Why are shin splints so common?
Sarah Smith
Published Jan 18, 2026
You get shin splints from overloading your leg muscles, tendons or shin bone. Shin splints happen from overuse with too much activity or an increase in training. Most often, the activity is high impact and repetitive exercise of your lower legs. This is why runners, dancers, and gymnasts often get shin splints.You get shin splints from overloading your leg muscles, tendons or shin bone shankbone, an archaic term for the tibia. › wiki › Shankbone
How do I stop getting shin splints?
How runners can avoid shin splints
- Wear shoes with good arch and heel support.
- Use shock-absorbing insoles.
- Avoid working out on hard or uneven surfaces.
- Stretch properly before exercising.
- Practice strength training, especially toe exercises that build calf muscles.
- Strengthen all muscle groups around shin area.
What are 3 causes of shin splints?
Risk factors
You're more at risk of shin splints if: You're a runner, especially one beginning a running program. You suddenly increase the duration, frequency or intensity of exercise. You run on uneven terrain, such as hills, or hard surfaces, such as concrete.
What is the most common cause of shin splints?
What causes shin splints? Shin splints most often happen after hard exercise, sports, or repetitive activity. This repetitive action can lead to inflammation of the muscles, tendons, and thin layer of tissue covering the shin bones, causing pain.
What are 4 potential causes of shin splints?
These are 7 factors that can potentially trigger shin splints for athletes:
- Starting or intensifying a sport or training. ...
- Wearing unsupportive shoes. ...
- Running or playing sports on hard surfaces. ...
- Running on hilly or uneven terrain. ...
- Having preexisting foot and ankle problems. ...
- Having poor running form.
Why am I getting shin splints all of a sudden?
Shin splints often occur after sudden changes in physical activity. These can be changes in frequency, such as increasing the number of days you exercise each week. Changes in duration and intensity, such as running longer distances or on hills, can also cause shin splints.
Are shin splints permanent?
Shin splints are not permanent. You should be able to ease pain from shin splints with rest, changing the amount of exercise you are doing and making sure to wear supportive footwear. If your shin splints do not go away over a long period of time, see your doctor.
Are shin splints serious?
Also known as medial tibial stress syndrome, shin splints can be painful and disrupt training regimes. However, they are not a serious condition and may be alleviated with some simple home remedies. Shin splints are characterized by pain in the lower leg, on the front, outside, or inside of the leg.
Should you run through shin splints?
Continuing to run with shin splints is not a good idea. Continuing the exercise that caused the painful shin splints will only result in further pain and damage that could lead to stress fractures. You should either eliminate running for a while or at least decrease the intensity with which you train.
What happens if shin splints go untreated?
If left untreated, shin splints and stress reaction can progress ultimately to stress fracture, which is when the bone can no longer handle the load being placed on it and it cracks. A fracture means broken bone, so a stress fracture is truly a type of broken bone.
Does being overweight cause shin splints?
Increased body weight, being overweight, or obesity can lead to a higher risk of shin splints.
Can Walking cause shin splints?
Shin splints can become a sudden, unexpected pain in the shin when you start walking or running regularly. They can come on when you start dancing. They're also common to people new to the military with all the pack marching and drilling they have to do regularly.
How do runners deal with shin splints?
Treatment of Shin Splints
- Rest your body. It needs time to heal.
- Ice your shin to ease pain and swelling. Do it for 20-30 minutes every 3 to 4 hours for 2 to 3 days, or until the pain is gone.
- Use insoles or orthotics for your shoes. ...
- Take anti-inflammatory painkillers, if you need them.
Is a hot bath good for shin splints?
When dealing with this injury, ice and cold therapy is the only way to go! While heat can exacerbate inflammation, icing your shins several times a day can help to noticeably reduce pain and swelling.
What deficiency causes shin pain?
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with tibial bone pain and tenderness.
How do you get rid of shin splints without stopping running?
How To Treat Shin Splints For Runners – Without Stopping Your Training
- Overuse is the number one cause. ...
- Cross Train – You can take a break from running so often by cross training more! ...
- Run on Different Surfaces – If you can, run on softer surfaces like grass or dirt.
Can you get shin splints if you don't exercise?
Of course, exercise isn't the only cause. As a matter of fact, not exercising is just as likely to cause shin splints. Having weak hip or core muscles can misplace stress, sometimes to the shin.
Is yoga good for shin splints?
Yoga poses that help with shin splints work to do the following: Strengthen Hip Abductor muscles – by making the muscles stronger there is more support for the legs and allows the impact to be through the centre of the leg. Strengthen Calf muscles – these muscles support the shins.
Are shin splints worse at night?
Shin splints affect the front of the calf and occur when the muscles and the tendons on the shins are overworked. The resulting inflammation can be painful, especially at night.
How do you heal shin splints overnight?
How Are They Treated?
- Rest your body. It needs time to heal.
- Ice your shin to ease pain and swelling. Do it for 20-30 minutes every 3 to 4 hours for 2 to 3 days, or until the pain is gone.
- Use insoles or orthotics for your shoes. ...
- Take anti-inflammatory painkillers, if you need them.
Can shin splints turn into something worse?
If the shin pain persists after you've stopped exercising, your shin splints are probably getting worse and you may be at risk of developing a stress fracture.
Do tight calves cause shin splints?
Because the propulsive motion of running works the rear of the leg more than the front, runners often have overworked, tight calf muscles and weak shin muscles. This can lead to four specific lower-leg injuries – calf pulls, shin splints, stress fractures and compartment syndrome.
Do strong calves prevent shin splints?
In reality, improving calf strength, abductor strength and strengthening hip muscles are a better approach to preventing shin splints. The calves are the largest muscle group in the lower leg (more on them here) and research has shown that strengthening them will help you stabilize the tibia with each impact.
Do calf raises help shin splints?
The typical prescription for shin splints is standing calf raises, and lots of them. Three sets of 30 single-leg raises done every day is a pretty common prescription.
