After following a fitness regime for a while, you push your body to a higher level, a more aggressive approach, and you see a strain, a nagging discomfort in your shin bone. This is a shin strain caused by over-exertion on your shinbone and the connective tissues that attach muscles to the bones in the area. It gets inflamed and, thus, turns painful.

Change in fitness regime isn’t the only cause of this problem. Referred to as medial tibial stress syndrome in medical terms, the strain can also be caused by the following reasons:

  1. Flat feet or overpronation: A postural deformity that is one of the main causes of shin strain, flat feet occurs when the entire sole of the foot comes in complete or near-complete contact with the ground. It happens when the arch in the middle of the feet collapses. On average, 20-30% of the entire population has arches that never develop and, thus, may suffer from this. 
  2. Shoes: The right shoe is a nice boon, but the wrong shoe can be a more significant bane. Ask doctors, and they’ll tell you how important it is for a shoe to fit right. It the arch of the shoe is too rigid to flex/adjust with the feet, it can cause acute shin strains, and the problem persists until the shoe is used. 
  3. Working out without warmup: This is one of the major problems that causes shin strains. Amateur footballers often complain about shin strains, not knowing that the problem lies in the preparation, and not in the game. Playing or training hard without the right warmup is a curse and can lead to lengthy issues. 
  4. Weak bottom half: Weak ankles, hips, or core muscles can be one of the major issues that cause shin strains. Running to catch a bus and feeling a tinge of pain? Shin strain could be a significant reason, caused only because you’ve weak ankles, hips, or core muscles. The connective tissues aren’t strong enough to take the entire load of the body suddenly, and the inflammation caused is noteworthy. 

 

It is a problem commonly found in sportspersons, dancers & military personnel. The sudden increase in activity can overstress muscles, tissues, and tendons, and this is the prime cause for the same. Let us look at the solutions. Not overstraining, choosing the right shoes, supporting your arches well, and not putting your body through sudden strains can be useful preventive measures. 

 

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