What are Shin Splints?
Shin splints is a leg injury that usually comes from intense exercise on hard surfaces, like basketball, running, or other impact sports. A common symptoms of shin splints is pain in the front of your lower leg when you exercise. The condition occurs most often in athletes who are working out harder than they usually do. The extra activity can strain the muscles and tendons in the leg.
Shin splints is usually not a serious injury, but it can make it hard to walk or do the things you do every day if you don’t take care of them. Rest, ice, better shoes, or lower-impact exercise can all help reduce the symptoms and risks of shin splints.
Symptoms
The symptoms of shin splints show up after you’ve been exercising harder than you usually do, especially on hard surfaces like a basketball court or a running track. Symptoms can include:
- Tenderness, pain or soreness in the shins
- Mild swelling
- Pain that gets worse when exercising
- Pain even when not walking (severe shin splints)
Some of these symptoms can also be signs of other, serious conditions, like a stress fracture of the bones in your leg, so you should keep track of your symptoms and talk to a doctor if they get worse.
Causes
Shin splints is caused by exercising too hard or too much. Runners, dancers, and gymnasts are most at risk for shin splints. The main causes of shin splints include:
- Doing a lot of running or doing too much after you have only just started
- Training harder or more than you’re used to
- Exercising in a way that stops and starts often, like dancing, basketball, or marching
There are some risk factors that make it more likely for you to get shin splints:
- Having rigid arches
- Having flat feet
- Exercising on hard surfaces like the street or a tennis court
- Wearing shoes with poor support
- Increasing your exercise or running level too quickly
Diagnosis and Tests
Treatments & Prevention
Treatments
The best treatment for shin splints is to let your legs rest. You may need to stop the sport or modify your exercise for 2 to 4 weeks before the shin splints start to feel better. It can take 3 to 6 months for them to heal completely.
During that time, try to keep the impact on your legs low, and don’t rush back into your sport or activity — you may injure your legs again or it may take longer for them to heal. While you wait, you can try other ways to exercise that have less impact on your legs, like riding a bike or swimming.
Shin splints can be treated using the RICE method. RICE stands for:
- Rest: Avoid putting weight on the shins, and avoid participating in normal activities until your shins get better.
- Ice: Use an ice pack (you can also use a bag of frozen vegetables if you do not have an ice pack) for 15-20 minutes, three times a day. Do not put ice directly on your skin. Do not use dry ice.
- Compression: Use an elastic bandage or compression brace to help put pressure on the shins and reduce swelling.
- Elevation: Raise (elevate) your legs above the level of your heart to help keep swelling down. You can do this by lying down on a couch or floor and placing pillows under your feet and legs until your shins are higher than your chest.
You can also try the following:
- Stretching exercises
- Arch supports for your shoes, or get shoes that absorb shock better.
- Visit a physical therapist. They can help with the pain or teach you ways to treat it yourself.
Prevention
There are several things you can do to avoid shin splints.
- Don’t exercise too hard, too quickly. Work up slowly to longer distances or more intense exercise routines.
- Be sure to warm up before exercising
- Use ice on your shins to avoid swelling
- Don’t exercise on hard surfaces if you can
- Wear shoes that provide the right support and cushion
- Do lower-impact exercises like biking or swimming
- If you already have shin splints, take your time and don’t get back to running exercise too quickly.