You Know You’ve Got Shin Splints When… 4 classic symptoms to look out for:
If you have discomfort in the lower leg in general, the sort of pain that makes the discomfort you experienced when taking part in that charity muddy-mountain-half-marathon dressed as a penguin wearing flippers - and running backwards - pale into insignificance, you probably have the bony form of shin splints and should seek professional advice.
A warm up jog brings on lower leg pain
If you find that even a gentle warm up jog at the start of a training run brings on shin pain that doesn’t go away, you’ve probably got shin splints. If the pain can be pin-pointed to a particular area of the shin, front or outside of the lower leg, the chances are you have a muscular form of shin splints which will need treatment to reduce the inflammation which is the cause of the pain. If you have discomfort in the lower leg in general, the sort of pain that makes the discomfort you experienced when taking part in that charity muddy-mountain-half-marathon dressed as a penguin wearing flippers - and running backwards - pale into insignificance, you probably have the bony form of shin splints and should seek professional advice.
The shin area is painful to touch
If the soft tissue around your shin area becomes painful to touch it’s a good indicator of muscular shin splints causing inflammation. If your mid-shin height pet pooch wags his tail on the way past causing you enough pain to put Yelena Isinbayeva’s pole vault world record in jeopardy as you jump, you may have bony shin splints or the beginnings of more serious stress fractures so a medical opinion must be sought.
Pain can be felt in the shin area even when walking
Inflammation may be such that shin pain can be felt each time the heel strikes the ground even when only walking. Treatment is needed to reduce the inflammation and this really is one of those times when the old saying, ‘Don’t run before you can walk,’ makes absolute sense. Don’t even think about putting those running shoes back on until you can walk without pain. Why not get your biomechanics checked out at a specialist running footwear store before you start to run again? Those faithful old trainers that have been round the block a few times, and smell like a good gorgonzola, may well be part of the problem!
Shin pain occurs early in a run but eases after warming up
It’s quite common with the muscular forms of shin splints to find that initial pain, usually felt at the start of a run, eases off and virtually disappears after the muscles loosen up. Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s all going to go away by itself. In fact, continuing to run under such circumstances could be likened to continuing to drive your car when the ‘oil light’ has come on. Do you really want a clinician looking you over with a shake of his head, taking a sharp intake of breath through his teeth before saying, “It’s gonna cost ya!”
The human body is a finely tuned piece of equipment so unless you want to end up on life’s hard shoulder facing a long wait for recovery, warning signs such as pain should never be ignored.
