I did something to my foot. It hurts on the top of my foot at the base of my toes in between the middle and fourth toe. It hurts when I walk or do a flip turn. I’m seeing the doctor this afternoon. A preliminary screening by a physical therapist says it is a stress fracture. The pain is about a 7 out of 10 when I walk but was able to run the other day with, well, a little less pain than that.
What might the doctor tell me? Anything special I should ask for to help the healing? Should I count myself out for the Oly Dist race on the 14th that sounds like it will be really fun? What about the marathon in October?
I am currently nursing a tibial stress fracture back to health. The doctor told me absolutely no running for 6 weeks. Then I can ease back into it slowly. The frustrating thing is that for the past 3 weeks, I have had NO pain at all. I guess that means its healing, but its hard to not run when I’m not having pain. I can still ride and swim with no limitations.
Your race on the 14th will most likely be out, but you should be ok for your October marathon. I am planning on doing the Marine Corps Marathon in October, and I start back running on August 29th.
If you have pain when walking, you may be put in a soft cast. Most likely not. Most likely will be told to not run, and maybe not push off the wall in swimming. Riding (stationary) would probably be okay.
Oly on the 14th… I’d consider it gone unless the doc says it’s okay. But if it were me, I’d write it off.
Mary in October? If you can keep the aerobic engine in shape with cycling, then I’d keep it on the schedule, with maybe a revised time goal.
I’m also an ex-swimmer. Almost the exact thing happened to me earlier this year. I think it is from a 5-mile running race I did. However I had x-rays taken and the doc did not find a fracture. We think it was an inflamation of the metatarsal. After 3-months of no running it is finally feeling better. I did a lot of iceing and he also recommended massaging my foot and rolling it over a golf ball to loosen it up and strengthen it.
Does your foot hurt when you bike? Mine was fine biking so I’ve been biking 5-6 times a week and swimming. When swimming, my foot only hurt pushing off the walls, so I just took it easy on the turns. I guess us fish sometimes have a hard time on dry-land.
Sorry to hear your news - just found out I have one as well.
In addition to the advice above, I would make sure you are getting lots of calcium (1g/day for me ~160lbs) and 400iu vitamin D. Miami79 is the poster girl for SF’s, she’ll likely add more for you when she sees this.
i had a feeling i wasn’t alone…thanks so much for your advice! it doesn’t hurt to bike but the PT suggested that i might continue to do damage. i’ll be sure to ask the doc about that.
Ha - my advice is not to listen to Lakercr. He runs on his stress fracture. =)
Seriously though, once you know for sure, make sure you give it lots of rest and allow it to heal 100%. You should make the effort to find out why you got it in the first place and avoid this happening again! If you are not able to run, try running in the pool or using an elliptical trainer if your doc says that’s OK.
I had a stress fracture in my Medial malleolus (end of tibia)and managed to ignore it, until it finnaly broken all the way, then I managed to ignore that until I nearly severed my distal tendon in half. Two suregries later i am hopeful i can return to Triathlon. Missed half of last season, all of this season and i hope to start to compete again next year if things go really well for me.
If I were you and you really have a stress fracture, and I knew what I know today this is what i would do.
Put your scale away
Gingerly walk to the frig and get a beer
Sit down in a comfortable chair and turn on the Tube
Drink beer and watch TV, repeat trip to frig if needed
Repeat this for as may days as the doc says you need then add about two weeks for safe measure.
If it is a stress fracture be very careful about running before you are supposed to … i had serious problems with this that led to many stress fractures later on … you have to remember that there is a period of time that it takes to heal and sometimes you may feel recovered before you actually are so play it safe.
i had a feeling i wasn’t alone…thanks so much for your advice! it doesn’t hurt to bike but the PT suggested that i might continue to do damage. i’ll be sure to ask the doc about that.
The PT is right, if it is a fx you need to give it a chance to heal and even pain free cycling can inhibit that - you’ll return to cycling sooner than anything else but a few weeks off could help in the long run.
Note that stress fractures usually won’t show right away on a conventional x-ray, you will need to get a bone scan to know for sure. Since the xray will likely be inconclusive and the course of treatment therefore unchanged (stay off it), you might have some luck convincing them to skip the xray step and go straight to the bone scan, since you’ll need it anyway after the xray doesn’t show anything and it still hurts. Cheaper to just go right to the tool that is going to give you the answer.
As to what happens if it is diagnosed as a stress fx, possibly a removeable hard sole boot to keep the foot from flexing when you walk, and you’re looking at say 8-10 weeks of no running (and no pushoffs with that foot), but probably returning to cycling after 2-3 weeks, assuming rigid soled cycling shoes and no pain.
One thing you don’t want to do is push it and end up with a complete fracture, which will require surgery and an even longer rehab, not to mentino an uncertain long term outcome.
staying off a stress fracture for a few weeks is a lot better than being in a cast up to your knee and not being able to do ANYTHING while your whole leg atropies away into a tiny, itchy twig. i know it seems bad to be inactive (especially when you are used to getting a fix from running) but consider the consequences if you keep running!
staying off a stress fracture for a few weeks is a lot better than being in a cast up to your knee and not being able to do ANYTHING while your whole leg atropies away into a tiny, itchy twig. i know it seems bad to be inactive (especially when you are used to getting a fix from running) but consider the consequences if you keep running!
Oh my God does that ring true! I hopefully get my cast off for the second time this Friday. No more stinky leg, no more itch, no more sleepless nights of discomfot and I GET TO SHOWER. Ahh the simple things.
Speaking of atrophy
In the last 12 months my right Ankle has been in some form of immobilization for about 8 months. in the last 6 Months I have been in a Cast going on 11 weeks, in a Split and Compression wrap for 3 week immidiately after surgery and walking boot and air cast for about another 8. My poor pathetic right calf, when I get the cast off i am sure will look like a chicken bone.
I had the same type of pain develop in my foot a week prior to Eagleman many years ago. I ignored it, and at mile 4 of the run metatarsal number 3 in my left foot snapped clean in half. I continued to walk/limp the remainder of the race, destroying the bone sufficiently enough to hamper proper healing. As a result, I suffered several years’ worth of nerve irritation on long runs that forced me to abandon two 1/2s and one Ironman during the run. Finally through several steroid injections it has shrunk the neve and scar tissue around it so that I can run pain free.
Not to further your depression, but don’t count on the marathon in October. One of the best ways to end up with a stress fracture is to increase impact activity to quickly too soon. Once the stress fracture heals, you will be able to begin running again, but it will be quite a while before you will be doing marathon distance training. The best thing you can do is to plan to start slow and use a slow gradual progression. You’ll get back to the distance and intensity you desire, but you have to do it slowly.
Trust me, I watched one of our cross country girls run in a pool for 6 months straight. She had a stress fracture in her foot, don’t recall which bone at this time. At any rate she did the right thing, initially. She stayed in her cam walker, did her pool running, but as soon as she was cleared to run she was right back to trying to cram in major mileage. Wasn’t long before she was back in the cam walker and back in the boot.
Listen to the advice of those who have gone before you. You’ll be much happier in the long run.
I’m 4wks into recovery for a fibular sfx. If you feel pain walking, you probably have some bone damage. I’m not in as much pain now but for the first few weeks I was very much favoring my other leg. Like someone else said - get a bone scan, Xrays don’t show sfx very well. You may get a soft cast or crutches. Nutrition-wise, 1500mg of calcium, 400 iu of vitamin D, and all your other daily vitamins and minerals - as well as adequate calories - will help it heal.
I’ve been able to swim (push off with one foot) and bike but I haven’t run in 4wks
It’s true, acute stress fractures typically do not present on x-ray. But, x-ray is always the first step! We had a radiologist talk to our PT class and said basically that no quality radiologist will perform an advanced radiologic procedure (bone scan, MRI, CT…) without first doing an x-ray. Plus when you get the follow-up x-ray in a few weeks you will have something to compare it to. They will likely do a follow-up x-ray to ensure that a bone callus has formed which shows that it is healing/has healed.
So, should be x-ray first then bone scan if nothing shows up on x-ray.
