OK, I KNOW THIS IS JUST ASKING FOR IT BUT IF YOU’RE GOING TO SAY GO SEE A DOCTOR, DON’T REPLY. READ ON AND I’LL EXPLAIN WHY I DON’T NEED A DOCTOR BUT RATHER SOMEONE WHO HAS EXPERIENCED THIS SITUATION.
So I ran a marathon March 6. All was great during the marathon. Feet were a little numb/sore as I’ve experienced in past marathons I’ve ran. But the second day following I noticed that the outer top edge of my left foot was pretty sore almost like a deep deep bruise. Well I ran on it three days after the race and it continually got worse through the run. I haven’t ran on it since but I did do a 70 mile bike on this past Saturday and it was extremely tender at the ball of my foot during the ride. I had never experienced this before so I marked it up to my injury through the marathon. NOW, onto why I don’t need a DR. I have a friend that works with TSA (airport security) at our local (small airport) and he let me stick my foot in the airport xray so I could take a look at my foot. It was actually pretty cool. It was like getting in a MRI machine. Now if you’re claustrophobic I wouldn’t suggest you try this at your local airport. My friend just simply had me lay on the belt and he rolled me in right up to my thighs. We took multiple shots at different angles in order to ensure a good diagnosis. Well it turned out that we could see the small fracture perfectly. Perfect diagnosis. Peice of cake. It’s very minimal and more like a hairline. The bone has no seperations what-so-ever. This is good I thought?? Well I would think that there are a number of you out there that have experienced fractures of the foot. What is the typical time for healing and should I be concerned for not wearing one of those lead jackets while in the airport xray. I did put my hands over the twig-n-berries. Look forward to your prescriptions.
Broke a couple of toes and small bone fractures in my foot about two years ago. Went to the dr, took x-rays, confirmed the fracture, taped my toes together, gave me a special shoe thing and sent me on my way. Told me to stay off of it for 6 weeks. I stayed off about 4 days. Now I can’t bend my last two toes and my foot is a little funky/sore. Immobilize and Stay off of it!.. and see a dr
i don’t understand why you don’t need a doctor. you’ve got a broken bone. a cracked bone. you don’t think they could offer you the right solution? or perhaps a physical therapy could do the trick? just because you saw your own x-ray doesn’t mean that a doctor won’t help you…taking advice from someone who isn’t qualified isn’t very smart. this isn’t soft tissue we’re talking about here–you’ve got a freaking broken bone.
Did you stay in a holiday inn last night? Sounds like you’ve made up your mind on what you want to do, but my recommendation is if it’s broken, stay off it for a long time, cuz broken bones don’t mend when they move around - E
Sadly, I am an expert on stress fractures in the foot, though I can’t remember if I had three or four, or if the score is 2-2, 2-1, 3-0,… for left-right. It might still be a good idea to see a Doc. if you have time and $$. It will take up to three months to go away. It might not feel like it’s healing for quite a while, then it will get better quickly. Rules for what you can do while healing: don’t do it if it hurts (you might have a small lingering sensation after it heals, you will know if you pay attention.)
LOL!!! I’d love to see the security video of your little photo shoot.
Doctors can only help with broken bones if the break needs to be set or immobilized. I don’t know how many times I’ve been to a doc to hear “yup, it’s broken, stay off it.” I’m not saying that seeing a doctor is a bad idea, but sometimes it can be disappointing. (Though what’s the possible price of not seeing one?)
Sounds like you’ve got a lot of R&R in your immediate future.
I’ve had two stress fractures in my feet over the last 2 years. Six weeks was what the doctor said. He provided advice on what workouts to do and what to avoid (e.g. hard gears/climbing on bike) as the time went by as well as rehab exercises and what to wear on my feet. Yes, you could just rest it for 6 weeks or you could get a docs advice to make sure you minimize the healing time and risk of reinjury.
I got a stress fracture in my left heel bone a few years ago. I was unable to run for 28 weeks. Cycling throughout this period probably extended the healing time. Good luck.
At this very moment… I have a stress fracture and neuroma in my R foot. I ‘was’ in the midst of training for Ironman Arizona and when I started to feel the pain I ignored it for a few days/weeks and boy was that dumb. One morning I woke up and could barely stand on it. I scheduled 3 doctors appts, an xray and an MRI all in the same day to nail down the diagnosis and get it treated a.s.a.p. In other words - I wasn’t screwing around.
I highly recommend seeing a doctor to get it checked out, even though you don’t want to hear it.
Now I’m in a walking boot/cast for another 3-4 weeks and hopefully will have it off in time to spectate at Ironman Arizona and casually ride my coffee cruiser around.
what does it feel like when it first starts? the bones in my left foot have this feeling of wanting to be cracked -like when you need to crack your fingers-almost all the time esp when walking around. doesnt really hurt, but is almost uncomfy. its somewhere behind the toes -like somewhere near the cuniform bones? been running more lately. thanks, sorry, hope you feel better
1: You have an odd idea of what doctors do. Yes, you probably have made the diagnosis - although there are a lot of lines in the foot that look like fractures that aren’t (how many foot xrays have you looked at before?). How are you going to follow it along to know that it’s healed? How will you know that the advice of the 13 yr old pretending to be an elite triathlete on slowtwitch is any good? How will you prevent it in the future? How do you know that your bone density is not low, which is a significant contributor to stress fractures?
2: The radiation level used for xray machines at the airport is quite a lot higher than xray at a hospital (because they don’t put people in them). You may have exceeded your recommended radiation exposure for the next several years. Yes, it sounds funny, and may turn out to have been harmless, but it’s not smart. For good reasons, there are laws governing use of these devices, and your friend has broken them.
I realise that you think you don’t, but you really do need a doctor, especially if your knowledge of what doctors do and of what radiation does is so limited.
DEKE, Have you had your blood pressure checked lately. Dude you sound like a heart attack waiting to happen. I bet you’re a barrel of fun. I know the diagnosis. Have the best health care but a DR seems useless at the moment. And I’m knowledgeable enough to say to myself “stay off it”. Even though I won’t even listen to myself. Plus I can track the progress through airport security (new there was a good reason for having those guys). EASY, that wasn’t an attack on TSA. Thanks for everyone indulging me though. Hopefully it will heal quick.
FWIW, I think a lot of “minor” injuries are often best figured out by the patient and not a GP. Unless you see it is broken, a lot of GP’s will run you through the basics, take your co-pay and say, “rest for X weeks”. If you have the $ and the desire, go to a specialist. From my own experience with a few, and a few not, seeing a stress fracture in an airport X-ray is probably pretty difficult. Without knowing xray machine specs or being a doctor, I would estimate that it would be pretty hard to get a good picture of your foot and a small sliver stress fracture. Maybe you did. But there is one sure way to detect a stress fracture and that is with a tuning fork. Hit the tuning fork to get it vibrating, then place the bottom of the “Y” against where you think it is fractured. The vibrations will go into the bone and cause pain (lots of) at the fracture. It could be that your picture wasn’t good and it you really have some sort of tendon separation or muscle pull. I had the same feeling last year and it turned out not to be a fracture.
Besides, I exceeded my radiation levels years ago. I worked as a deep sea diver on nuclear submarines for over six years. My dive watch has a super-glow to it and I’m always asked if I’m pregnant because I’m glowing. Can’t figure it out, I’m a guy.
