Painful shins are often associated with inflammation of the muscles, tendons, and bone tissue surrounding your tibia caused by shin splints. It can be excruciating, if you are experiencing severe shin pain because of shin splints, we will show you how to deal with it and what causes it.

What Exactly is a Shin Splint?

Shin splints are pain along the edge and length or part of the length of the shinbone. The pain comes from inflammation of the tissues in that area. 

For most sufferers, it’s a sharp pain that can be quite excruciating. But, that’s not always the case. This inflammation can cause a recurring dull ache. It’s a good idea with any pain to very aware of what’s going on with your body, mainly because shin splints can result in complications such as stress fractures. Unfortunately, if you’re a woman, you are at a higher risk of having a stress fracture than men due to bone density. 

Why Do They Happen and What is the Cause?

Shin splints can happen to anyone; they can be caused by something as simple as running after your dog, or something as advanced as running a triathlon. Although shin splints generally happen to people who have just engaged in some form of high impact strenuous physical activity. 

Unfortunately, we can’t always say why shin splints happen, but thankfully, we know how it happens and, more importantly, how to treat it. Like mentioned before, it usually occurs from some form of excessive physical activity, putting pressure on the surrounding tissues.

Excessive pressure on these muscles and other tissue can happen because of many factors such as:

• Flat feet
• Not warming up or stretching before physical activity
• Being overweight (This can cause strain to your joints and tissues, especially in the legs, feet, and ankles)
• Repetitive high impact on hard surfaces
• Inappropriate shoes for the activity will lessen the support that’s needed
• Muscle weakness in areas like ankles, hips, lower back, and abs

Other factors that contribute to shin splints can include dehydration, malnutrition, and even exhaustion. Your body is like a machine that needs all of its components working correctly; if one of them isn’t adequately cared for, injuries are more likely to happen. Once you have had a shin splint injury, you’re more likely to have them again. So be careful!

What’s the Treatment?

Don’t worry, surgery and large medical bills rarely apply to this type of injury. The best and often neglected treatment is rest. You will need plenty of it! Get a few days of proper relaxation in before any physical activity and then gradually return to whatever physical activity you enjoy. So kick back, get comfortable, and binge-watch Netflix to help the time pass as you get some much-needed rest. 

Other treatments include:  

• Ice your leg in intervals of 30 minutes several times a day 
• Take anti-inflammatory medicine 
• Wear well-fitting shoes and inserts 

Sometimes in just a few days and you’re back to normal. For others, it can take 2-3 months to heal fully. If you don’t feel better after a few days, definitely see a doctor if you haven’t already.

You have a lot of bones and moving parts in your feet and ankles, so take care of them before you do something to them you’re going to regret. 

Canyon Oaks Podiatry and You

If you suspect you have an injury or need a medical professional’s opinion, please reach out to us. Canyon Oaks Podiatry can provide you with what you need to get back on your feet and ready for your next physical activity. We are here to help you have the best podiatric care in the Central Valley.