Shin Splints: What Are They Really?

Watching the Boston Marathon reminds some extemely sympathetic spectators (no, not me–it just makes me thirsty) of the pain of shin splints, a common injury among runners in training for Big Events like this. But what are shin splints? We know they’re not splints, but the shin part does sounds likely. This answer, provided to The Scientific American by Claude T. Moorman III, director of sports medicine at Duke University Medical Center, is one of the most helpful available. Moorman tells us that “shin splints” is a layman’s term for pain felt between the knee and the ankle, and that they result from repetitive stress, rather than from an acute injury. The good news, he says, is that they often disappear if a runner finds a softer running shoe or adds an arch support. Moorman also recommends “active rest,” which means that a runner should take up swimming or biking for a while, which gives the shins a rest while maintaining cardio fitness.