoes
- Management Around Return to Sport & Technique Correction - This can more sport - specific strengthening before your return to your actual sport. Technical corrections to the way your run or your sport to help prevent the injury form reoccurring. Better pre-training and recovery habits such as activation and mobility work before training, getting regular remedial massage or maintaining a regular daily stretching and mobility routine whilst you build back up. Your exercise physiologist, physio or coach can help develop a modified training program to progressively rebuild your training load and avoid returning to full activity too soon.
- PREVENTION!!!! Once you have had shin splints unfortunately your are more susceptible to getting the condition again. Continuing to work on your technique, strength, flexibility as well as pre-training and recovery practices is going to be essential to help you avoid getting Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome again.
Good luck! If you would like any more information or believe you might have shin splints please contact user book in for a remedial massage/ myotherapy session.