I am going to ask a really stupid question because I am new to this. What is a “shin splint”? I know it is an injury involving the shin but beyond that I don’t know anything about them like how do you get them etc.
Thanks in advance for the help.
George
george
It’s kind of an over worked shin muscles which, if not treated, can tear. http://www.200.com/shindef2.htm
Hear’s a quick def. An extended version of this tear is where the front shin muscle is actualy torn partially from where it connects to the upper shin bone. Usually painful as hell alone the front and inside of the shin alone the bone. Swelling and stiff pain, most intense as I have experienced it.
Bushwhack
on really long days after a month of straight hiking. I’ve heard it has something to do, in addition to the link above, calf muscles overpowering the front muscles that surround the shin. Stretching and hydration helps prevent them. After they start, I just grin and bear it. In a week or two they go away, even while walking 20+ miles a day on them.:x
Tha Wookie
is a term not used very often anymore but has a high level of recognition.It is a broad term used to cover diverse symptoms that may not be related.Important to be clear where the pain is located,it could mean the diff between overuse syndromes and stress fractures.
This is avoidable!Stretching,and gradual increase of activity.Wookie is right,it can be caused by imbalance.
Can be decreased/relieved with small heel lift.(temp.fix)"Walking it off"is not a good plan,get it evaluated early.
There is much more to this then I have laid out.
It is extremly avoidable,handle that way.
Everhiking Oo
Onlyone
I’ve had them. Lots of intense pain. They tend to go away over time, and are often just a getting in shape thing. People that are out of shape and then try to get in shape or do something, like a thru hike, which will put them in shape, will experience lots of aches and pains from the getting in shape process.
Best to slow down and take it easy a bit until the pain goes away. Walking it out or working it out is good, but only to a point. You can overdo it. “No pain, no gain” is true, but pain is there for a reason-----and if with a little working/walking it out, it gets worse, then rest of a day or so may be required.
It’s kind of hard to tell when too much is too much. I’d say just take it slow and easy to start, it will take 2 to 3 weeks to get in shape. At that point, all pain should pretty much be gone, but if you overdo it on any given day, the pain will come to let you know you did. So listen to your body, but also remember that pain is a natural part of getting in shape.
See you out there. :cheers
Maintain
I’m not a doctor, but I’ve looked into this extensively for the painful reason you’d expect… 
Onlyone is correct. “Shin splint” is a general term for a pain in the front or sides of the lower leg. Several different problems can cause such pains. However, it seems that many of those problems have the same root cause: overstrengthening of the muscles in the calf relative to those in the front of the leg. A simple corrective exercise is to WALK ON YOUR HEELS. You’ll soon feel certain that the muscles on the front are getting a workout!
Apparently choice footwear can also cause pain in the front of the leg. For some, inadequate padding is the problem. but, for others, too much padding (and hence a lack of stability) is the difficulty. I don’t really understand how you know which, though-- something about whether you have a high arch or not.
Eric
i never got them, but i helped a couple of people who did.
you can either stretch them yourself by somehow putting the ball of your foot on a wall and pulling yourself towards the wall. (i’m not exactly sure how this works, but i’ve seen people do it.) or, i did this for people, you can sit on the ground and have someone pull down on the top of your foot to stretch it, but you can’t pull back while the person is pulling down on your foot.
zero
spelling out the alphabet once a day with each foot, bending at the ankle and not the knee, is a great way to condition a hiker against shin splints and will greatly strengthen ankles. I learned that AFTER my last bout with the splints
Tha Wookie
I agree with Eric and onlyone. I have done a lot of research on “shinsplints” since having fairly bad shinsplints one week during my thruhike this past year. It is a general term.
My case was apparently the rare case where the shin splints are caused by my ankle not being properly aligned (thereby inflaming the muscles/tendons, etc…in the shin area). I walked for 4 days on a very painful left shin area, then took 2 1/2 days off. Immediately after hiking again, the pain was back. I met up with another thruhiker named “Healer” who thought it might be caused by an ankle problem (in addition to the “shin splint” type of pain, my ankle was swollen). Healer did an “ankle adjustment” which involved rotating the ankle. From then onwards my shin/ankle felt better each step I took and was back to normal in a couple of days.
As I understand it though, this is not the normal cause of shinsplints, which would be overuse/stress on lower leg muscles, etc…good streatching and working your way up to longer days is the key!
Undetermined