Chelsea Hoy, associate artistic director and performer at Trinity Irish Dance Company, has struggled with shin splints throughout her career. She says the condition, which manifests as pain in the front of the lower leg, was most distressing during the two-hour shows that comprise the company’s multi-city tours. “You’re in your Irish soft shoes floating in the air and then you’re in your hard shoes thundering,” she says, “and the combination of those things is what makes this form so intoxicating for the audience. It also puts a very unique strain on the body.”
Although the shin splints have been a challenge for Hoy, she says she has learned ways to manage the condition and limit flare-ups so she can continue to perform. With a targeted approach focused on prevention, dancers can get ahead of shin splints so they don’t interfere with dancing.
What are shin splints?
Shin splints, or medial tibial stress syndrome, refers to “pain in the muscles in the front of the lower leg, below the knee, and along the length of the shin,” says Joshua Honrado, DAT, an athletic trainer who works with dancers at NYU Langone’s Harkness Center for Dance Injuries . Dancers are particularly prone to shin splints, especially when they experience a sudden increase in rehearsals or performances, such as during The Nutcracker: season “Exercise naturally increases blood flow to the muscles, causing the muscles to expand,” Honrado explains. “This is a natural occurrence, but if the body is unable to heal itself effectively after prolonged bouts of intensity, the intramuscular pressure will continue to build up, making it difficult for the body to heal itself properly.”
Getting the right treatment:
Shin splints are usually easy for a health care provider to diagnose, Honrado says, but it’s important to seek professional guidance to make sure you’re not suffering from a more serious injury, such as a stress fracture. Pain in the bone or a feeling of numbness or tingling may be an indicator of a larger problem.
For dancers who have shin splints, the doctor may order an X-ray or a compartment pressure test (which measures the difference in muscle pressure before and after physical activity). With shin splints, the first step to recovery is often rest or modification. “Reducing your training volume, whether that means reducing the number of jumps or relays, will help reduce intramuscular pressure,” Honrado explains, adding that “it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stay out of dance altogether.”
Hoy says icing before and after shows and using tape to “give a little extra security” were key to her coping with shin splints. She also recommends finding a medical professional who specializes in dry needling to help release the muscles in the shin area.
Preventing future flare-ups
For dancers prone to shin splints, it is helpful to anticipate stressors. When there is an increase in dance-related demands, such as a busy performance season or learning new choreography with a lot of jumping, Honrado recommends slowly increasing the exercises to prepare the body. “Gradually incorporating plyometrics about two to three weeks before this intense bout of dance is important to gradually build that muscular endurance and flexibility so that there is no shock from a rapid increase in intramuscular pressure,” he explains.
If bounces or long periods of jumping are making shin splints worse, Honrado recommends starting with a very basic jumping program (he offers sottes and changes to parallel, first, and second positions, as well as parallel jumps) for about five minutes, three times a week For those who have access to a Pilates reformer, jumping board work is also a good option. Honrado says that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can also be an effective way to incorporate muscular endurance and cardio-respiratory exercise, but he tells dancers to be careful about the intensity, as these classes can worsen shin splints. if they are not part of a multi-stage growth process.
It’s also important to be honest with your teacher, choreographer, or artistic director when struggling with shin splints. Speaking as both a dancer and member of the Trinity Irish Dance Company’s artistic team, Hoy encourages dancers to be transparent about how they feel. “We want to protect [dancers] long-term,” she says. “As an organization we need our dancers to be as healthy as possible, but it’s also for their lives because these injuries can carry over whether you’re still in your career or retired .”