Have a stress fracture in the right tibia. Just wondering if others have encountered the same and how you did during recovery and come back. Did you experience any “pain” in the injured area during the comeback? Thanks!
I got hit by a car inApril and ended up with a fractured pelvis. Aside from the 5-inch titanium screw in my hip the best thing I did was listen to the doctors and stay on my crutches until they said it was okay to walk. I spent 7 weeks without taking so much as a step…no weight bearing. While I obviously lost fitness and conditioning, I was able to come back and have a reasonably strong finish to the season. Taking the time to let it heal properly was a much better choice than pushing it and having chronic issues for months or years. I’d suggest not running at all until it is completely healed…work on your swimming for 6-8 weeks.
probably not the words you want to hear, but my recovery from a strss in the tibia took nine months. Granted, i was not the best patient, but that’s a big bone and can take a while to heal. As long as there is any thing close to sharp pain, you’re still mending, so back off. the good part is that was over ten years ago, and i have had no problems there since.
stress fracture in fibula, hit me at mile 17 of '03 Boston marathon like a bolt of lightening from hell! i was off running for several weeks (6 or so). started riding after 4 weeks. i had signed up for the dreaded 1/2 IM Utah, did the bike and first loop of the run and called it quits. you will be fine in a matter of weeks.
tis but a flesh wound (compared to the latest injury: herniated disk)
If you examine xrays of my legs you will see evidence of 5 stress fractures from 5 of the 8 years I ran high school and college cross country. They look pretty crazy - almost straight horizontal breaks perpendicular to the bone’s long axis. Custom orthotics would have prevented all of them, but it was a bit too long ago for that.
I suffered through the end of almost every x-country season thusly. Haven’t had any trouble in about 20 years now.
ha, i have the EXACT same injury right now, sfx in my right tibia. Been in a boot for about 2-2.5 weeks right now, and my foot feels amazing. I just ramped up the swimming to take the place of everything else, and it seems to be working. I get some biking in with the boot on, but its just to class a couple times everyday. i only really have to wear the boot when i’m out, but my foot doesn’t bother me at all now when i walk around the apt. w/o it. Did one quick bike ride one day(probably shouldn’t have, but it was way to nice out…) and i didnt feel like i lost anything at all. One thing i found kinda strange about it was that the pain seemed like it kept getting worse for the first week in the boot, but then went away completely. i’ve got a couple more weeks left, but its looking good. what is your Dr. having you do?
I was in a boot for a total of 7 weeks. During that time he wouldn’t let me do anything. I just got cleared to start riding my bike again. Doing lots of PT which is mostly just getting treatment to the shin area. There’s really no therapy, in terms of exercises, for me to do. I can swim again as well. During the boot period, I was also not allowed to swim, at least no kicking or pushing off the wall, so I swam only a handful of times. No kicking or even slight pushing off the wall made it not a lot of fun.
Good luck to you! I hope your recovery continues to go well.
I got two stress fractures in each of my first two years of triathlon. The first was in the femoral neck and I was on crutches for 4 months. I couldn’t even swim or bike! The next was in my left tibia and I could do everything but run. The comeback from each of these was slow and I had pain for several months after I started running again. I was always paranoid the s.f. was back but not so far. That was 3 years ago.
It may take a while but you’ll be back. Just take it slow and easy. Here’s a good article on running after a stress fracture…
http://www.pfitzinger.com/labreports/stressfracture.shtml
In college I had a stress fracture in my right femur, just below the lesser trochantor. I stopped running for 8 weeks, and have never had an issue with it since. Really had no pain during the healing cycle, either.
6-8 weeks of recovery, no exceptions (no running period). PT recommendation is aqua jogger. You will back to 100%, if you let it heal completely, if you don’t… you will deal with it again and again. Plus, it is the holiday season, put on some lb’s and relax.