Blog Shin Splints
February 11th, 2008This week’s newsletter has an interview with Mike Reid, a strength coach from Gothia Basket in Sweden. One question discusses shin splints, as I see players frequently complaining of shin splint symptoms, something I never even heard of when I was playing. As always, I am curious as to the causes leading to these changes. In addition to Reid’s answer which appears in the newsletter, he forwarded me this research paper. Unfortunately, it provides few answers:
Results: The use of shock-absorbent insoles, foam heel pads, heel cord stretching, alternative footwear, as well as graduated running programs among military recruits have undergone assessment in controlled trials. There is no strong support for any of these interventions…
Conclusion: Our review yielded little objective evidence to support widespread use of any existing interventions to prevent shin splints. The most encouraging evidence for effective prevention of shin splints involves the use of shock-absorbing insoles. However, serious flaws in study design and implementation constrain the work in this field thus far. A rigorously implemented research program is critically needed to address this common sports medicine problem.