For runners and athletes alike, shin splits are really a right of passage. They’re something you train around as they often seem to go and come at will. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be the case. Shin splints say a lot about your training and programming style, so although no person can be completely injury-proof, there are a few strategies you can adopt to be more resilient.

Before I share these strategies with you, you should first understand what shin splints are, how/why they occur, and what exactly they say about your training/programming style. The term shin splints (scientifically referred to as medial tibial stress syndrome) refers to the pain, tenderness, or soreness one feels in the inner side of their shin bone (tibia), located between the ankle and knee joints. Although the exact cause of shin splints is not known or at least agreed upon, we do know that they are a type of overuse injury (the term “overuse'“ being self-explanatory).

What does this tell us? I’ll answer this in a roundabout way. When most people hear the term overuse, they assume, rightfully so, that this means that they’ve been exercising, running, too much. This assumption is not wrong, but it is unlikely. Unless you are an elite athlete (or train like one), it is highly unlikely that “too much” training has caused an overuse injury. It is more likely that misuse has manifested as overuse.

What is misuse? Or a better question, how are runners and athletes alike misusing their shin bone? Sounds silly, but it’s an important consideration. There are two categories in which most causes align, 1) Fatigue & Stress Management and 2) Biomechanics & Form deficits. And in the name of transparency, most causes ultimately lead to category 2.

Unfortunately, many runners were never taught how to run and how to manage running. I know this sounds ludicrous, but most people don’t run enough in early to mid-childhood for running to be as innate and “natural” as we’d like to believe. And beyond that, our environment doesn’t foster proper running mechanics or management. In nearly every other aspect of life, we learn to do, and then do to learn. Consider language for example. We learn through auditory observation, then we copy, and finally, we are constantly relearning through conversation, reading, and so on.

With running the relearning doesn’t occur. We simply accept (and expect) that if you can walk you can run and there is no consideration to how you are running. But how we run is crucial because the how is often the why to these sort of "overuse” injuries (as well as non-contact injuries, but that’s another story).

So what do fatigue & stress management and biomechanics & form deficits have to do with shin splints? If we consider the pathology of “overuse” in terms of the tibia, then we can understand that it is the overloading of the tibia as a result of biomechanical (or form) deficits that leads to increased stress on the tibia itself. Form deficits can result from macro and micro fatigue, lack of knowledge, or flexibility/strength deficits. It’s important to consult with a trusted expert, colleague, or coach to consider where you should look first.

Nonetheless, in order to avoid turning this into a lesson of sorts, I will share with you three strategies you might use to increase the resiliency of your lower leg and avoid the dreaded shin splints.

Strategy #1: Stretch & Strengthen

How: Perform bent knee and straight leg calf stretches to increase soleus and gastrocnemius flexibility. Perform seiza position stretches to increase tibialis anterior flexibility. Strengthen both calf muscles through seated and standing calf raise variations. Strengthen the tibialis through banded and weighted dorsiflexion and reverse calf raise variations.

Strategy #2: Learn

How: Study running through practice and visual text. Watching good running will make you hyper-aware of your own running form and this will positively influence adjustments your make and your understanding of efficient and proper running technique. Consider consulting with a colleague, expert, or coach.

Strategy #3: Manage Stress

How: Track your running and lifting volume and consider these data in conjunction with your fatigue, sleep, and stress levels. This is all interconnected and will lend well to improved running performance.