If you love running, jumping, athletics or dancing, you may well have had a bout of the dreaded shin splints. Overuse and poor biomechanics can trigger inflammation and pain along the shin bone (tibia), where muscles of the lower leg attach. It’s not serious, but it can stick around and interrupt your activities. So what’s the best treatment? We look at self-help options and discuss the effectiveness of physiotherapy and shockwave therapy for shin splints.

What causes shin splints?

Shin splints, also known as ‘medial tibial stress syndrome’ or MTSS, is a reaction of stressed and overworked muscles.

While nobody’s sure of the exact mechanism, it’s likely that the stressed calf muscles pull on their fascial connections to the shin bone (tibia). This results in micro-tears, inflammation and pain.

It’s your body’s way of reacting to overload, perhaps from a new sport or an increase in training that your body hasn’t had time to adapt to.

Poor biomechanics, such as flat feet or overpronation when running, can feed into the development of shin splints.

And while it’s not serious, if allowed to continue it can develop into a tibial stress fracture.

Symptoms

Pain gradually develops along the edge of the tibia in the lower to mid part of the shin. The inner edge or front of the bone will feel painful and tender.

The pain gets worse as you exercise, and it will feel sore afterwards too. As it progresses, you’ll start to feel the pain as you move after rest, and with low impact exercise such as walking and climbing stairs.

You may even start to feel constant pain if the situation worsens.

Self-help measures

So how do you get back to pain-free activity? There are several things you can do at home.

The key message for recovery is to deal with the problem as soon as possible and to take your return to sport slowly. It’s frustrating to stop an activity you love, but it’s worth investing in proper rehabilitation to reduce the chance of the problem cropping up again.

1. Rest – the extent to which you need to rest depends on the stage of the shin splints. Cease the aggravating activity altogether, but if you don’t have constant pain, you can do low-impact cross-training. Try swimming, biking, rowing or using an elliptical machine.
2. Ice – apply an ice pack for around 20 minutes or raw ice for around 3 minutes. Repeat at regular intervals through the day.
3. Footwear – check that you’re getting enough support. If you’re a runner, get a gait analysis; you may need trainers designed for overpronation.
4. Vitamin D – check you’re getting enough vitamin D. It supports bone health and can reduce the risk of developing a stress fracture.

Physiotherapy for shin splints

The last thing you want is to have the problem crop up again as soon as you get back to sport.

To prevent this, you need to make sure that any underlying biomechanical triggers are dealt with.

This is where physiotherapy comes in. A physio with experience in sports rehabilitation can evaluate your gait and identify areas of weakness or poor function.

For example, they may identify weakness in the hip muscles, meaning extra stress on your calf muscles during activity.

And a flattened foot arch can be improved with exercises for muscles of the lower leg and foot.

Your physio can teach you exercises to improve strength, balance and control for walking, jumping and running activities.

Along with this, physiotherapy offers soft tissue treatment to alleviate the pain of shin splints, as well as advice on footwear.

Every treatment and exercise plan is individualised to ensure your needs are addressed.

It’s important to reintroduce activity in a gradual manner, according to your symptoms. A physio will guide you on loading, ensuring you progress steadily until you are back to full function.

Shockwave: effective new therapy for shin splints

Shockwave therapy is non-invasive, safe and effective for a wide range of musculoskeletal disorders, including plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinopathy.

The treatment applies high-energy soundwaves via a handheld device over the injured area.

Shockwave treatment has been shown to lessen pain, stimulate the growth of collagen and blood vessels, and boost healing.

And when it comes to shin splints, several studies demonstrate that shockwave therapy reduces pain and time to recovery with no ill effects.

Even intractable cases that have not responded to other treatment often resolve with shockwave therapy.

Here at Woodside Clinic, we have both radial and focused shockwave therapy available, which means we can personalise therapy to your requirements.

Struggling with shin splints?

Don’t let shin splints stand in your way! We offer tailored therapeutic treatments that can target your problem and get you back on your feet.

If you’re not sure which treatment would suit you best, our therapists can advise. You could even combine physiotherapy and shockwave for a rapid and long-lasting resolution from shin splints.

Book with our team of expert physiotherapists today.