By in Sports Injury

What are Shin Splints?

Shin splints are one of the most common running-related injuries, affecting around 15% of novice runners within the first year. The cause of the problem will differ from person to person and symptoms can usually have more than one factor.

Medically known as medial tibial stress syndrome, shin splints is characterised by pain due to a stress reaction of the shin bone (tibia) and surrounding soft tissues. It presents mainly as pain located over the inside of the shin, during running but can also develop into pain when walking in severe cases.

It is important to address the cause in order to manage the problem effectively. This requires a thorough assessment by a healthcare professional experienced in running-related injuries.

Runners often focus on managing the symptoms without addressing the underlying mechanisms. This can lead to ongoing pain and can even result in more significant injury, such as a stress fracture, and not only reducing sporting performance.

It can often be the result of too much too soon. Onset of symptoms will often follow training errors such as too much in volume or intensity of training as well as frequency all being introduced too suddenly.

There is evidence that novice runners that start running more than 3 kilometres in the 1st 2 weeks of training have higher incidence of injury. Also, data suggests that building distance by more than 30% per week increases risk of developing these type of injuries.

Evidence also suggests that individuals taking less than 2 rest days per week have more than 5 times risk of developing overuse injuries. This reinforces the importance of progressing your training gradually.

Higher weight and poor strength/endurance are factors associated with increased risk of developing shin splints but can also be aggravated by sudden changes in terrain or even new running shoes. However, a lack of flexibility has been specifically shown not to aggravate shin splints so stretching should not really help to prevent it.

It is important to note that mechanical factors (such as overstriding or a cross over gait pattern that can aggravate symptoms) are not the same for everyone and the mechanics associated with the injury can differ from runner to runner. An individual assessment is always required.

If you are concerned with any aspect of your training, or have any niggles that are starting to concern you then the team at the Body Matters are here to help.

Louise
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