Of course, it might not be relevant to you, but have you had your running gait checked by a professional sports physio or similar?
I know of one very good story of someone who ran with a gait that had one foot pointing forward, and the other foot going out at an angle. The 'dodgy' leg developed minor shin splints when upping the mileage. He addressed it with a good physio before it got bad.. and it was decided that a weakness in the hip was causing the odd gait... and the odd gait was causing the shin splint symptoms (more stress, in the wrong orientation, for that leg)
An exercise regime improved the gait... and the shin splints haven't returned. Maybe coincidence, maybe not... but worth asking yourself if it might be relevant to you.
One other note, as you'll already know, we all develop at different rates. If you're 17 now, and have had difficulties from a younger age, you might have to resign yourself to being patient and sticking to less aggressive distances/surfaces until you've stopped growing. Not the same condition, but I clearly remember them saying that Steven Gerrard had an issue that would lead to a lot of injuries when younger, but that should stabilise as he got fully grown... and I think that has been a correct prediction.
Good luck with it.
