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Healing Shin Splints
And Getting Back To Wind Sprints

Healing Shin Splints is easy if you have the RIGHT information.

Maybe you're not up for wind sprints, but if you have shin splints, I bet you'd like to take a walk, a jog, maybe a run, without pain in your shins.

It doesn't matter if the pain in your shins is new or old. The Tendonitis Dynamic of shin splints is reversible and is curable.

What are shin splints?

Healing Shin Splints
Shin Splints are a form of Tendonitis

Shin splints are exactly like Tendonitis.

The muscles on the anterior (front) of your shins lay close against the bone. The tendon of the Tibialis Anterior muscle is thin connective tissue attachment where muscle meets bone along the length of your shin (tibia) bone.

The connective tissue that wraps the bone, periostium, can get irritated, inflamed, and can potentially get rip and tear injury if to much force is applied by the muscle (over and over during exercise.

As in all cases of Tendonitis, when you get some wear and tear microtrauma to the connective tissue and tendon of your shin muscles, you get Inflammation and a Pain Causing Dynamic.

Picture of trail running with shin splints

In fact, the Pain Causing Dynamic was already there. First you were active running or walking over a period of time, and your muscles got tight, then too tight.

The tighter they got, the more stress they put on the supportive structure every time the contract.

Then one day you did 'too much', and you painfully discovered that you had shin splints. Injury. Ouch.

My point is, you already had something going in in your shins before you started hurting. The day you started hurting was just the tipping point.

Having said that, if someone is out of shape and not active, and they go for a ten mile run out of the blue one day, they can certainly develop shin splint injury in a single event.

Let me rephrase that.

Anytime you put more strain on your shin structure than it is strong enough to handle you can injure yourself.

If you have shin splints you fall into one of those two categories.

Healing Shin Splints
What are Shin Splints?

Shin Splints are primarily a Tendonitis dynamic affecting the muscles attaching to the Tibia bone of the lower leg.

In other words, shin splints are a wear and tear injury. A lot like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but in a different location, obviously.

Severe Shin Splints can trigger Anterior Compartment Syndrome.

Severe Shin Splints and (chronic) Anterior Compartment Syndrome are both painful and problematic.

They are simple to deal with, and prevention is your best option.

Chronic Compartment Syndrome is what I will be talking about on this site.

Acute Compartment Syndrome is a threat to life and limb and requires a trip to the Emergency Room.

Healing Shin Splints
What Causes Shin Splints?

From too much running or walking (or other associated activity), the Tibialis Anterior muscle gets overworked in the long run or the short run and wear and tear injury happens.

This kicks in Inflammation and a Pain Causing Dynamic that continues to make the muscles tight.

Then when your go for a walk or run, you feel pain and get more wear and tear damage. This is how it builds on itself and gets worse over time.

If you get kicked or take some other blow to the front of the shin, the resulting pain and stiffness -technically- isn't shin splints. But the mechanisms that are in place around the injury -are- the same, so the symptoms are pretty much exactly the same.

With a blow and associated bruising, one then has to worry about Anterior Compartment Syndrome.

Do you think that healing shin splints will just happen over time with plenty of Rest?

Think again. Rest and 'time off' rarely heals shin splints. It is common for people to take months off, and when they start jogging or running again....HELLO SHIN SPLINTS!

Healing shin splints takes some time and some effort. But it is easy and doable.

Healing Shin Splints
What Are the Symptoms of Shin Splints?

In short, Symptoms of Shin Splints are:

* Pain in the shins when walking or running.

* Quickly increasing pain when walking or running.

* Little to no pain when not walking or running.

* Pain when contracting the Tibialis Anterior muscle (the shin muscle).

For a more in depth conversation, see the Shin Splint Symptoms page.

Treatment of Shin Splints

The best way to treat shin splints is to Prevent Shin Splints before they happen.

If you're past that point, however.....

Whether you are a high level athlete or a weekend warrior, there are a lot of treatment options out there, but here you will find the most effective Shin Splints Treatment options.

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