shin splints

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INTRODUCTION TO SHIN SPLINTS
At one time or another most athletes will experience a pain and tenderness in their shins, and most will automatically put the pain down to “Shin splints”. Some athletes will be lucky and recover with rest; however some may need a “helping hand” for recovery. In all cases a true diagnosis is required and that should really only come from a State registered Physiotherapist. (See previous for a description of different health practitioners).
In most cases the athlete (or even “Joe Bloggs”) will complain of pain varying from tenderness on distances to extreme pain on weight bearing. Other symptoms as well as this tend to fall under other problems especially if it becomes chronic (see later in article).
Even in today’s health conscious computer generated sporting world, the term “shin splints” is over used as a description for all forms of pain in the lower limb, and doesn’t really describe anything specific, it's defined by the American Medical Association as an inflammation of the muscle, tendon, OR bone in the lower part of the leg. – It’s therefore just a slightly more medical (ish) term for “my shin hurts really bad”.
A “shin splint” is a specific problem of the shin; it is an inflammatory reaction involving the deep tissue of the lower leg including muscle and tendons. Generally it occurs where the tendon inserts at the front, lower, inside part of the shin, however it can also occur more towards the centre / outside part of the shin. Don’t worry though, the areas of pain rarely coincide together, this is due the muscles being banded into groups or “compartments”.
CAUSES
As with all causes of injuries you never really “Fit the description”, however as with these examples below you may tick one or two of them but never complain of a problem. This is a very common issue with injuries (which we will review in later articles), and “causative factors” quite often have to all click into place for an injury to occur.
• Over training or improper training (is your coach qualified? – a whole other issue!!!)
• Mechanical problems with the feet for example "over pronation". This in its basic form simply describes a condition where your arches flatten out when you stand up. This in turn causes your ankles to roll in towards each other and disturbs your normal walking pattern. This is very common and for many may never cause a problem.
• Tight calf muscles. (Again a whole other issue FLEXIBILITY and STRETCHES!)
• A young inexperienced athlete training for long periods on hard roads and in poor physical condition (post Christmas resolutions!!).
• Training on hard surfaces such as concrete, road running going up and down curbs or uneven surfaces
• Improper shoes, inadequate shock absorption (again another issue to cover – at this rate I’ll have a whole year of articles chosen!!).
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Frequently, lower-leg pain in athletes responds well to simple treatments, for more information go to my "physio corner" at CARDIFF AAC web site - any welsh athletes out there it's worth a look!

Take care, train hard, train well but most importantly have fun – if it’s going to hurt this much you may as well enjoy it!!!!!

	Author:	physioroute (physioroute's profile, physioroute's blog)
	Posted On:	Monday, 11th February '08, 3:50pm
	Tags:	Basketball, Conditioning, Distance Running, Endurance, Flexibility, Injury, Marathon Training, Overtraining, Proprioceptive, Rugby, Running, Sprinting, Stretching and Triathlon
	Comments:	1 comment, go to comments