Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Shin Splints

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Foot and Ankle Sports Orthopaedics

Abstract

Common overuse injuries in athletes are -shin splints, stress fractures, compartment syndrome, nerve entrapment, etc. The term ‘shin splints’ is used broadly to describe many conditions causing exercise induced pain in sporting personnel. True shin splints is also labeled as Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome (MTSS), describing a syndrome in which leg pain and discomfort in distal posteromedial aspect of leg is caused by repetitive activity and it excludes causes of pain due to stress fractures or due to ischemia.

Inadequate warm-up, sudden increase in training mileage and hyperpronation of foot are some of the predisposing factors. Diagnosis is mainly clinical and is supported by investigations like MRI and Bone scan. Conservative treatment in the form of Rest, Physiotherapy and Orthotics is usually successful and these measures are also helpful in Prevention of MTSS.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. American Medical Association, Committee on the medical aspects of sports, subcommittee on classification of sports injuries. Standard nomenclature of athletic injuries. Chicago: AMA; 1966. p. 126.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Hutchins CP. Explanation of spike soreness in runners. Am Phys Ed Rev. 1913;18:31–5.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Clement D, Taunton J, Smart G. A survey of overuse running injuries. Phys Sports Med. 1981;9:47–58.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Epperly T, Fields K. Epidemiology of running injuries. In: O’Connor F, Wilder R, editors. Textbook of running medicine. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2001. p. 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Taunton JE, McKenzie DC, Clement DB. The role of biomechanics in the epidemiology of injuries. Sports Med. 1988;6:107–120.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Detmer D. Chronic shin splints: classification and management of medial tibial stress syndrome. Sports Med. 1986;3:436–46.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Johnell O, Wendeberg M, Westlin N. Morphological bone changes in shin splints. Clin Orthop. 1982;167:180–4.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Beck BR, Osternig LR. Medial tibial stress syndrome. J Bone Joint Surg. 1994;76:1057–61.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Mubarak SJ, Gould RN, Lee YF, Schmidt DA, Hargens AR. The medial tibial stress syndrome: a cause of shin splints. Am J Sports Med. 1982;10:201–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Paul WD, Soderberg GL. The shin splint confusion. In: Proceedings of the 8th National Conference on Aspects of Sports, Chicago, Am Med Assoc. 1967;19–24.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Magnusson H, Westlin N, Nyqvist F, et al. Abnormally decreased regional bone density in athletes with medial tibial stress syndrome. Am J Sports Med. 2001;29:712–5.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Wayne Rasmussen, Rpt. Shin Splints: definition and treatment. J Sports Med. 1974;2(2):111–7.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Ugalde V, Batt M, Chir MBB. Shin splints: current theories and treatment. Crit Rev Phys Rehab Med. 2001;13:217–53.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Holder LE, Michael RH. The specific scintigraphic pattern of “shin splints in the lower leg”: concise communication. J Nucl Med. 1984;25:865–9.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Love C, Din AS, Maria B, Tomas MB, et al. Radionuclide bone imaging: an illustrative review. Radiographics. 2003;23(2):341–58.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Lee JK, Yao L. Stress fractures MR imaging. Radiology. 1988;169:217–20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Martin SD, Healey JH, Horowitz S. Stress fracture MRI. Orthopedics. 1993;16:75–8.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Stafford SA, Rosenthal DI, Gebhardt MC, et al. MRI in stress fracture. AJR. 1986;147:553–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Michael Fredericson A, Bergman AG, Hoffman KL, et al. Tibial stress reaction in runners correlation of clinical symptoms and scintigraphy with a new magnetic resonance imaging grading system. Am J Sports Med. 1995;23(4):472–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Zwas ST, Elkanovitch R, Frank G. Interpretation and classification of bone scintigraphic findings in stress fractures. J Nucl Med. 1987;28:452–7.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Abramowitz AJ, Schepsis A, McArthur C. The medial tibial syndrome. The role of surgery. Orthop Rev. 1994;23:875–81.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Clanton TO, Solcher BW. Chronic leg pain in the athlete. Clin Sports Med. 1994;13:743–59.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Moore MP. Shin splints. Diagnosis, management, prevention. Postgrad Med. 1988;83:199–210.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Clement DB. Tibial stress syndrome in athletes. J Sports Med. 1974;2:81–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Rzonca EC, Baylis WJ. Common sports injuries to the foot and leg. Clin Podiatr Med Surg. 1988;5:591–612.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Beck B. Tibial stress injuries: an aetiological review for the purposes of guiding management. Sports Med. 1998;26(4):265–79.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Kortebein P, Kaufman K, Basford J, Stuart M. Medial tibial stress syndrome. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000;32(3 suppl):S27–33.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Couture C, Karlson K. Tibial stress injuries: decisive diagnosis and treatment of ‘shin splints’. Phys Sportsmed. 2002;30(6):29–36.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. DeLee J, Drez D, Miller M. DeLee and Drez’sorthopaedic sports medicine principles and practice. Philadelphia: Saunders; 2003. p. 2155–9.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Wilder R, Seth S. Overuse injuries: tendinopathies, stress fractures, compartment syndrome, and shin splints. Clin Sports Med. 2004;23:55–81.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Michael Galbraith R, Lavallee ME. Medial tibial stress syndrome: conservative treatment options. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2009;2:127–33.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Jukka T, Viitasalo JT, Kvist M. Some biomechanical aspects of the foot and ankle in athletes with and without shin splints. Am J Sports Med. 1983;11(3):125–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Schulze C, Finze S, Bader R, et al. Treatment of medial tibial stress syndrome according to the fascial distortion model: a prospective case control study. Sci World J. 2014; Article ID 790626:1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Callison M. Acupuncture and tibial stress syndrome (shin splints). J Chinese Med. 2002;70:24–7.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Yates B, Allen MJ, Barnes MR. Outcome of surgical treatment of medial tibial stress syndrome. J Bone Joint Surg. 2003;85-A(10):1974–80.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Thacker SB, Gilchrist J, Stroup DF, et al. The prevention of shin splints in sports: a systematic review of literature. Med Sci Sports Exer. 2001;32–41.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I want to acknowledge contribution of my wife, Dr. Mrs Vaishali Sampat Dumbre Patil, who is a consultant radiologist, Pune, India, for her assistance in radiological investigations in shin splints.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon, Noble Hospital, 153, Magarpatta City Road, Pune, Maharashtra, 411013, India

    Sampat S. Dumbre Patil MBBS, D, DNB, MNAMS

Authors
  1. Sampat S. Dumbre Patil MBBS, D, DNB, MNAMS
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sampat S. Dumbre Patil MBBS, D, DNB, MNAMS .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Medical Network Basel, Orthopaedic Department SWISS ORTHO CENTER Schmerzklinik Basel, Basel Stadt, Switzerland

    Victor Valderrabano

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Mark Easley

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Patil, S.S.D. (2016). Shin Splints. In: Valderrabano, V., Easley, M. (eds) Foot and Ankle Sports Orthopaedics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15735-1_19

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15735-1_19

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15734-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15735-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation