The sharp, nagging pain of shin splints can become one of the most debilitating injuries an athlete can suffer. Left alone, the pain can progress into serious muscular damage, as well as damage to the shin bone, also called the tibia. As bad as the pain and damage can get, athletes often neglect their shin splints because they seem impossible to treat. Fortunately, with a thorough understanding of the injury, shin splints can be effectively treated.
Difficulty Treating Shin Splints
One of the most notable sources of confusion in treating shin splints is the vagueness of the term. The pain of shin splints can occur on both the medial and lateral aspects of the lower leg. The pain can be near the ankle, up around the knee, or somewhere in between. The numerous locations of pain correspond to different injuries, each with distinct causes and individualized courses of treatment. Prior to applying any treatment modalities, the types of shin splints must be distinguished so that individual cases can receive accurate diagnoses.
Types of Shin Splints
There are two main types of shin splints, categorized by which side of the shin bone they occur on. Both cause muscular pain and connective tissue damage, and can ultimately lead to injuries of the tibia itself.
Lateral shin splints occur on the outside of the tibia. They are also commonly called anterior shin splints because the muscle experiencing pain is the anterior tibialis. This variation of the injury is most often caused by inadequacies or imbalances in muscular strength.
Medial shin splints, also frequently called posterior shin splints, occur on the medial side of the tibia. They are caused primarily by tightness of the posterior tibialis, and are painful because of damage to this small muscle and surrounding connective tissue. Posterior shin splints can have a number of causes, but poor biomechanics are the most common origins of the injury.
Treating Shin Splints
While the symptoms are fairly similar, the causes of anterior shin splints are quite different from the causes of posterior shin splints. Consequently, the treatments for each type are distinct, and may even vary within each type depending on the underlying mechanisms of the injuries.
Most of the treatments for shin splints target symptoms of overuse, such as inflammation, muscle tightness, and fascial adhesions. The remainder of treatment is rehabilitation, which involves strengthening muscles unprepared to bear existing loads, loosening muscles that suffer from chronic tightness, and repairing movement patterns to prevent future injury.
Sources:
WebMD.com, "Shin Splints (Tibial Stress Syndrome)," (accessed April 24, 2011).
Omid Adibnazari - Omid Adib is a student-athlete with years of experience in fitness training. He has earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and is ...
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