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Shin splints
A condition associated with high-impact activities such as running or dancing, shin splints cause pain or tenderness in the lower part of one or both legs. If you're experiencing shin bone pain, we offer shin splint treatment options to provide you relief.
With HCA you can receive:
- Appointments with specialists confirmed within 24 hours
- Private orthopaedic care that's rated as very good or excellent by 97% of our patients
- A team of leading sport and exercise doctors with experience in treating shin splints
What are shin splints?
Shin splints (also known as Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome – MTSS) is the name given to pain and tenderness in your shins felt at the front of your lower legs. The discomfort runs along or behind the tibia, the large bone in your lower leg. It's a common condition among runners, gymnasts, athletes and other active people but it's usually not serious. Shin splints are deemed an overuse problem that can develop when you increase your activity level or change the type of exercise you do.
What causes shin splint pain?
One of the most common causes of shin splint pain is repetitive high-impact activity (such as running) on a hard surface. Wearing worn-out shoes or footwear that doesn't fit properly can also increase the likelihood of developing shin splints. The connective tissue that joins your muscle to your bone can stretch and become inflamed after exercise or repetitive activity. Patients with shin splints usually only feel pain while moving or exercising but in severe cases, you might feel pain at rest. Most shin splints will heal following rest but can require medical treatment if they're particularly severe.
What are the symptoms of shin splints?
You may have shin splints if you experience pain down the front of your lower legs. Shin splint pain can be mild or severe and your shins are tender if you press on them. It could be shin splints if:
- A sharp or dull pain forces you to stop exercising
- The pain is in the inner lower part of the leg or the front of the shin bone
- The pain occurs during exercise but progresses to being felt after exercise
- There is tenderness or swelling over your shin bone that is painful to touch
What causes shin splints?
Repeated stress to the shin bone can result in shin splints. When you engage in high-impact, repetitive activities such as running, muscles and connective tissues in your lower leg tug against one another. This continuous tugging and pressure can cause inflammation and micro-tears After a few weeks of rest, shin splints usually go away without medical help. But if you resume high-impact activity too soon (without allowing the tissue time to heal), you can cause further damage. This can gradually worsen and lead to severe shin bone pain.
Most patients who develop shin splints have either started a new exercise regime (for example, taken up running) or increased their activity levels too quickly. During this process, the bone tissue is destroyed and rebuilt to become stronger. If you increase your exercise levels dramatically without allowing time for your bone tissue to recover and get stronger, you're more likely to get shin splits.
Who is more likely to get shin splints?
Shin splints affect different types of people but they are more prevalent within certain groups such as:
- Athletes: This applies particularly to those who play high-impact sports that involve running and jumping.
- Dancers: Dance puts stress on the lower leg and dance shoes (for example, ballet shoes) don't usually offer much support.
- Joggers: An increase in frequency or distance can cause runners to experience shin splints. Running on a different surface can also be a cause.
- People who wear inappropriate footwear: Running shoes that don't provide enough support can cause shin splints. Running shoes should have ample cushioning to absorb impact.
- People with rigid or high arches or flat feet: Some people are biologically predisposed to shin splints. In people with rigid arches, high arches or flat feet, the muscles struggle to distribute the force from impact. This can put undue stress on the tibia, causing shin splints.
- Military professionals: Individuals who walk or march long distances can develop shin splints.
Linked to several of the points above, anyone who has recently changed their exercise regime - e.g. the type, frequency, intensity, location, footwear, camber or gradient - can also be more likely to develop shin splints.
How are shin splints diagnosed?
If you think you have shin splints and are worried, talk to your consultant or GP. They'll be able to diagnose shin splints by asking you a few questions about your medical history and exercise regime. You should let your consultant know if you've recently changed your exercise regime or taken up a new sport.
To confirm your diagnosis, or if you're experiencing severe shin bone pain, you may be referred for further imaging diagnostics. Your specialist will usually order an X-ray first. However, two-thirds of stress fractures won't show up using this imaging method. If your X-ray comes back clear but a stress fracture is suspected, you will be referred for an MRI or bone scan.
What are the treatment options for anterior shin splints?
If you're looking for shin splint relief, the first thing to do is to rest. This is to allow your bones and muscles to heal. Some of the best ways to treat shin splints include:
- Extracorporeal shockwave therapy: Using a pneumatic device to stimulate tendon cells and promote pain relief, similar in feeling to a hard massage.
- Blood tests: To identify vitamin or mineral deficiency and to optimise bone health.
- Lifestyle or exercise modifications: As shin splints are caused by high-impact, repetitive movements, your specialist might advise that you try lower-impact activities or use more supportive footwear.
- Apply ice: Ice helps to reduce the swelling and pain of your shin splints. Apply an ice pack to your shins for 10-20 minutes, at least three times per day.
- Take pain relief medication: Over-the-counter painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs (such as ibuprofen) help to reduce discomfort and swelling.
- At-home stretching: If you're able to, stretching and flexing your lower leg muscles can provide temporary relief from pain.
- Physiotherapy: Your specialist might refer you for a course of physiotherapy. By strengthening the muscles in the legs and improving flexibility, you'll be less likely to experience painful shin splints.
- Increase your activity levels slowly: Once you no longer feel tibia pain, your specialist will advise you to gradually return to exercise. This might take a little while initially, but it reduces the risk of your shin pain flaring up again.
- Surgery: In extreme cases, surgery might be required to treat your shin splints. At HCA, we'll only ever refer you for surgery as a last resort. This means you'll only be referred for surgery if you've experienced severe symptoms for more than three months. If your consultant thinks surgery is the best treatment option for your shin splints, they'll perform a fasciotomy. This involves making small incisions into the fascia. This relieves pressure in the muscles surrounding the tibia, providing relief.
How to prevent shin splint pain?
If you're at risk of developing shin splints, there are a few things you can do to lessen the chances of needing shin splint treatment options. These include:
- Wear adequate footwear: Supportive, proper-fitting footwear with ample cushioning will reduce the chances of shin splints and stress fractures. If you have flat feet or high arches, speak to your podiatrist.
- Slowly increase your activity level: You should aim to increase your activity levels by no more than 10% per week. For example, if you run a total of 10km in a week, you should only aim to run 11km the next week and so on
- Warm up and stretch properly: It's important to properly warm up and stretch your muscles at the start and end of each session
- Allow time to recover: You should always try to rest your body in between different activities. If you like to run frequently, it's a good idea to cross-train by adding low-impact activities to your regime, such as swimming or cycling
- Listen to your body: If you feel tibia pain while exercising, stop and rest. If you ignore the discomfort, it might lead to stress fractures further down the line.
What happens if I don't seek medical attention for my shin splints?
If you have shin bone pain, it can go away if you follow the necessary preventative measures above. People who choose to ignore their shin splints or return to exercise too soon can develop tibial stress fractures.
Stress fractures are minuscule cracks in the bone, often in the lower legs. They develop following repetitive force or – for people with osteoporosis – from normal activities.
How to book an appointment with a specialist for shin splint relief and treatment
If you're experiencing shin bone pain and want to know more about the different treatment options available, our leading sport and exercise specialists and podiatrists can help. To book an appointment
- Book online or call
- Keep your GP referral letter on hand. We might need this to confirm your appointment and speed up the booking process.
- We'll confirm your appointment within 24 hours
Shin bone pain FAQs
Shin splints are one of the most common injuries involving the lower leg. It's thought that around one in five runners will experience shin splints at some point.
If you have shin splints, it's important to take time out of your exercise regime to let your body recover. Usually, patients with shin splints start to feel better in three or four weeks and go on to make a full recovery.
If you'd like to remain active while you wait for your shin splints to heal, you can do some low-impact exercises such as swimming or cycling, as long you're not feeling pain.
Yes, most patients will make a full recovery without needing medical intervention.
Most cases of shin splints will clear within two to six weeks. If your shin splints progress to the stress fracture stage, your recovery is likely to take between six to 12 weeks or longer.
Most patients won't need surgery to treat shin splints. We'll only ever recommend surgery if your shin splints are causing severe pain, have lasted more than three months and other non-surgical treatments have been unsuccessful.
If surgery is required, your consultant will perform a fasciotomy.
Before the procedure, your consultant will ask you some questions about your medical history, activity levels and symptoms. They'll fully explain the procedure to you and outline the potential risks and side effects. A fasciotomy is usually carried out under anaesthetic. Your consultant will discuss the different options with you beforehand. They will also need to know what medication you're on, so it's a good idea to have this information handy before your consultation.
If your consultant has advised that you have the procedure under general anaesthetic, they'll let you know how long you need to fast before the operation.
Before your operation, your surgeon will administer local or general anaesthetic (this will be pre-agreed beforehand). Once this has taken effect, your surgeon will make a small cut above the muscle compartment that's causing you pain. This will open the restrictive fascia, relieving pressure and increasing blood flow to the muscles and nerves.
If your shin bone pain is caused by tension in multiple muscle compartments, the surgeon will make multiple incisions. In extreme cases, your surgeon might remove small sections of the fascia as a solution to your shin splints.
Once the swelling has subsided, your surgeon will stitch up the incisions and you can normally return home on the same day. If a larger incision is required or your surgeon needs to repair soft tissue damage, you might need to stay in hospital overnight.
In rare cases, where the swelling caused by acute compartment syndrome is severe, your surgeon might use a skin graft to help the area heal and to decrease the risk of recurrence. As your body heals, the skin graft will fuse to the skin surrounding it.
Your surgeon will provide you with pain relief medication to help you feel more comfortable after your surgery. If your surgeon can close the incision on the same day as your surgery (when the swelling has subsided), you'll have a follow-up appointment a week or so later.
This is so your surgeon can examine the incision to check it's healing properly. If your surgeon uses a skin graft, you might need more follow-up appointments so they can continually assess the healing process.
In the first week after your surgery, you'll need to keep your leg elevated and avoid putting weight through your leg. During this time, you'll need crutches to get around.
After 10-14 days, your surgeon will take out the stitches. Once the stitches have been removed, you can start to build strength and flexibility in the area with physiotherapy sessions.
The cost of your shin splint operation will depend on the treatment recommended by your consultant. At HCA UK, your shin splint surgery price will include:
- Pre-assessment and admission tests
- Your hospital stay (accommodation and meals)
- Nursing care
- Theatre fees and drugs
- Dressings and removal of stitches
- Take-home pain relief prescriptions
You can pay for your treatment in a few different ways such as medical insurance or self-pay.
Why choose HCA for shin splints treatment?
- Fast access to quality care: We'll confirm your appointment with one of our specialists within24 hours. We can arrange same-day imaging if you need it, too
- Leading imaging facilities: Our state-of-the-art treatment centres have a range of orthopaedic imaging equipment to accurately diagnose the cause and extent of your shin splints
- We're highly recommended: In our latest patient satisfaction survey, 97% of our orthopaedic patients rated us as 'very good' or 'excellent'. 99% would recommend HCA UK to their family and friends, too
- We have the highest standards of care: Our dedication to quality care means our hospitals are rated as 'Good' or 'Outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission. Our exemplary standard of care means we have the highest proportion of 'Outstanding' ratings of any private hospital group in the UK.
This content is intended for general information only and does not replace the need for personal advice from a qualified health professional.
Our shin splints locations
Institute of Sport Exercise and Health (ISEH)
170 Tottenham Court Road W1T 7HA London
The Princess Grace Hospital
42-52 Nottingham Place W1U 5NY London
The Lister Hospital
Chelsea Bridge Road SW1W 8RH London
The Wellington Hospital
Wellington Place St John's Wood NW8 9LE London
London Bridge Hospital
27 Tooley Street SE1 2PR London
The Harborne Hospital
Mindelsohn Way B15 2FQ Birmingham
Request an appointment
If shin splints are causing you pain and discomfort, get in touch with our team. We'll book you an appointment with one of our specialists and – if needed – will help you arrange diagnostic imaging on the same day.
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