Shin Splints: Why They Keep Coming Back and What Actually Fixes Them
Shin splints are one of those injuries that seem straightforward on the surface. Your shins hurt when you run. Rest for a bit, and they feel better. Start running again, and they come straight back. If that cycle sounds familiar, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most frustrating patterns we see in clinic, and it usually means the real cause hasn’t been addressed.
What are shin splints?
The clinical term is medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS). It’s a pain along the inner edge of your shin bone (tibia) that occurs when the muscles, tendons, and bone tissue around the tibia become overloaded. It typically starts as a mild ache at the beginning of exercise and can progress to a constant, sharp pain if you push through it.
Shin splints symptoms
Most people describe a dull, aching pain along the inside of the lower leg. In the early stages, it comes on at the start of a run and sometimes eases once you warm up. As the condition progresses, the pain can last throughout activity, continue after you stop, and eventually show up during daily activities like walking.
You might also notice mild swelling along the shin and tenderness when you press along the inner border of the tibia.
What causes shin splints?
Rest and ice will calm the symptoms down, but if you want to stop shin splints from coming back, you need to understand why they started. The most common contributing factors we identify are:
Training errors. Increasing your running distance or intensity too quickly is the most common trigger. Adding more than 10% per week is a rough guide, but even that can be too much for some people.
Hard surfaces. Training on concrete or bitumen creates more impact through the lower leg than grass or a track.
Foot mechanics. Overpronation (your foot rolling inward too much) puts extra stress on the medial tibial structures. Poor ankle mobility compounds the issue.
Weak glutes and core. When your hips aren’t stable, your lower leg has to absorb forces it’s not designed to handle. This is one of the most overlooked causes of shin splints.
Back and hip issues. If your spine or pelvis isn’t moving well, it changes the way your entire lower limb loads during gait. The shin often becomes the weak link.
Footwear. Worn-out shoes or shoes that don’t suit your foot type can make a real difference.
Shin splints treatment: what actually works
In the acute phase, managing the inflammation matters. Rest from the aggravating activity (not complete rest from everything) and ice for 15 to 20 minutes every few hours for the first day or two will help settle things down.
But that’s symptom management, not treatment. The treatment is identifying and correcting whatever is causing the overload in the first place.
At Basham Chiropractic, we start with a full assessment that includes gait analysis, orthopaedic and neurological testing, muscle strength testing, and a detailed look at your training history. From there, we build a treatment plan that targets your specific contributing factors.
That might include dry needling to release the overworked muscles of the lower leg, joint mobilisation of the ankle and foot to improve mobility, taping techniques for support during recovery, soft tissue therapy, orthotic prescription if your foot mechanics need addressing, and rehabilitation exercises targeting your glutes, core, and lower limb control.
Once the pain has settled and we’ve addressed the underlying issues, we’ll put together a sport-specific return-to-play plan. This is a structured, progressive program that builds your training load back up safely so you’re not just crossing your fingers and hoping the shin splints don’t return.
When to get help
If your shin pain has been coming and going for weeks or months, or if it’s getting worse despite resting, it’s time to get assessed properly. Ongoing shin splints that don’t respond to rest can sometimes develop into a stress fracture, so it’s worth getting on top of it sooner rather than later.