Risk Factors for Self-Reported Exercise-Related Leg Pain in High School Cross-Country Athletes (Original Research) (Report‪)‬

Exercise-related leg pain (ERLP) is a regional pain syndrome occurring in athletes that manifests as pain between the knee and the ankle during exercise. (1-3) Pathoanatomic entities causing this syndrome include medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), tibial stress fractures, tendinopathies, and chronic exertional compartment syndrome. (4) The term shin splints is also used by both health care professionals and laypersons to describe leg pain. However, the lack of clarity in the diagnostic interpretation of this term has prompted both Brukner (1) and Batt (5) to recommend avoiding it. The few epidemiologic data that exist regarding ERLP in high school or collegiate cross-country (XC) athletes are further confounded by the labeling of leg pain. Rauh et al (6) reported that "shin injuries" represented the highest rate (per athletic exposure) of new injury and reinjury for all running injuries. Sallis et al (7) conducted a 15-year retrospective study of injury reports in 7 collegiate sports and found that the "lower leg" was the most common site of injury per athlete-years. Overuse injuries were first tracked by the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System in 2005: the 2005 data (8) for XC athletes indicated that the "lower leg" was among the top 3 body parts injured and was among the top 2 injuries resulting in 7 or more days of restricted participation.