Shin Splints or injury?
 

Crud. The dreaded shin splint. Does anyone know if they are more likely affect both shins? I had my final soccer game a few weeks ago and went shin-to-shin with another player. There was a big bruise and some swelling for a few days and it's almost gone. It's still pretty tender, but in the absence of soccer I've started with just some running during my noon hour and some stair climbing along with some resistance training.
The past two days, the bruised shin has started to ache during the day, and I was wondering if maybe it was shin splints or the injury? Any thoughts?
I read that sometimes a hairline fracture can feel like shin splints.
Thx,
Tam

Only a doctor or sports therapist would be able to tell you for sure.

When I had shin splints my doc said absolutely no running for 1 month (so I took to the elliptical machine) and I had to take 800mg of ibuprofen 3x a day with meals.



This is from the health encyclopedia of - disease and conditions. If you suspect a fracture you should see a doctor before going back to exercising.

An important injury to distinguish from shin splints is a stress fracture (a small hairline crack in the shinbone) which develops slowly after repeated stress and impact to the leg. Symptoms develop during exercise and include a sudden, burning pain. Unlike other forms of shin splints where pain is spread out over the shin, you can pinpoint the spot from which the pain of a stress fracture is emanating. In mild to moderate cases, the pain subsides when exercise ends, and will heal completely with adequate rest in a month or so.

From what you're describing and the way the initial injury was brought about, it sounds either like shin splints from starting the running, or the bruise didn't heal properly. The change from running on grass to a less forgiving surface could be the culprit.

As far as relief - applying arnica cream on the injury site, taking fish oil tablets and even a good magnesium powder can all help reduce sports injuries and inflammation).

Just my opinion, though - really, a physiotherapist is the person to see, and if it gets super bad - you could look into getting some xr-ays.

I used to play soccer and I know exactly how much shin on shin collisions hurt! But never to the point where I'd get a bruise as bad as yours sounds.

What kind of shin pads do you wear, Greeneggsandtam? That could also have been why it was a harsh collision.