Various activities and physical attributes can put you at risk of getting shin splints. Risk factors include:. Shin splints are also more likely to occur when your leg muscles and tendons are tired. Women, people with flat feet or rigid arches, athletes, military recruits, and dancers all have an increased likelihood of developing shin splints.
Your doctor will usually be able to diagnose shin splints during a physical exam. Doctors may prescribe diagnostic tests such as imaging scans and X-rays if they suspect that you might be suffering from bone fractures or a condition other than shin splints. Shin splints normally require that you take a break from certain physical activities and give your legs time to rest.
The discomfort will usually resolve completely in a few hours or at most in a few days with rest and limited activity.
The suggested amount of downtime is typically about two weeks. During this time, you can engage in sports or activities that are less likely to cause additional harm to your legs. These activities include swimming or walking. Check with your doctor before restarting any activities. Surgery is rarely used to treat shin splints. However, if your shin splints are causing severe pain and symptoms last for more than several months, your doctor may recommend surgery.
This surgery is known as a fasciotomy. In this procedure, your doctor will make small cuts in the fascia tissue surrounding your calf muscles.
This can potentially relieve some of the pain caused by shin splints. Any intensive exercise program requires strengthening of all surrounding muscle groups.
Workouts should be varied to avoid overuse and trauma to any particular muscle group. You should refrain from any intense exercise program if severe muscle pain or other physical symptoms develop. As a common overuse injury, shin splints occur largely among runners — but sometimes among aerobics participants and athletes whose sports involve quick cutting and sideways motions. But they also need to rest and rebuild between the episodes of stress. With an overuse injury like shin splints, the muscle or tendon receives the stress, but never gets a chance to rest.
Tell the doctor if your child:. The pain tends to intensify in stages:. You may also suggest to your child that she writes down questions to ask her health care provider, too.
Some of the questions you may want to ask include:. These benefits include:. Complications after proper treatment for shin splints are uncommon, but can occur. These can include:.
Many teens who have shin splints are not only high-performing, determined athletes, but also high-performing, determined students. If you approach your rest and healing period with that same spirit of determination, you should be back to sports and your active lifestyle within a few weeks or months, depending on how severe your injury was in the first place. The most important thing you can do to get back into your sport is to give your leg a total rest. But even though you know the importance of rest and recovery, you still could find this to be a tough time.
Encourage him to approach his rest and recovery period with the same spirit of determination that he applies to other areas of his life. Even though you and your teen know the importance of resting his leg, you both might experience his healing period as a difficult time. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Share on: Facebook Twitter.
Show references Shin splints. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Accessed June 30, Shin splints. Merck Manual Professional Version. Callahan LR. Overview of running injuries of the lower extremity.
Safran MR, et al. Medial tibial stress syndrome shin splints.
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