Worried About Shin Splints? How's Your Ankle Mobility?

Worried About Shin Splints? How's Your Ankle Mobility?

If you have pain in the front of your shin, the most obvious diagnosis is Shin Splints, or Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome. If left untreated, this can develop into a Stress Fracture, or chronic Tendonosis. While this isn’t the only diagnosis (which is why you should get evaluated by an MD or PT), it’s the one I am going to talk about.

Shin splints is caused by increased stress on the front of the shin. One of the most common causes of this is a tightness in the ankle joint. To overcome the tightness, the tibialis anterior muscle on the front of the shin works way harder than it should, and this leads to pain.

Try this- go up to a wall and put your toes on the wall. Move your knee forward- can you touch the wall? Now move your toes back a little. Can you still reach the wall with your knee? Normal ankle mobility is toes 4 inches from the wall, heel on the ground, and knee to the wall (as shown below).

If you cannot do this- start working on your ankle mobility with a calf stretch.