What should I do about shin splints?

Pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong. Shinsplints are a type of injury, and has a cause. If you keep repeating the activities that cause the injury, the injury will not heal, it will get worse. Eventually, it will become bad enough to force you to avoid those activities.

It may be that if you rest, the injury will heal, and the injured area will become stronger, so the injury will not reoccur. But, don't count on it. It may heal, but become re-injured when the activities that caused the injury resume.

Some people's use of the word "shinsplints" is vague, and refers to any pain in or near the tibia. You could have a stress fracture or some other specific injury causing pain in the shins.

Here is my advice: 1) Bring this to the attention of your coach. 2) Get a consultation with a sports medicine specialist.

Do NOT run through the pain. You should have your coach or someone very knowledgeable with body mechanics and running to watch your gait, to see if there's anything you need to correct that could be causing it. Also, make sure you've got the right kind of shoes for your feet and they aren't worn out.

Seeing a doctor for an injury is NEVER a bad idea, especially for a teen or young adult (injuries now could become more serious and plague you throughout your life if not addressed properly). You need to know WHY you developed shin splints, not just take time off to RICE until the pain goes away. If you don't fix the cause, the symptom will return (and quite possibly be worse/more serious).

If they're causing you pain then you should be icing them and giving them some rest.

See a doctor and get a note to let you rest for a few days if you have to.

Have one week off with no running.

Let them heal. Use ice. If they are bad enough that means a little time off. Sometimes it means running on the grass instead of the hard track to let them get better while still training. My experience is that coaches, if they are real track coaches and not just some teacher they begged to do it, know how you should be handling this.