What Are Shin Splints?
Shin splints is the everyday name for pain along the inner edge of the shin bone, brought on by running or repeated impact. The medical term is medial tibial stress syndrome. It describes where the pain is and what provokes it rather than naming a single injured structure, which is why the assessment matters.
Where it sits on the stress injury spectrum
Shin splints sits at the mild end of a spectrum of bone stress responses. At the other end is a stress fracture, which the clinic lists among the injuries it assesses. The difference matters because a stress fracture needs the load taken off it, and running through one makes it worse. Diffuse tenderness spread along several centimetres of the shin generally points to shin splints; pain concentrated at one point on the bone, pain at night or pain at rest points toward a stress fracture and is assessed accordingly.
What Causes Shin Splints?
Shin splints follows a change in load that the leg has not had time to adapt to. It is common at the start of a season, after a break, or when training steps up.
- An increase in running volume, frequency or intensity.
- A change of surface, particularly onto harder ground.
- Worn or unsuitable footwear.
- Excess pronation, which alters how load passes up the leg.
- Calf tightness and reduced ankle flexibility.
- Returning to sport at the load you finished at rather than the one you left at.
Symptoms to Look Out For
The classic pattern is pain that appears early in a run, eases as you warm up, and returns worse afterwards. As it progresses it starts earlier and stays longer.
- Aching or tenderness along the inner edge of the shin.
- Pain that starts during exercise and settles with rest.
- Tenderness spread along several centimetres of bone rather than at one point.
- Mild swelling in the lower leg.
- Pain that begins earlier in each session as it worsens.
How Are Shin Splints Diagnosed?
Our podiatrists have a special interest in sports podiatry and find gait analysis a particularly useful tool for assessing running biomechanics. Some common foot and lower limb injuries include shin splints (lower leg pain), plantar fasciitis (heel pain), Achilles tendonitis, ankle sprain, knee pain and stress fractures.
Diagnosis is clinical. Your podiatrist takes a history of your training and what changed before the pain began, examines the shin to establish whether the tenderness is diffuse or focal, checks calf flexibility and foot mechanics, and watches you walk and run. Imaging is arranged where the examination suggests a stress fracture rather than shin splints.
Conservative Treatment Options
Once our podiatrists have assessed your walking or running pattern, they will then plan corrective treatment to iron out the biomechanical faults. Treatment may include: custom-made orthotics, footwear advice, strengthening and stretching exercises, and technique and training advice.
In practice that means reducing the load that provokes the pain without stopping altogether where that can be avoided, correcting the mechanics underneath it, and rebuilding running volume in steps rather than in one go. Manly Foot Clinic has not published a return-to-running schedule, so this page does not state one; your podiatrist sets the steps and the milestones for your case.
When Symptoms Persist
Shin pain that does not settle with load management, or that becomes focal, painful at night or painful at rest, is reassessed rather than pushed through, because that is the pattern that suggests a bone stress injury rather than shin splints.
Persistent shin pain in someone whose mechanics have already been addressed is also worth a second look at the diagnosis, since other conditions can produce lower leg pain with exercise.
Shin Splints in Children and Teenagers
Shin pain in a growing athlete deserves a lower threshold for assessment than in an adult, because growth plates are still open and training loads in junior sport often rise sharply at the start of a season. The clinic’s podiatrists have undergone additional training in children’s feet, and the assessment covers growth, training load and footwear together.
Shin Splints FAQs
Often yes, at a reduced load, but that depends on the examination. Pain concentrated at one point on the bone, or pain at night or at rest, suggests a bone stress injury rather than shin splints, and that is assessed before you keep running.
Diffuse tenderness spread along several centimetres of the shin generally points to shin splints. Pain concentrated at one point on the bone, pain at night or pain at rest points toward a stress fracture, and imaging is arranged where the examination suggests one.
Once our podiatrists have assessed your walking or running pattern, they will then plan corrective treatment to iron out the biomechanical faults. Treatment may include custom-made orthotics, footwear advice, strengthening and stretching exercises, and technique and training advice.
Manly Foot Clinic has not published a typical recovery time, so this page does not state one. Your podiatrist sets out the steps and milestones for your case at the assessment.
You don’t need a doctor’s referral to see one of our podiatrists at the Manly Foot Clinic for gait analysis, simply contact us to arrange an appointment.
Serving Manly and the Northern Beaches.
Manly Foot Clinic is at Shop 3/3 Corrie Rd, North Manly, NSW 2100, and assesses shin splints for runners and junior athletes from Manly, Dee Why, Brookvale, Freshwater and Balgowlah. The clinic is open Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 5:30pm and Saturday from 8:00am to 2:00pm.