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Fibula stress fracture..
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I've got a stress fracture in my left fibula.

The only advice I've been given so far is rest until it feels better and then ease back into it.

Obviously running is out, but I cant really ride the bike either, at least not for now. Any weight/pressure that i exert on the front part of my foot is painful on the back part of my leg slightly less than half way up the fibula.
So swimming it is, as long as i don't push off the wall with my left leg, that hurts too.

Has anyone had this before, recovery time? Any advice or tips on getting better?

I was planning on racing Challenge in Williamsburg and Atlantic City but I'm guessing those will unfortunately be out for me now.
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [bujayman] [ In reply to ]
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It was 6 weeks of no running for me. After that I started with 30 minute runs 4-5 times per week and gradually increased the duration. Good luck!
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [bujayman] [ In reply to ]
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Hello, i was wandering how your progress has been until this point? I got my diagnoses last week, after an x-ray showed no result meaning that i walked on it for another 3 weeks. Then it was obious.Big fracture fibula. Also for me bike and run are no go. Have you done anything else in the meantime?
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [bujayman] [ In reply to ]
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Been there done that, unfortunately. And it is just a waiting game. 6-8 weeks for me. I could still swim and just pushed off mainly with my other leg after flip turns. Never had any issues. Apparently water running actually helps maintain a fair bit of fitness and muscle strength but it is incredibly boring.

Good luck. The physical recovery is easy, the mental part is hard. Remember to really ease back in in to running once you're cleared to. I think I had to start at like 5 minute runs, which was quite an adjustment from your typical half/full IM training regime.

Long Chile was a silly place.
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]
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thanks for your reply; was afraid of that :-( You're so right, the mental part is devestating..... Plans for Embrun and challenge full distance this year; it's not gonna happen.
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [bujayman] [ In reply to ]
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I had this too a few years ago. Its such a weird place/injury to get. Out of curiosity, how do you think it happened? Hard to know of course, but I'm convinced it had something to do with my first pair of carbon running shoes and how they were so different from my training shoe.

Regardless, yes 6-8 weeks of no running and easing back in. Pushing off wall with your other foot. water running.

Also, get a walking boot and wear it all the time!!!!!! (if you dont have one already)

However, my sports ortho said that biking was ok. His take (in my very poorly worded summary) was that the mild stress from biking would not aggravate/make it worse and could in fact spur healing due to stress and repair functions of the body.

My experience may be novel, but I was able to come back quickly and get a 70.3 done right at the edge of that timeframe (8 weeks from injury and 6 weeks from diagnosis). My run wasn't as good as it could have been but all the biking helped keep my aerobic base. I did NOT re-aggravate it in that race (wore training shoes and not carbon shoes for the race).

Good luck.
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [curdog16] [ In reply to ]
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that is pretty weird.... I just got me a pair of Endophine pro's and this happend during a 5k race. But from what i've heard carbon shoes would prevent stress-fracture?
Last edited by: hiems210: Jun 14, 23 8:18
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [hiems210] [ In reply to ]
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I have not heard that but on a long term time scale, these shoes are really new and we still have a lot to learn about how they impact people and their proper usage in training.

Lots of N=1 experiments going on right now. FYI - i had the endorphin pros (V1) when i got my fibula stress fracture.

Its possible I overtrained in them, its possible I undertrained in them, its possible i didnt do enough speed work leading up to the race. Its possible since I only had one other pair of training shoes at that time which had a different heel drop, etc.

I now have a stable of training shoes that are all the same heel drop and I've used the pros a number of times since then mostly without incident. Only incident was last year in prep for a 70.3, I randomly used them in an Oly with hard hills (up and down) and was going hard. i hadn't used them hardly at all prior to that race. I had mild pain in the same area right after the race, so I wore my boot as a precaution.

There have been a number of other threads on here discussing carbon shoe usage and theories and injuries.
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [bujayman] [ In reply to ]
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bujayman wrote:
I've got a stress fracture in my left fibula.

The only advice I've been given so far is rest until it feels better and then ease back into it.

Obviously running is out, but I cant really ride the bike either, at least not for now. Any weight/pressure that i exert on the front part of my foot is painful on the back part of my leg slightly less than half way up the fibula.
So swimming it is, as long as i don't push off the wall with my left leg, that hurts too.

Has anyone had this before, recovery time? Any advice or tips on getting better?

I was planning on racing Challenge in Williamsburg and Atlantic City but I'm guessing those will unfortunately be out for me now.

Many of us have had SF's, myself included. Rest is key and we all want to mitigate fitness loss, so you will have to work with your doctors.
6 weeks is the usual time frame for Fib SF's.

Running is the most load dependent, with cycling next and swimming least. You will be back in the water fastest-I was, at least.
Changing to carbon plated shoes has been implicated in some SF's but usually it is overall a load increase which is the cause.

Some nice threads including one which included a discussion about LCB's SF and she even made comments in that thread and others linked her YT videos about her DX and RX.
The entire list is over in the hot forum topics to the right sidebar.

Lucy Charles Hip Stress Fracture (Page 2): Triathlon Forum: Slowtwitch Forums

GL with your recovery.
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [dtoce] [ In reply to ]
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but isnt the fibula a non-weight bearing bone? i was very calculated in my run load increase over the course of my training plan.
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [curdog16] [ In reply to ]
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I can assure you it is a weight bearing bone. The tibia takes most of the body weight, but it certainly is.

When I fractured mine (other leg) in soccer, just standing on it was indescribable pain. And it was a mild, nondisplaced traumatic fracture-treated with a walking boot.
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [dtoce] [ In reply to ]
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I’m thinking the OP has recovered. It’s been 8 years. I do appreciate your posts though. Very informative.
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [Dinsky11] [ In reply to ]
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haha
I never notice these are zombie threads...why do I even bother...

thx for pointing that out-
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [dtoce] [ In reply to ]
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Ha! Didnt notice that either. However, it was revived by someone (hiems) who recently had a stress fracture.
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Re: Fibula stress fracture.. [curdog16] [ In reply to ]
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oohh!!! i just saw the year -> 2015 :-) i'm sorry, i really had not seen it was such a dated topic. But thanks again for your reply's!
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