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Shin Splints

Shin splints generally refers to pain along the shin bone (or tibia) between the ankle and the knee. The muscles involved are the Tibialis Anterior and the Posterior Tibialis. It occurs as the result of damage and inflammation of the muscles and tendons along the tibia.

Sign and Symptoms

Often occurring in athletes and runners, pain is noticed along the inside of either the front or back of the shin. The area is usually tender to touch occasionally becoming red and swollen. The pain is usually aggravated by exercise and can occasionally be reproduced by bending your toes down. Your chiropodist may order an x-ray to rule out conditions such as stress fractures.

Causes:

Shin splints usually result from overuse of the muscles and tendons. Repetitive movements such as running or an increase in your activity can cause stress and strain to the muscles. Also changing running surfaces from hard to soft or back again can add unusual strain.

A major source of shin splints is flat feet or overpronation. When your arch flattens, your bones become unstable. This causes the anterior and posterior muscles to over work and partially tear from the tibia. The result is pain and inflammation.

Treatment:

The ideal concept in treating shin splints is to reduce or eliminate the pain and inflammation and to address the cause.

In the acute stages anti-inflammatory agents may be helpful. These include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID’s)/or ice.

Ice applied directly to the area can reduce some of the inflammation and discomfort as can NSAID’s eg: Advil. However, while these can provide temporary relief of pain, they do not address the underlying cause.

Rest:

Decreasing or avoidance of your activity can reduce the discomfort and swelling. It will allow the area time to heal. Replacing the cardio aspect of your activity with biking or swimming will minimize strain to the area. It is important to remember that these interventions will relive pain and allow healing to take place they do not address the underlying causes. Therefore, recurrence of the condition is probable.

Custom Functional Foot Orthotics:

Proper and thorough biomechanical evaluation, along with accurately prescribed and impressed orthotics are the most effective treatment for the cause of your shin splints. Correcting gait abnormalities by realigning bone and joint relationships will relieve the stretch and strain on the muscles and will prevent reoccurrence of the problem over the long term. See our articles on biomechanics and orthotics.