Shin splints, or medial tibial stress syndrome, is a diffuse ache
along the inside of the shin that builds over a few weeks of
training, fades with rest, and comes back around week three of the
next build. It's one of the most commonly recorded running injuries
(Kakouris et al., 2021).
Bone adapts to load, but only as fast as it can repair. How much you
run matters, but so does how sharply force arrives on each step.
Researchers call it the vertical loading rate, and high loading
rates are associated with tibial stress injuries (LER review).
Loading rate is trainable. In the largest gait-retraining trial to
date, runners coached to lower it had a 16% injury rate over the
following year against 38% in the control group (Chan et al., 2018). This page covers what GaitLab Coach looks for when you flag shin
pain.
A foot landing well ahead of the hips acts like a brake. The ground
pushes back against your direction of travel, and the shock travels
up a relatively straight leg into the tibia instead of being
absorbed by the ankle and knee. Shorter strides consistently mean
lower impact forces and lower tibial loading (stride length and impact review).
Heel striking on its own isn't the problem. Trouble comes from the
combination: heel first, far in front, on a nearly straight knee.
That bypasses the ankle's spring and produces the highest loading
rates. Forcing a forefoot strike just moves the load to the calf.
Landing closer to your hips with a slightly bent knee works better.
Cadence ties it together. At a low step rate you take fewer, longer
steps, each spending more time on the ground and hitting harder.
Raise it a modest amount and stride length shortens on its own.
Pain that appears after a jump in volume or speed and eases with
rest
Shin soreness alongside heavy, loud, or slapping footfalls
A pattern that survives new shoes, compression sleeves, and rest
blocks
What the video shows
Landing position
Pause at first contact and drop a line from your hip. A foot
well ahead of it is the pattern that loads the shin.
Knee at contact
Straight transmits; slightly bent absorbs. A straight knee
almost always accompanies a reaching foot.
Cadence
Measured on-device from the video. A 5–10% increase reduces
vertical loading rate and joint loads without hurting economy
(Sports Health, 2025).
Contact time
A foot that lingers on the ground usually means a longer,
heavier stride.
What GaitLab Coach does with it
Flag shin splints before recording and the analysis weights its
findings toward impact: landing position, knee angle at contact,
cadence. The full report explains each finding and suggests a cue
and drill to practice.
The 4-week plan for a shin case leads with a cadence cue and landing
drills (A-skips, wall lean), adds eccentric calf work so the calf
takes more of the load, and keeps mileage flat while the pattern
changes. One or two prioritized changes beat a checklist (Bramah et al., JOSPT 2022).
Findings ranked by how much they change loading rate, not by how
visible they are
A plan that changes one thing at a time so you can tell what
worked
A re-test after four weeks that compares landing position and
cadence against your baseline clip
When form isn't the culprit
Shin pain is often a training-load story: too much, too fast, too
soon, a sudden switch to much firmer or softer shoes, poor sleep, or
under-fueling. Form work doesn't fix a reckless build. And some shin
pain isn't shin splints. Pain that is sharp and focused on one spot
on the bone, hurts when you hop on one leg, or aches at rest and at
night is a red flag for a bone stress injury and needs a clinician
before any drill work. GaitLab Coach flags movement patterns; it
can't examine bone.
Form decides how sharply force arrives at the tibia on each
step. Overstriding and heel-first landings on a straight knee
produce high loading rates, which are associated with tibial
stress injuries. Retraining that lowered impact loading cut
injury occurrence in a year-long RCT.
Do I need to change my foot strike?
Usually not directly. Land closer to your hips with a slightly
bent knee and your strike pattern tends to soften on its own.
Forcing a forefoot strike moves the load to the calf and
Achilles.
Should I see someone before doing form work?
If the pain is sharp, localized to one spot, present at rest, or
worse when hopping, yes, to rule out a bone stress injury first.
Use this guide to understand the movement patterns discussed in a
report. In GaitLab, select the relevant injury context before your
analysis, or skip injury selection for general form feedback.
Start with free form highlights and slow-motion replay. Ranked
findings and the 4-week drill plan require the optional Premium
unlock. A video-based form assessment cannot confirm the cause of
pain.
Record your run, flag shin splints, and get the impact-related
patterns ranked in order. Free to start. The full report, with the
1–10 score, ranked findings, and 4-week plan, is a one-time $4.99
unlock.