Last Sunday I participated in an aquathlon (1000m swim, 10km run). When I was going into the second lap of the run, I twisted my foot really bad. I first thought it was just a twisted ankle but after a few days the pain was still severe. Today I went to the hospital to give it a closer look and they saw a crack in metatarsal bone on the x-ray.
The doctors didn’t put a cast on it since it was broken in a “good†way. I’m not allowed to bike and to run. I still can swim so that’s something that i can work on for now. The doctors told me that the bone needs eight weeks to fully recover. The doctors gave me a very big sluggish shoe so that I can walk and keep some blood flowing. Walking hurts but, when I’m walking inside and around the house it is doable. No big walks for me right now.
I’m still quite young (24 years old) and I’m pretty fit. Training every week from 18-22 hours. I’m hoping to be racing again in the end of august. But I don’t know if that’s realistic. I’m still very active by doing some extra swimming and core stability. I’m planning on using recovering tools like Compex to keep my cycling and running muscles.
Does anyone here also had a similar experience? And how long did it take you to recover from it and what are possible risks that i have to take into consideration? I’m also very keen on hearing other tips as well!
Broke mine 3x. First time accident, 2 & 3 from under eating. Fastest I healed was 4 weeks. Avoid jumping. Can probably do stair master to keep run fitness. Nothing going down. Up your vitamin K intake (dark leafy greens, butter)
I got a stress fracture on my second metatarsal in June 2021. Did not run on it in the summer, but did not get it imaged and formally diagnosed until early August.
Was told to do 8 weeks in an air cast. No running (obviously), no exercise that would put stress on foot (like rollerblading), gentle cycling cautiously approved, swimming recommended (but with no push off from wall with the injured foot), try not to walk too much even with the air cast on. I was probably 80-85% compliant with those instructions. Life intervened, and I had to do things like walk the dog.
Still broken when imaged at 8 weeks, though it was showing signs that it was healing. Did another 3 weeks in the cast. Still didn’t run for several weeks even after the cast came off. Started running short distances very cautiously in late November, and slowly built up from there.
So, from time of official diagnosis/treatment, it was close to 4 months before I could start to run again, and more like 6 months before I could run and trust that I wouldn’t break it again.
But, I’m middle aged and had put on 15 pounds during covid and was not fully compliant with treatment plan. Your experience may be quicker given younger age, likely better fitness, and potential for more robust compliance with treatment plan.
It was one of the more stubborn and tedious injuries I’ve dealt with over decades of sport-related injuries. My advice is that at some point you’ll feel like it’s ‘fine’ just walking around in daily life, and want to get back into the grind. Be careful doing that - it’s an easy one to re-injure and start the recovery clock all over again.
Thanks for your in depth story! Everyone told me that the first few weeks are very important to prevent future damage. So I’m willing to sacrifice my running and biking for it. I also take supplements like calcium and other useful things. Hopefully I’m back at it very soon
Had a couple. One healed in about 6 weeks, the other took more like 12. Different feet so not even the same injury. Used a walking boot with both. The 12-week one kept showing up on an x-ray but I’d been pain-free for a long time so the doctor finally told me I could start running and just to stop if it hurt and it worked out fine. I was also told I could bike as long as there was no pain so I did plenty of that as well. So even just for myself I had 2 different experiences with pretty much the same injury. I will say though with the one that took longer to heal I think I ran on it for a while before I finally went and got it checked out. The other one had a specific moment on a run when I felt something go wrong and I didn’t run another step for that 6 weeks. But the second one was more gradual and mostly just annoying so I kept running until finally I decided something was definitely not right. So that may have been why it took longer to heal. I also water ran to help do something to make my return to running easier. Both times also when I started running again it was in the fall, so end of season and I built back up pretty gradually. Sounds like you are doing the right things for now, just be patient and don’t try and rush it.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but as I understand it (not a doctor) a crack visible on xray just a few days after an identifiable incident is likely a real fracture, not just a stress fracture (I’ve had the latter and it came on fairly rapidly but only showed on a nuclear bone scan and that was after a while) - though it sounds like it’s not displaced at all which is great. I mean, it was caused by excess force (stress), but a stress reaction/fx is most often from repetitive (wait for it)…stress, not trauma. You might have had a stress reaction brewing which then broke with the misstep. Anyway, my point is if it’s actually broken and not just a stress reaction you want to be super careful. “Just” a stress fracture can in fact heal in 6 weeks. A full (nondisplaced) fracture with a good blood supply should have some really good progress by then but running on it is a heavy load at that point. The absolute last thing you want is non-union and surgery. When you do start back, they’ll hopefully tell you to run 5 minutes and stop, then do it again a day or two later and build from there as if you’ve never run a step in your life (for a while). Comply. Do not make the mistake of running until it gets sore, that can set you back to square one or worse.
Ah thanks. Luckily I’m new to these kind of injuries so I thought it was a stres fracture. I’m unknown with all these terms so my apologies for misnaming it.
I once had a niggle in that exact same area after a 28km trail run in november 2021 but, that disappeared after two weeks… I don’t think it is the aftermath from that niggle, since i fell down really hard last Sunday so the impact was quite high.
I have had several metatarsal fractures. Two healed on their own and one was a Jones fracture that required surgery (google that fracture). Which metatarsal is it for you? Be careful pushing off the wall while swimming, and no fins! You are right that the first few weeks are critical, you should be good to go in six to eight weeks, and yes to calcium. I take a supplement called Ipriflavone one that is supposed to help w calcium absorption. With the Jones fx I also took collagen (I decided to throw the book at it). Vitamin D and K are also important for bones. Are you male or female? Finally, I am so sorry. Keep us updated!
I have had a few metatarsal breaks, including a spiral fracture that needed screws. I have had a lot of broken bones over the years, and historically I have healed relatively quickly. Plan for minimum 6 weeks with a two week ramp-up from there to resume full volume. I think that my spiral fracture needed 8 weeks from surgery before I could start running again.
Our feet have one-fifth of the bones in our bodies - they are like massively complex leaf springs that absorb a tremendous amount of impact force with each step, and running multiplies the force. So, if a bone is not fully healed, you are at risk of re-breaking.
If you swim, push off with your other foot and don’t even let the injured foot touch the wall. If you bike, be extremely sensitive to pain. If you feel anything, then stop. In that case, pain is not weakness leaving the body; pain is healing being reversed.
Edit:i fell down really hard last Sunday so the impact was quite high.Per above, you had a fracture from impact trauma. Those are often worse and require more healing and attention than other breaks. One caveat I should add to my experience is that I went to a phenomenal pediatrist who knows me well and understands I am an athlete. I would not trust “when should I run” questions from an ER doctor. If you can find one, go to a pediatrist. If not, then an orthopedist who may understand athletes and feet a little more.
Thank you for your reply! My fracture doesn’t require any surgery luckily. The doctor gave me two options: wear a cast or a special shock absorbing shoe. I told him that i was a serious athlete and that i wanted to keep training. Of course, i can’t train the amount of hours that I’m used to, but swimming a lot gives me a sense of purpose and also keeps me mentally sane :).
I’m using a piece of foam between my legs so that I can’t use them by accident. I will be only pushing off the wall by using my right foot, so i will be good to go! I’m a male by the way. Again, many thanks for your tips!
Yes, fully understandable that our feet are higher complex beings that need full recovery. I’ve heard stories that people with broken feet did Kona with special inbed soles in there shoes, but I’m definitely not planning to attempt something like that (I also havent done a full IM yet so attempting Kona isn’t a realistic option for me haha). Must be absolutely horrific.
I’m happy that i’m still be able to swim, so I use my arms only for that. I will try to set goals for swimming (efficiency and volume wise, racing in a pool isn’t the smartest thing to do now) to give myself a challenge and a good time. I can swim a huge amount now that I couldn’t do when i kept doing biking and running besides it. So i try to see the positive side of it :). Normal doctors are quite hard to convince that you need sports as an athlete to keep mentally and physically fresh. My coach who is a physical therapist as well has a lot of experience with this. So i can speak to him to make smart decisions about resuming training.
The trauma thing makes sense. I first thought i rolled an ankle or something like that because it happend the exact same way as you would roll an ankle. But within minutes my foot was twice the size and I couldn’t do anything with it. After a few days the fluids around the fracture disappeared a bit (and also the pain from the pressure), but the pain around the fracture was still really high.
Normally when you roll your ankle, you do something like a spiral fracture or Jones fracture of the 5th metatarsal. A spiral often requires surgery and a Jones takes forever to heal because of its location and type. You might want to get a specialist to render an opinion. In my experience of foot breaks, when someone can easily see a metatarsal break on an x-ray, it is serious. The metatarsal breaks that heal easier usually need an MRI to find. I have had both. My last break, the x-ray technician exclaimed “oh my” about 5 seconds after she snapped the picture. I knew I was screwed.
Oof… I believe the outer one on the left. I did get to see the x ray very briefly. My apologies if I’m a bit vage. Just like you, my doctors also said immediately “I got bad news for you†at the first picture.
