What are Shin Splints?
Shin splints are injuries to the front of the outer leg. They are medically known as Tenoperiostitis of the shin, meaning inflammation to the tendon and muscle tissue attached to the bone. Shin splints belong to a group of injuries called overuse injuries. They occur most commonly in runners.
The pain associated with shin splints is a result of fatigue or trauma to the muscle tissue surrounding the tibia. In an effort to keep the foot, ankle and lower leg stable, the muscles exert a great force on the tibia. The result is an inflammatory response.
What Causes Shin Splints?
There are many causes of shin splints, but they most commonly occur in cases of overuse or overload training and poor biomechanics.
Overuse or overtraining occur in sports that require a lot of running or weight bearing activity. It’s not the added weight or force applied to the muscles and tissues of the lower leg that causes the injury, but rather the impact force associated with running. Basically, if your body is not used to exercising on hard surfaces, exercise programs after a long lay-off period, increasing exercise intensity or duration too quickly, uphill or downhill running may all cause shin splints.
Poor biomechanics are another major contributing factor to shin splints. An example would be having flat feet or pronation in the feet. Wearing worn out shoes or the wrong type of shoes will mean you slowly adapt to poor biomechanics over time. Poor running techniques, like running excessively forward or a backward lean while running are also not helpful.
How to manage shin splints would be in our next blog, however if you think you suffer from shin splints, don’t hesitate to see your health practitioner to get diagnosed and treated.
Mike Manoukian