The Runner’s World Guide to Common Running Injuries: Shin Splints

Maybe you just started your running journey, or crossed your first 5K finish line. You’ve been enjoying your training, and have started to add extra miles to your weeks to increase your volume.But then you notice a red flag, a dull pain on the front or outside of your lower leg. It’s a symptom of shin splints, one of the most common overtraining injuries runners experience. Shin splints, or medial tibial stress syndrome, affect as many as one in every five runners, especially beginners or runners adding more volume into their training.The good news: You can treat and prevent shin splints with the help of some reliable methods. In The Runner’s World Guide to Common Running Injuries, hosted by Winnie Yu, PT, DPT, CSCS, and guided other medical experts, you’ll learn how to identify and understand shin splints, proceed with next steps to treat your pain, recover properly, and add strength moves into your routine to keep shin splints from sidelining you.What You’ll LearnIn The Runner’s World Guide to Common Running Injuries: Shin Splints, we’ll teach you:How to identify lower leg pain caused by shin splints.Common risk factors for shin splints, including overtraining, wearing improper shoes, and muscle imbalances, and how to avoid them.How to assess the severity of your injury and when you should seek medical attention.Exercises to incorporate into your strength routine to rehab and prevent shin splints.Training tips for a strong and safe return-to-running plan.Watch VideoGo DeeperUnderstand the InjuryWith shin splints, you’ll feel dull pain along the inside of your tibia, or larger bone on the inside of your lower leg. You’ll feel pain and tenderness over a broad area—generally spanning over five centimeters or more–and may even notice some pain along your tibia that feels lumpy or bumpy.At rest, you shouldn’t feel any lower leg pain associated with shin splints, but the more you continue to run and add more volume while experiencing shin splint pain, the more likely your symptoms will worsen. “When you're resting, relaxing, and doing nothing, there's no pain in the shin,” says Alicia Canzanese, DPM. “But as you start moving, you’ll have pain in the beginning. When you first start going, it’s going to fade a bit, maybe go away and then it's going to be worse the more you're doing.”While shin splints are generally classified as an overuse injury, many different conditions and training considerations could put you at a greater risk of developing shin splints.Underlying causes and risk factors for shin splints:OvertrainingWearing improper footwearTight calf muscles, or decreased ankle dorsiflexionHip muscle weakness or imbalanceWeakness in your gluteus medius, or the muscle on the outside of your pelvisBMI, weight, or nutritional considerationsAbnormal navicular dropHow Serious Is It?Can you keep running with shin splints? Evaluate the presence and severity of your symptoms to know when to keep running, modify your training, or stop and seek medical attention.🟢 Green FlagYou experience pain at the beginning of your run, but it gets better or goes away completely by the end🟡 Yellow FlagYou notice shin pain at the beginning of your run, but it doesn’t go awayYou notice the pain returning in your lower leg at the end of your run🔴 Red FlagYou notice shin pain while at rest or during everyday activities.Instead of pain covering a broad area of your tibia, your pain is concentrated in a small area on the bone (which could be a sign of a more serious stress fracture).Recover and Return to RunningHow long it takes you to return to running safely depends on the severity of your shin splint symptoms. It could take anywhere from one to two weeks to as long as six to eight weeks to recover from shin splints, and may require alterations to your running routine.If your symptoms require you to modify or halt your running, adding low impact cross-training activities like swimming, cycling, and using the elliptical into your routine can help you maintain some fitness while reducing the strains on your lower legs.No matter how severe your pain is, the first step on the path toward recovery is embracing shin splint-specific strength exercises.Add the following rehab exercises into your strength routine to start seeing progress with your shin splint pain.Dorsal Foot StretchAnkle Dorsiflexion with Mini BandTibialis Anterior RaisesHeel WalksCalf Raises❌ Common recovery mistakes:Taking a brief rest period and assuming your pain will go away when you return to running.Using ice in an attempt to heal your shin splint pain.Running in shoes that don’t complement your gait and loading mechanics.Stay Healthy and Run StrongerBy staying proactive, you can continue running strong without shin splint pain—and even prevent shin splints from occurring in the first place. It all boils down to using some simple practices to mindfully progress your training.Smart training habits for preventing reoccurrence:Completing the above rehab exercises regularly as part of your strength routine or warmup to build resilience in your lower legs.Regularly cycle through running shoes, depending on the wear and mileage put on them.Follow the 10 percent rule to gradually progress your training.Additionally, using recovery tools like compressions socks and boots can promote blood flow in your lower leg muscles to alleviate soreness in the area.Ready to build a stronger, more resilient running routine?Whether you're beginning to run or you're training for that next marathon, the Runner’s World Guide to Common Running Injuries will help you spend less time sidelined and more time doing what you love. You’ll learn how to recognize the signs of common running injuries, understand their causes, and determine when you can safely modify your training versus when it’s time to seek medical care. This holistic program is available exclusively to Runner’s World+ members and launching on October 6!Ashley is Editor of Content Hype at Hearst’s Enthusiast & Wellness Group. She is a former collegiate runner at UNC Asheville where she studied mass communication. Ashley loves all things running; she has raced two marathons, plus has covered some of the sport’s top events in her career, including the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials and multiple World Marathon Majors.