Shin Splints

When I was suffering from shin pain I asked myself the  question; shin splints or a stress fracture?

In the end, my pain, which was exruciating and made it difficult to walk, resvolved itself with massage, physiotherapy and rest, and I was able to get back to running pain free in three weeks. I had an X-ray done to see if there was a stress fracture or not. By the time I got to talk about the X-rays, which were inconclusive, the pain was gone and I was back running. I’m pretty sure if it was a stress fracture I wouldn’t have got back to running so quickly.

So my advice, while you are waiting on the results of the tests, would be to treat it as shin splints and see how it pans out with ice, rest and physiotherapy (I had massage, e-stim, calf and quad stretches, shin strenghthening exercises). Apply plenty of ice (I used ice frozen in a foam cup) and anti inflammatory gels. Maybe you could try running on softer surfaces. Perhaps only run every second day, cut back your mileage and intensity. Maybe your shoes are worn, or you need to look into custom made orthotics?