Purpose: Some researchers have reported that there is a relationship between ischemia and shin splints and also anemia is one of the causes of ischemia. Therefore maybe there is a relationship between anemia and shin splints too. The purpose of the current study was to determine the relationship between shin splints and anemia among people who suffers from shin splints. Method: 18 girls with shin splints (who had pain in the middle or distal part of their lower leg during or after activity) as experimental group and 23 girls without pain (comparable as to age and BMI), as control group, were chosen. Both groups were non-athletic girls, who took part in physical fitness program within 4 months. The blood tests of experimental group were compared with control group. Red blood cell count (normal range: 4.2-5.9 million/ cmm), hematocrit (normal range: 34.7- 44.7%), and hemoglobin (normal range: 12.1- 15.1 g/dl) that are relevant to the diagnosis of anemia, were measured in two groups. Results: Of the 18 subjects with shin splints, 6 (33%) met anemia while 12(66%) didn’t have any problems. 25% of control group had anemia too (P<0.05). No significant differences in the red blood cell count (P<0.05), hematocrit (P<0.05) and the hemoglobin (P<0.05) were found between shin splints group and without shin splints group. Conclusion: These results indicated that there is no relationship between anemia and shin splints.

Keywords