Some more stuff on shin splints.
fwiw, medial = middle; anterior = outside
In the picture above of the lower right leg, look to the left side of the picture, near the "1"....the first muscle you see is the tibialis anterior (behind it is the soleus; somewhere behind it is the tibialis posterior). As the muscles travel down the tibia, the accompanying tendons attach in different spots....but both attach at some point on the arch of the foot. The tibialis posterior attaches near the ball of the big toe. As the foot is over stressed, the arch can flatten out a bit and ends up putting stress on either (or both) of the tendons....that stress is manifested in the muscles....which is where you feel the pain.
As many have said, best bet is to warm up slowly...also consider shoes with solid arch support to help prevent overstressing of the tendons.
The most common form is inflammation of the tendon that runs down and behind the inside anklebone and hooks into the inside central portion of the arch. (tibialis posterior) This muscle helps decrease the impact as your foot hits the pavement. If your foot is excessively flat, this muscle can undergo quite a bit of strain and develop problems.
The next most common form of shin splints involves the tibialis anterior tendon. This tendon runs on the front of the leg and inserts onto the top mid portion of the arch. The muscle for this tendon on the outside and upper tibia. If your calf muscle is tight, the injury may be because a tight calf limits ankle motion which causes the foot to hit the pavement harder...leading to fatigue, inflammation and pain.
Stress fractures can also cause shin splints. They usually involve the tibia and is usually diagnoses by lots of pain when pressure is applied to the front of the bone, where it is close to the skin. Sometimes X-rays detect stress fractures...but sometimes other tests are used. The most common test is a radioactive labeled technetium bone scan.....ok, more than you need...I will quit now.
