There are stresses being placed on the shin bone, which is the tibia. If you have shin splints and you run your finger along the tibia, you will feel lots of bumps. These are there for a reason. You could have flat feet or high arches that are affecting the shin, you could have weak hips which affects the shins.

Why does your shin bone feel bumpy?

The process of remodeling is the removal of part of the bone that is not strong enough, and replacing it with stronger bone to cope with the increased demand. This explains the bumpy feeling on the shin bone during assessment.

Why is my bone bumpy?

The degeneration of the joint and loss of cartilage that happens with arthritis causes increasing stress to the neighboring bones. The bone will often form a growth, or spur, in response that can produce the same bumpy appearance and pain of a cyst.