Shin splints can be uncomfortable and annoying, especially when you’ve been posting great workouts. “If the bone and muscle has not successfully adapted to the continuously increased stresses being placed on them, they may begin to get inflamed, causing shin splints, or more severe damage may be caused, leading to a stress fracture,” Panchal said. Stressing your bones and muscles is necessary to get stronger and improve your overall performance, but there’s one major caveat. “When your hips stop working as well as they should, other muscles start to take over,” she said, adding that if muscles aren’t working properly and you aren’t able to achieve full hip extension, the muscles in the lower leg will take over and “whatever’s hitting the ground will start to work harder because what’s happening up top is not working as hard or as well as it should.” (Don’t miss How To Increase Your Running Mileage Without Getting Injured, According to Experts!)Īnother less common (and often ignored) culprit behind shin splints are tight hips, Graham Brady said. Worn-out footwear (typically when you hit the 300- to 500-mile mark) that no longer provides support and increasing your training load too soon can also lead to shin splints, Graham Brady said, due to the lack of strength and support that can overtax certain muscles as a result. Shin splints can also occur when you’ve changed your training program, for example, adding more sprints or hill work into your routine. The cause of shin splints isn’t exact, according to Panchal, but “many clinicians state that they are caused by over-usage without adequate rest periods to allow the muscle-bone relationship to strengthen.” You’ll also more than likely feel a burning sensation and tenderness along the muscle and shin, Graham Brady said. More often than not, people experience shin splints on the medial side of the leg (the part of the shin that faces the other leg), Panchal said. Overuse of the muscles that attach to the front of the shin, abnormal loading in the lower leg due to your hip position, and improper running form can cause the muscle to micro-tear away, and if the muscle begins to tear away from the bone, it will lead to shin splints, said Graham Brady. “Shin splints happen when the muscles that are along the shin bone start to micro-tear at the bone a little bit,” said Carly Graham Brady, D.P.T., running coach and owner of On Track Physical Therapy and Performance in Rochester, N.Y. The pain is usually brought on by exertion, he said. and an exercise physiologist at the University of California San Francisco Human Performance Center. “Shin splints are considered to be pain and discomfort experienced in the legs from constant and repetitive running or activities that involve a lot of running,” said Neil Panchal, M.S., A.C.S.M.-C.P.T. But pain, especially in your shins, shouldn’t be ignored. Whether you’ve been running for years or are just getting started, you probably know that achy muscles and joints are inevitable.
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