Hi all,
I have a calcaneal stress fracture diagnosed via mri and had a few questions. There are certainly a great number of forums on this topic but I had a few question.
1.) I was diagnosed by a very well respects podiatrist/orthopedic surgeon in the Bay Area and they said I could bike in my recovery on a stationary bike with no boot. I trust the doctor but am a bit I am scared to do damage but was wondering if anyone else has been able to do stationary bike while recovering? I’m two weeks of no running/in boot so far and wnat to be as cautious as possible.
2.) for those that have recovered what time frames were your milestones (ie first elliptical at X weeks, first run at X weeks)?
3.) I have access to an AlterG and was wondering if you anyone has used this and at what point in recovery did you start at what percent of body weight?
Any other tips that help would be appreciated. I have a good diet and have always been conscious of the vitamins that are needed for bone health ( vit d, magnesium) I currently take bone up ultra and get a lot of calcium and vitamin d in my diet.
Thank you for your time
I hope everyone had a good holiday. I am now at 4 weeks into recovery. Still conservative in the boot, very limited weight bearing. Wondering others experience with when they could start doing stationary bike, elliptical, AlterG and eventually running on land. Wanting to be as conservative as possible but hoping to get back to some exercise soon
I was 6 weeks in the boot. I did some pool pt after 6 weeks maybe at week 4 what ever the pt told me to do. I have been injury free for two years. I did a bone density scan and they wanted me to go to a blood doctor. My GP said increase vitamin d and calcium. So I am religious about it.
Thank you for the reply. Much appreciated.
I had a calcaneal stress fx in May of 2012. A specialist put me in this custom torture device aimed at allowing me to walk without putting weight on my heel (it was basically a leather corset that tightened around my calf with a carbon fiber foot mold.) This thing super sucked to wear and so shockingly, I didn’t wear it as much as I should have. I only wore the boot during the day while at work and when I was home I just kinda hopped around on one foot. Absolutely no running. Swimming also hurt, so I didn’t swim. The Dr said I could ride my bike, but honestly I probably took that too far (I rode a lot of 50 mile rides that summer). As a result, the injury was super slow to heal. By August (so ~2 months in the boot) it still wasn’t healed, so I just sucked it up and wore the boot ALL the time (except sleeping) and cut my bike time for a month. That (oddly) did the trick and I started a couch to 10k run program in October.
One other thing… you need to have your run form looked at to figure out why you got the injury. Usually, heal fractures are caused by impact. But for me, my run form was SO BAD (heel strike and I was doing this odd pendulum swing with my legs) that my calf and my PF were doing all the work (my glutes were doing nothing). As a result, my calf and PF got super tight (because those small muscles shouldn’t do the work of a big one) and eventually pulled my calcaneus apart. Did a TON of work on run form and the injury has never reappeared.
Thank you for the response. If you do not mind me asking how long would you say you it took till you could ditch the boot? I understand the importance of but I feel like six weeks won’t cut it for me and I may need 8 -10 hopefully less weeks. I haven’t biked in a month but was considering starting stationary bike around 6-7 weeks (4.5 weeks as of today)
Thank you for the response. If you do not mind me asking how long would you say you it took till you could ditch the boot? I understand the importance of but I feel like six weeks won’t cut it for me and I may need 8 -10 hopefully less weeks. I haven’t biked in a month but was considering starting stationary bike around 6-7 weeks (4.5 weeks as of today)
I was booted from the end of May to maybe mid-September.
I have had 3 calcaneal stress fractures in the last 15 years. It’s my achilles heel, so to speak. All of them came from sprint & jump training, in track and field and then bobsled, not endurance training.
1.) If you’re causing pain, don’t do it. If no pain increase during or after, you’re probably fine. But don’t lie to yourself and say “that wasn’t pain.” It was, and you should listen to it. Maybe that’s just my internal dialogue…?
2.) When I was 20 and got my first two at the same time, I abused it for months, and healed in 8 weeks with crutches and a boot. Was back to sprinting 16 weeks post-diagnosis.
When I was 29 and got my third and final, I trained hard on it for 18 months, not knowing it was a calcaneal stress fracture because the pain presented much like a mildly sprained ankle. I finally snapped my calcaneus in two pieces on my final step/jump into a bobsled during Olympic qualifying in 2017. I then trained on it for another 4 months using copious amounts of tape and bracing and avoiding sprinting. Mostly just lifted very heavy weights. Once I finally bagged my final go at the Olympics in early 2018, I took almost two years completely off from running. This is a whole different story from what you’re experiencing though. I was an idiot and had snapped a stress fracture into a full fracture with all it’s associated soft tissue trauma and then continued training on it for many more months. I completed my first 70.3 October 2021 and was probably the slowest runner with my finishing time. 
3.) Don’t take omeprazole. The supps you’re taking are fine. Listen to pain. Avoid it. I minor twinge that comes and goes is normal after any stress fracture. I still “feel” my first tibial stress fracture site from more than 20 years ago occasionally. It’s the twinge that doesn’t go away that you should listen to and realize that whatever you did that caused it in the preceding days, was too much too fast.
Thanks so much from sharing your experience. It sounds like despite the full break you recovered well if you did a 70.3!
I am encouraged to hear that you that your stress fractures were healed in 8 weeks with the rest. I am over halfway there so hopefully my story will be the same! Thank you for the great advice!
You’re very welcome. I hope you heal swiftly and confidently.
Hi all, I’m now 9 weeks post injury and had some good news from X-ray showing a big Callus in the heal . The doctor whom works with runners and triathletes as well told me that my healing is looking good. He gave me the okay to bike and start walking no crutches or boot. Running he said as soon as 4 weeks from now. I’ve biked a few times and they have gone great no pain during. I still do have some pain and discomfort walking though. Has anyone had this as they ramped up activity. As long as I’m not jumping or running is the heel safe from refracture at this point? I am starting pt this week. Thanks!