Because no one goes to the injury forum I'll post this here. I have shin splints BAD in both legs, so I need to know what causes these terrible things and how to get rid of them or help heal them and deal with the pain. We run twice a week on our school's track and I'm in terrible pain each time. These have been around since October. Any help is appreciated.

Well the best scenario for shin splints is rest, especially if they have progressed.

In addition you should ice each and every day to reduce inflamation and consider getting some deep tissue massage or ART treatment.

Also, here's a trick that works wonders on shin splints, but if they have progressed as you mentioned, then the above needs to be your focus.

Stand on one leg for 60 seconds. Switch legs. Repeat 3 times. Do this everyday.

VERY simple, yet VERY effective, especially to prevent shin splints.

Shantzee i went through the same thing. I get em extremelly bad on the track. No idea why, but i went to a doctor and he said its growing. Im 6'4" and he said that it is deals with bone on bone grinding sometimes and some habits of movement during growth. Im 17 now and they are not a problem anymore, either because i gained the strenght, or they went away due to the end of height growth. BUT!

It was my habit that it came down to in the end. I ran on my heals rather than my toes. So you may wanna check that out.

But what worked for me when i did run on my heals is i ran in the grass to the outside or inside of the track.

ALSO.... try this, when we ran, i would do this:

1. Run two laps to warm up.
2. Stretch the whole body, and then run another 2 (so you total a mile on a my track at school)
3. After that mile, they usually would be throbbing bad. And so what i would do is Walk on my heals, and then my toes, then Pigeo toed, then Penguin foot. (So pigeon to with the toes pointed at a 45 degree angle in, and 45 degree out for penguin toe, incase you dont know what they are.)
4. They would start to dwindle and decrease a bit, so i would continue another 2 miles, and then that was it. The team usually was done and i came in the rear but my coach knew of my shin splints.

They stuck with me for a good 3 years. From about 13-16, whether it be Baseball or Basketball running on the track. They were right on the front of my shin on the lower part.

But my other technique was to do a catcher squat except with my heels together.

I used to suffer from bad shin splints in high school and college. I think it came about from running on hard pavement and possibly the way I landed on my feet. We did not have the high tech running shoes of today.The thing I remember that helped the most was wearing what looks like a rubber skindiver's suit sheath over my legs from my knees to my ankles. This was about 40 years ago and I can't remember where I got them. Maybe you can surf the web and find a source.I also tried to run on softer surfaces whenever I could.

I looked on the web and came up with this. They look similar to what I wore.

http://supports4less.com/birdcronin/calfsupports/bc-calf-support.htm

thanks for the responses from what I read Conducted a bit of a semi-study. We ran some long distance and short distance today, during the short distance I ran on my toes and the pain wasn't as bad, I do usually run on my toes when I'm sprinting anyway... but when the long distance started the pain came quick and was terrible again, I had someone tell me how I was running, they said I was on my heels, I guess that might be the problem.

Its a hard habit because i know that when i had the habit, i would get tired and my posture to run would suffer. Thus i went from the toes to the heel.

The most common cause of "shin splints" in runners is improper running form. Continual overuse and lower limb misalignment can lead to fractures (as what can happen to track runners who attempt to run through the pain). Tiny microfractures actually appear each time you feel the pain because your lower extremeties are out of line from your tendons and joints (resulting in an uneven balance of stress across the tibia). I would highly suggest altering your training regimen to improve running form and the pain should subside.

Hope this helps!

I'm surprised that no one has said that shin splints are an inflamation of the tendon or the sheath (not sure which) - anyway they hurt like they do because of the limited space there on top of the bone and so the nerves are compressed and of course that means pain.
I would do what Jon and DrRyan have suggested unless they are very bad, then of course see a ortho doctor and maybe a PT. Running on heels would be jarring and of course in this inflamed condition would cause pain.
I had them in HS and dealt with them in a not so perfect manner. I was on the track team and it was either the end of the first week or somewhere in the 2nd week of the season and I had them "bad" and had not ever had them before in prior seasons. My "buddy" said to go see the coach and he had some sort of ointment that was like Ben-*** but didn't burn like it. Also our track coach required us to always wear sweats until the temperature was well above 70 degrees. So gullible me went to see the coach and got the "miracle" ointment. Pulled up my sweats, put it on my shins, pulled my sweats down and headed for the outside door to jog to the track. Well, my shins got warm, then warmer and they were pretty hot by the time I got to the track. I began our mile run warm-up for practice and somewhere in the middle of it - MY LEGS WERE ON FIRE!!! THE PAIN WAS WORSE THAN THE SHIN SPLINTS!!! I had to stop and began to pull up my sweats. My teammates began yelling at me that the coach did not allow that. Well, I was also realizing that the ointment was also now stuck on my sweats and that I was spreading it up my leg from pulling my sweats up. So I stopped that and took the cuffs and began rolling them inside out. Teammates were still telling me that coach would not allow that, but I couln't care at that point. When I got them rolled up past my knees, I finished my warm-up (in a somewhat cooler condition, but still toasty). The coach never said anything to me that I recall (he may have said something jokingly to me - I know I was a sight). My "buddy" was having a good laugh by now. Well from the pain of that ointment, I couldn't feel the shin splint pain.
I don't know what I did - maybe I damaged all my nerve endings, but I never had shin splints from that day on.
I certainly would not recommend this a treatment, but I thought to share it for a laugh.
Ah, youth.

Tim Robertson

That reminds of the movie "Major Payne" where he injures some other part of the body to take the guy's mind off his other injuries!!

But Tim is absolutely correct about some of the pain also resulting from the repetitive tension of the tibialis posterior tendon (this is the one that lifts the heel when running flat-footed and also inverts the ankle). It becomes a bone problem when running technique isn't changed to reduce the tension on this tendon.

And for all the anatomy people out there, the tibialis posterior tendon attaches near the interosseus membrane between the fibula and the tibia. The deep fibular nerve runs along the interosseous membrane. So increased tension on the tendon will refer pain down the deep fibular nerve, even though the injury is occurring to a tendon on the back of the leg.