Joanne Lee SmithChronic pain and symptoms recovery Nurse / Coach

The Importance of Shin Pain Diagnosis

2 Aug 2024 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:26

In this YouTube monologue, runner Joanne Smith draws on her 11 years of running experience to discuss how the term "shin splints" can create a painful, vague image that obscures the true variety of shin‑related conditions. She argues that labeling the issue simply as "shin pain" better reflects the many possible underlying causes. Smith emphasizes that without a proper diagnosis—beyond just resting and stopping running—certain types of shin pain will not improve, making accurate identification essential for achieving pain‑free running.

Chapters

I'm just going to share what I know, what I know that from personal experience has been true for me and true for people that I've met along my 11-year journey of running. So that's why I think going back to a few years ago where a lot of people thought we're no longer going to call it shin splints, because actually imagine what do you think when you think shin splints? Pain. I know in my mind I've got this horrible image of the shins are all, you know, like if a pole or a branch snaps and it's all cracked and sharp. And I don't know, I get quite a graphic image that comes to my mind. But you could compare it with things like arthritis or sciatica or, you know, all these broad terms that don't really diagnose or mean anything. So yeah, when we're thinking about shin splints, We'll call it shin pain, and there's— because it can be so many different reasons, and often people could be— potentially you could be resting it and not running, but you'll never get better if it's a certain type of issue that's causing that particular shin pain. Like, you could just never get anywhere with it. So having the correct diagnosis is so important for being able to eventually, you know, run pain-free.