Had a amatuer sprinter come in with chronic tightness in some muscles - we did shockwave on her to massage but also got her to foam roll in specific areas as well as getting the odd sports massage inbetween treatments. i would also look at your nutrion in a case like this and generally always put people on magnizium calcium and potassium suppliments in easy absorbable forms (malate).
she is getting much better and the muscle feel a lot better. are your sports ntherapy sessions worth it - well yes but you would be better off doing stretching, sports massage and shockwave all within a focused period but your condition is chronic dont expect it to go overnight.

there are many (4) reasons for shin splints the least common is bone actually cracking the most common is what you discribe.