Shin Splints

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What to Expect at your Health Care Provider's Office

The health care provider will perform a physical examination and will obtain your medical history.

Medical history questions documenting your symptom in detail may include the following:

• Time pattern
  • When did the pain develop?
  • Is it present all of the time?
• Quality
  • Describe the pain.
  • Is it a sharp pain?
• Location
  • Are both legs affected?
  • Where exactly on the leg is the pain?
• Aggravating factors
  • Have you recently begun exercising?
  • Have you recently increased the amount that you exercise?
  • Have you recently changed the type of exercise that you do?
• Relieving factors
  • What have you done for the pain?
  • How well did it work?
• Other: What other symptoms are also present?

The physical examination may include an examination of the legs.

Home treatment will be prescribed for any of the different types of shin splints. Surgical intervention might be indicated in the rare event that shin splints caused by an anterior compartment syndrome do not go away over time. The pressure can be relieved by splitting the tough, fibrous tissue that surrounds the muscles. Surgery may also be necessary in the cases of nonhealing stress fractures.