I’ve just been diagnosed with a stress fracture of the sacrum, possibly incurred during IMMoo. Does anyone have experience with this condition? The doc is projecting at least a 4-6 month (yes, month!) recovery, with all activity limited to the pool. Seems strange to me that I can’t bike as I actually have no pain at this point.
This is a huge bummer - any input is much appreciated. Thanks!
Have no background or information on your injury. But, take the advice of your Doctor and or get another opinion. Not following what the Doctor says will lead to more problems later on. At least you can swim to keep in shape.
Good Luck & get better.
Smitty
Talking about rare. In 22 yrs of practice I can only recall seeing one of these. It had to involve a direct hit or a fall as the sacrum is not a bone that is likely to develop a stress fracture without some form of direct trauma. If not, you could be referring to sacro-iliac dysfunction (lack of normal motion) which is often corrected by chiropractic treatments.
How did this happen and how was the diagnosis made? Do you mean sacrum or coccyx? Please give more details as this is quite unusual.
I have had two sacral stress fractures located near the SI joint. Did you have a bone scan to confirm? They are actually more common then one would think. I have had 3 friends (division 1) track athletes and now post colliete runners who have suffered the same injury in the past year.
I took 10 weeks of no running and then slowly built back up. For the first 4 weeks i did nothing just to let the healing process get a strong start then i began swimming and after 6 weeks began cycling.
I will tell you this though this injury will continue to be a nag for at least 2 months after, to the point that you will be worried it is re-fractured. The bone bruise here lasts a long time. I was back up to 80 miles a week (well below maximum mileage for me) within 6 weeks of returning, but running on cinders and grass.
Get massage and chioropractic treatment during recovery after 6 weeks. Active release therapy if possible just to break up scar tissue in the area.
I hope this helps
pistol
“excited to race my softride in 2005”
It is rare but a recognised entity in runners. I think there is a small bit in the latest edition of Lore of Running (which I love). If it was traumatic, as you were questioning, then it wouldn’t be a stress fracture, it would just be an untreated fracture. Title Sacral stress fractures in long-distance runners.
Source AJR. American Journal of Roentgenology. 174(3):727-9, 2000 Mar.
Abstract OBJECTIVE: Sacral stress fractures in athletes are rare but important to recognize because the symptoms often mimic sciatica and can lead to delay in diagnosis and treatment. The radiographic findings are characteristic and can facilitate early diagnosis and lead to appropriate treatment.** CONCLUSION:** The clinical presentation of runners with sacral stress fractures can mimic disk disease. However, stress fractures in athletes, especially long-distance runners, must be treated differently. The imaging characteristics appear as linear abnormal signal intensity paralleling the sacroiliac joint on MR imaging and linear sclerosis with cortical disruption on CT. Imaging with bone scintigraphy shows increased uptake that parallels the sacroiliac joint.
Deke
Not to jack the thread, but I am going in for a CT Scan for a possible fracture of the acetabulum.
Background : It is in my left leg, which also happens to be 1.1cm longer than my right. This was just discovered on a scanogram, which detected the abnormality in the acetabulum by coincidence.
If it is a fracture all I have read is that fractures there are typically from high impact trauma, which would have been me getting hit by a car on my bike last March.
Could this be a stress fracture?
This was diagnosed by MRI, though I’ll be having a CT Scan as well to confirm the extent of it. I’ve had no trauma to the area so it was clearly caused by repetitive stress - possibly before or during IMMoo as I was having back spasms prior to the race that altered my running form considerably.
Coloradopete - What do you mean by bone bruise? I feel little to no pain now, and have never felt any pain around the bone. What sort of symptoms did you have? I don’t seem to have the symptoms that one would associate with a stress fracture, i.e., no pain when applying pressure/weight to area, etc.
Thanks again.
From what I’ve experienced, read, been told, etc… is that all the musculature around the area will compensate to alleviate the pressure. Thus resulting in your back spasms and any other problems.
I haven’t had any pain either, but have had tight IT, hip flexors, adductors, all problems associated with the type of fracture I most likely have.
what stltricoach is saying is the same as what happened to me the first time. lower back and hip tightened to the point i could not walk or move. went 5 days of intense chiro and massage and tightness was gone. tried to run within 5 minutes tightning was back and could not move. Had bone scan which showed stress fracture.
bone bruise will be at point of fracture during healing. not sure if it technically is a bruise but it will be point tender. it is just bone reforming the healing process of the fracture is almost 8 months or so. Although it is still healing you can run on it. Bone is always rebuilding itself
pistol
“can’t wait to race my softride in 2005”
Your doctor’s recommendation is not that draconian. Just think about where you want to be six months from now. You can be picking the training back up to race in the summer or, if you ignore the Doc’s advice you may be taking your four to six months off over the summer. If it were me I’d be getting to know the local swim team.
I was just diagnosed with a sacral stress fracture, It has been 9 weeks since the injury first appeared. I have resumed easy running paiin free. but why would the SF show up if i am pain free. It can still be there w/o pain? I wonder when I can resume training? Any thoughts? I have no pain, but it showed up on mon?? Any docs out there?