What are shin splints? As common of an injury as they are, shin splints still seem to be one of the most untreated and unheard of injury out there. I find every time I ask someone if they suffer from shin splints the response I get is ‘What are shin splints?’ and it makes me wonder, They could be suffering from shin splints and not even know it.
What Are Shin Splints?
Shin splints is a term used for lower leg pain or shin pain, the pain is felt between the knee and the ankle. Shin splints are very common injury amongst Runners, Dancers, Tennis players or anyone who may have recently started a new or different workout routine.
What are the symptoms of shin splints?
The symptoms of shin splints are fairly common among people, It’s because of this it generally goes unnoticed as people tend to shrug it off as normal. So if you ever ask someone if they suffer from shin splints, the usual response you get from them is what are shin splints? You will probably find that either you yourself or someone you know has had the symptoms before which are:
- You may feel some sort of tenderness to the inner part of your lower leg.
- Your feet may feel numb or weak because of swelling irritating the nerves in your leg.
- You are feeling pain and soreness along the inner part of your lower leg.
- You may also have swelling to the lower part of your leg.
The pain from shin splints can be on either side of the shin bone or into the muscle itself depending on what is the cause of the problem. For some people the pain or discomfort happens only during exercise, But for others the pain or discomfort happens after a physical activity or exercise and for some people the pain is there all the time.
What causes shin splints?
One of the reasons why a lot of people tend to ask ‘what are shin splints?’ is because they don’t know that they are suffering from shin splints. They usually don’t look to see if there really is a cause for the problem and just shrug it off as a normal thing. You may notice that you experience the problem after you have done any of the following
- You’ve running up or downhill or any slanted or un-even surfaces or terrain.
- You have recent took part in some activity or sport that required you to suddenly stop and start at high burst of speed.
- If you have been running recently in inadequate footwear including correct footwear that have worn out..
These are just a few causes of shin splints that most people don’t realise could be causing their shin splints. With the main cause of shin splints being excessive force being put on the shin an increase in the intensity of force or activity to the muscle and bones in your shin is a common problem amongst a lot of people. This is particularly common in people who have flat feet or rigid arches in the base of their feet.
How to prevent shin splints
One of the best ways to stop shin splints is to know how to prevent shin splints all together. A few ways how to prevent shin splints are
- Make sure you use good fitting shoes with good support for your body types especially if you have flat feet you want to make sure the insoles are shock-absorbing they are vital.
- Try to warm up before a workout and stretch the muscles in your legs, make sure you stretch after a workout as well.
- When working out try increasing the workout intensity gradually instead of straight away.
- Work to improve your strength and mobility of the stabilizing muscles in your hips and ankles this will help you improve your form when running and also help soften the force on your shins.
Shin Splints treatment
If you don’t have to ask what are shin splints, or you know how to prevent shin splints may be one thing. But when it comes to effective shin splint treatment, the treatments may vary depending on what causes your shin splints as well as how much damage the injury has exactly caused. A few things that can relieve the pain from shin splints are
- Resting your body is a fairly obvious one but taking time out from your exercise will give your body time to heal and hopefully recover from the injury.
- You can also try using Ice to ease the pain and swelling, using ice on your shin for around 30 minutes every 3-4 hours is a good way to reduce the swelling and keep doing this until the pain is gone, this is one of the better shin splints treatments.
- Also taking over the counter pain killers like ibuprofen can help ease the pain combined with rest this can help you recovery from your shin splints.
These are just a few options for treating your shin splints. Remember that your main objective when looking for an effective shin splints treatment is not just asking what are shin splints, but also you need to find a treatment that is suited to the cause of your shin splints. Also try to keep in mind that people heal at different rates so what may take someone one-week could possibly take you two or three weeks to recover and if you don’t eliminate the cause of your shin splints then you can almost guarantee they are going to come back.
Now you no longer have to ask what are shin splints, If you do suffer from them hopefully you are on your way to improving your health and getting rid of them for good. If you are one of the people that have persistent problems with shin splints and cant get rid of them, don’t forget to check out our article on How To Get Rid Of Shin Splints for are a detailed way how to get rid of shin splints for good.