Hi, I'm Doctor Nick Askey with Airrosti Rehab Centers and today we're going to be discussing
a very commonly diagnosed condition, which is shin splints and also other conditions
that tend to mimic the symptoms of shin splints. We're going to discuss anatomy mechanism of
injury and the traditional medical management of shin splints.
On the other hand we're going to discuss how Airrosti is different and how we resolve shin
splints and these other conditions rapidly by treating the cause of the problem rather
then just the symptoms associated with it. Next, we are going to use this chart here
to show the anatomy behind shin splints, which is actually a very rare condition. We're going
to contrast that with the other contributors of shin pain which are actually much more
common.
Alright first were going to start with shin splints. Shin splints are defined as an inflammation
of the attachment of what we call the interosseous membrane. The interosseous membrane is a thick
sheet of fascia between your two shinbones. And how this inflammation occurs is with an
old ankle sprain, which will rotate the bone in your ankle called the talus, and when the
talus rotates every step you take or every impact you have, it will spread the shinbones
apart which puts stress and inflammation on the sheet of fascia. This is actually a very
rare presentation because it takes a very severe sprain to rotate the talus enough to
cause shin splints. In contrast what many people mistake as shin splints is actually
a tendonitis up the muscles that cross the ankle. There's one on the inside called tibialis
posterior, there's one along the front, which is tibialis anterior, and then there's one
on the outside called the peroneal musculature. And when those muscles get inflamed and irritated
they can mimic shin splints. Also you can have stress fractures down here in the tibia.
You can also have what is called this compartment syndrome and that's also misdiagnosed as shin
splints.
So now we differentiated between traditional shin splints, which are rare and these other
more common conditions that can cause shin pain. The causes of these conditions are overtraining
or ramping up your training too quickly, running with poor running form, gymnastics, dance,
cheerleading, the sports that are done on unstable surfaces and old untreated ankle
injuries and foot injuries.
Now that we've discussed the anatomy on a chart, we are going to show you on Amanda,
our volunteer, where patients typically present with pain with traditional shin splints and
with these more common conditions. The typical patient comes in the office and says, "Doctor
I have shin pain. I have shin splints." And when they typically point to where their pain
is it is in this strip here on the middle side of the shin coming around the arch and
into the foot. Now it doesn't have to be in the whole strip, just in this line here. And
the most common cause of pain in this tendon and muscle is collapse of the arch or over
pronation. They can also have pain in the front here, which is the tibialis anterior
and the most common cause of this pain is heel strike running form and working on an
unstable surface. If someone has traditional shin splints, in the rare occasion, they complain
of deep pain in this strip right in front and down in the front above the ankle.
Traditional medical management of shin pain is what we call rice: rest, ice, compress,
elevate. You are going to be told to ice the area and stay off of it for about six weeks.
In severe cases you may be on crutches or a walking boot. In either case you are going
to be working out very much for about six weeks. In contrast, at Airrosti we're fixing
the cause of the problem rather than just taking weight off of it or prescribing anti-inflammatories.
So we're going to be treating the fascia tissue in the lower leg, the ankle, and the foot
to clear out the cause of the problem and then we give you preventative strategies and
rehabilitative exercises to prevent further injury.
Now, to wrap things up, I'm going to give you a few tips to prevent shin pain. First,
don't just jump into an exercise program, gradually ramp up your activity to avoid injury.
Second, going to a local running store get fit for the proper footwear for your activity.
And lastly make sure that we're stabilizing these old ankle injuries if you have an old
ankle injury or you currently have shin pain come on in call and schedule an appointment
we would be more than happy to evaluate that for you. Thank you so much for watching the
video today, we hope that the information presented was beneficial and useful.