I'm a sprinter in track, and I've been dealing with shin splints. They got so bad today that I had to sit out during the hard short distance sprint intervals. One of my coaches (who is a certified PT) came over and showed me how to stretch out my shins (doing that thing where you sit on your heels and lean back). He then took my leg and started rubbing, starting at the bottom near my ankle. He went hardly an inch up, and it started hurting like CRAZY. I tried backing away, just instictively because it hurt so much. He said something about it being really tight, and that he has to massage out all the knots. What exactly are knots, and how can you tell when a muscle is tight? I know when a muscle like my calf is tight, because it starts getting the pulling feeling, but I didn't know the muscles in my shins were tight as well.