Hi Nirish,

Sorry to hear you're suffering the dreaded shin splints! I'm a physio and have recently started running (after years of despising the activity!) to find myself in a similar position. Are you running outdoors or on a treadmill? I've managed to reduce my symptoms by running on a slight incline and I also wear insoles for flat feet (which I'd stopped wearing - oops, terrible physio!) which I've started wearing again and which are uncomfortable for me at present when running but reduce the problems I get with shin splints. If you do have flat feet, it means you turn in slightly more on your foot, which puts more stress on the tibia as it rotates when you run and obviously running is high impact - running faster / longer = more impact which makes it worse. Take some anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen - if you don't have any stomach probs / allergies) and use a topical cream like ibuprofen gel or ice before/after exercise (bag of frozen peas wrapped in wet flannel/towel where it hurts for about 15-20 mins). Also make sure you're in good running shoes / trainers (which I hope you are)!

Failing this, if it doesn't improve, see a local physio to get things assessed. If you think you have flat feet, a podiatrist can sort you out with some insoles.

Hope this helps!