Shin Splints

The most common injury during Track Season is Shin Splints.


“shin splints” is a term that is used to diagnose a series of aches and pains you can get from playing sports in and around the lower leg.   


Shin splints are primarily categorized into one of two types of pain: anterior (front) or posterior (back).  Simply identifying where the pain is actually located in your lower leg narrows down what areas are affected, how they may have been injured, and what recovery method will be most effective for healing.


Common Causes:


Shin splints can present in many ways, it’s hard to pinpoint a singular, specific cause for the injury. 


Anterior Shin Splints (Front of shin on outside)

Most common cause is overstriding resulting in your tibialis anterior muscle or tendon to be overused.  An overstride occurs when the foot strikes the ground ahead of the runner’s center of mass.   Ideally your foot should strike the ground in backward fashion (pawing like a dog) and below your hips.  This can be a result of needing to work on hip flexor strength, mobility as well as core strength.



Posterior Shin Splints (Inside of shin to the backside of the calve)

A posterior shin splint occurs along the inside and back of the lower leg.  Common causes of posterior shin splints are increases in mileage, increases in training intensity, poor footwear, or (unfortunately) having flat feet. 

Recovery

Recovery from shin splints normally takes 3-4 weeks before one can resume normal training but the injury can linger for upto 10 months.  It is extremely important to know that if you do not change the underlying factors the injury will reoccur and can turn into a stress reaction or stress fracture.  It will also lead to negative bio-mechanical changes in your form which may result in runners knee or other long term injuries. 


The first thing you need to do is to cut back on intensity, mileage, speed work, and hills.  You also need to ensure you are taking shorter strides and that you have proper footwear.


If you are having severe pain you must consult a physician and the injury may have already advanced.  You will need a medical evaluation to rule out a stress reaction, stress fracture or decreased blood circulation.  

Treatment

Compression and elevation are an important part in treatment.  Science has most moved on from relying on ice, even the physician who coined the acronym R.I.C.E. no longer recommends using ice as a staple in treating injury.  Ice has mostly been replaced with movement.  The common acronym that gaining momentum with recent studies is PEACE and LOVE (https://www.physio-pedia.com/Peace_and_Love_Principle).

  


As movement is important you will likely not benefit from complete rest, again, this assumes you have ruled out a more serious injury.  In order to return to practice it is important to identify the factors leading to the increase in intensity, speed, or mileage and to modify the plan.  Moving forward there needs to be a moderate increase in the load in these factors and it is not advisable to increase more than one factor in any given week.  Recovery days will be critical with at least one after any workout.  Cardio workouts can be done on a bike and strength can be accomplished in the weightroom or on a bike in the hills.


It is important to continue to train the area.  Training will damage the tissues and force the body to heal the area with recovery.  This process is critical to full recovery.  This does not mean you run yourself into extreme pain, this needs to managed and controlled.  Damage and recovery can be aided with soft tissue mobilization, trigger point release, cross friction massage, and sports massages.