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How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture
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Just was given the okay to start back into running again from the doc. It's been near three months since I've gone for a run.
What have you done to get back to Running, your progression etc. How long before you felt normal again?

I had a tibial stress fx. Anything helps!
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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swim_corey_run wrote:
Just was given the okay to start back into running again from the doc. It's been near three months since I've gone for a run.
What have you done to get back to Running, your progression etc. How long before you felt normal again?

I had a tibial stress fx. Anything helps!

I haven't had one, by my female pro friend had a tibial SF and when she came back it was low mileage, easy running for quite a while. She had another related injury which set her back and was out of racing for a year all up. And she is only just getting back to full run fitness 2 years later. Another mate had a stress fracture in his back which reoccurred, so I'd not be in a rush. Just out of interest, what kind of volume were you doing and what kind of intensity?
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [zedzded] [ In reply to ]
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My volume was pretty low considering.
I had just started back running after my last IM of the year, and I only got in about 4 weeks of running before it happend. May be a combo of shoes, running surface and foot plant. But idk. I was around 745 to 8 min mile which is just base mile pace so I don't know what I did wrong.
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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I am in week 6 of my return after 3 months off from tibial stress fracture. I spent a month on the Alter G and have been doing run/walk combos since then. Next week, I go to staight running. If you are interested, PM me and I'll send you a detailed table of all workouts to date. So far, so good.

Not sure how mine happened as i had been on a long and slow build for IMFL. Could have been the shoes...
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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less is more. I'd start with about 5min every other day for the first week or so, maybe less.

It's been decades since I had mine I can't remember exactly what I did but I'm pretty sure my first month's mileage was < 20

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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swim_corey_run wrote:
Just was given the okay to start back into running again from the doc. It's been near three months since I've gone for a run.

What, specifically, was behind your doc giving the green light now? Saw healing on x-ray, three months no running, you can't feel anything in the area of the fx, etc... all or some combination of the above or something else entirely?
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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Alter G can add up cost wise. I would look at starting with the more boring but almost free method of aqua jogging (assuming you already have a gym membership in place).
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [Petrarch] [ In reply to ]
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Xray was the test to see if it had healed properly and yes. No pain anymore as well
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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Echoing Desert Dudes feedback above.
Also get into the right shoe/ orthotics.
In my case I also found a vitamin deficiency that was needed to absorbe calcium.
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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I did laps around my block so that I was never more than a couple hundred meters from home. The last thing I wanted was to think I had something to prove, or to run home instead of walk so I wouldn't be late for dinner, etc etc etc.

Eliot
blog thing - strava thing
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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To echo what others have said. Go slow, ease back into it. Couple three months you will be fine.
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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I had a tibial stress fracture a few years ago. Came seemingly out of nowhere and derailed my A race. Took 3-4 months off, if I recall, and then just started on a BarryP routine of 5-10-15 minutes and then slowly built up from there.

I have been super conservative with shoe replacement since then, every 250-300 miles I switch pairs which has, knock on wood, kept me injury free. 5 minutes of running sounds worthless but it will allow you to add 10% per week until you are good to go.

Strava
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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Go for a walk.
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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Look up a walk-run program. And actually do the walk part. It's easy to think you're feeling pain-free and "I'll just skip this walk. And this one..." Alter-G is awesome but expensive, possibly hard to find in your area, and they are hot as hell. A good supplement to walk-run but probably not a total replacement for it.
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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I started with run (jog) / walk intervals -- my first run back was a walking warm up, followed by 10x(30" jog, 30" walk) and finishing with a walking warm down, so five minutes of total running. I'd have to go back to my logs to remember what I did from there, but it was run/walk for a while with 30" / 1 min / 2 min running intervals and similar or slightly shorter walk intervals.

I also kept it all to soft surfaces. We have a crushed granite trail that was my go-to, but would also run on the treadmill or track if I needed to. I had "phantom" pain for a while, but it was all mental. I kept it easy and to soft surfaces for two and a half months. That was back in early 2016 and haven't had any issues since then.
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [ligersandtions] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the input!
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [sch340] [ In reply to ]
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This is what u think was the PROBLEM? The shoes? If so I'm gonna be really careful
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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You could just as well think it was anything else if you're going to be basing your thinking on belief.
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [ligersandtions] [ In reply to ]
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ligersandtions wrote:
I started with run (jog) / walk intervals -- my first run back was a walking warm up, followed by 10x(30" jog, 30" walk) and finishing with a walking warm down, so five minutes of total running. I'd have to go back to my logs to remember what I did from there, but it was run/walk for a while with 30" / 1 min / 2 min running intervals and similar or slightly shorter walk intervals.

I also kept it all to soft surfaces. We have a crushed granite trail that was my go-to, but would also run on the treadmill or track if I needed to. I had "phantom" pain for a while, but it was all mental. I kept it easy and to soft surfaces for two and a half months. That was back in early 2016 and haven't had any issues since then.

This is exactly how I started back running after a calcaneal stress fracture. I started after 12 weeks post injury. I had been able to swim from post-injury week 2 or 3, and gently bike from post-injury week 10. Main thing - do not over do it. You will be thrilled to be on the road - any road - so do not let your enthusiasm get you in trouble.
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [Thorax] [ In reply to ]
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I am simply looking for possible ways to stop thus from happening again. So I'm going to look all the scenarios people have dealt with
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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Re: How To: Back to Running after a Stress Fracture [swim_corey_run] [ In reply to ]
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I've had a few tibial stressies. 3 or 4 occurrences from memory.

A few points from personal experience, take from it what you will:
  • each injury occurred during periods of high training mileage, quality sessions and frequent hard racing.
  • length of recovery period was directly correlated with how quickly I stopped running once the stress fracture developed. ie when I stopped running immediately, this resulted in the fastest recovery. I became familiar with what a tibial SF felt like and learned to stop running immediately.
  • I cycling and swam throughout injury period
  • after receiving the "all clear" from the doctor,I generally took an additional 2 weeks off running. I preferred to rest and recover an additional 2 weeks, rather than rush back and re-injure, only to start the recovery process again.
  • on the final occasion I did rush back to racing immediately, completing two 100km road ultras in a couple of weeks.
  • return to full mileage was always successful, with reoccurrence becoming progressively less frequent. There was always several years of high mileage between injuries.
  • my highest running mileages and longest races occurred after my final tibial SF.
  • I would get around 750 miles out of a pair of shoes.

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