How to Get Rid of Shin Splints

Just about anybody who has ever been in the military, run for fitness or competition, or danced for fun or as a profession, has probably experienced the bane of foot strikers everywhere: shin splints.

From mild discomfort on the front of the lower leg to severe pain with each step, every variety of shin splints is annoying, inconvenient, and in some cases, even debilitating.

What are shin splints?

“Shin splints” is a catch-all term to refer to pain on the front lower leg. The fancy medical term for the most common cause of shin splints is “medial tibial stress syndrome” which simply means there is an inflammation or sometimes separation of the muscles, tendons, and bone tissue around your tibia (shin bone). Pain typically occurs along the inner border of the tibia, where muscles attach to the bone.

This syndrome can occur when the leg is repetitively exposed to impact-based stress, which can fatigue the muscles on the back of the leg, and create excessive bending of the tibia bone of the lower leg. When the tibia bends and moves, the tendons and soft tissue along the front of the leg that connects to the tibia can become overused and inflamed, resulting in you grimacing with each step.

This syndrome can also occur when your calf muscle is so tight that you must exert extra force to flex your foot as you walk or run. You can think of it like your foot’s natural and relaxed position has become slightly pointed, all the time, due to the tightness in your calf. So in order to not trip every time you take a step, you have to engage your shin muscles to flex your foot. This poops out those muscles and this constant tension in the muscle causes it to pull away from the bone. Yikes!

This poops out those muscles and this constant tension in the muscle causes it to pull away from the bone. Yikes!

A couple of other less common conditions that can cause shin splints are stress fractures (small breaks in the bone caused by muscles tugging on them), and compartment syndrome (pressure that builds up in the muscle compartments).

What causes shin splints?

The most common cause is wearing shoes with positive heels (and I don't just mean stilletos). Having our heels constantly elevated off the ground, and above our toes, shortens our calves and hamstrings, which creates tension down the back of the leg which puts us in that semi-permanent toe pointed scenario I described earlier. For more information about that, check out my article called How to build strong and pain-free feet. 

Having our heels constantly elevated off the ground, and above our toes,...

Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips