WTF should I do when I have a beginning stress fracture in my hip at an early stage, and Ironman France coming up in 12 days? The radiologist says it is a minor change in the ilium and the pubic bone near the symphysis, but damn it hurts. He says, but he´s a radiologist, not an orthoped, that it isn´t likely to come cracking up even if I try to run. FUCK.
Advice? Change from competitor to volunteer, sadly 
I think they call it bone stress reaction or bone stress injury in human language. so it´s not really a fracture - yet. second opinions, anyone?
He says it’s NOT likely to crack? Oh yes it is.
You best make like a fish for the next six weeks
(((((hugs)))))))
Thanks. Yeah, I´m pretty sure it will develop into a stress fracture if I don´t rest it. I have to consult the orthoped tomorrow, whether it´s worth risking further damage. I mean, I´ll still have to rest most of the summer and this season. Would it matter then if I did that one race?
Would it matter then if I did that one race?
YES because you risk making it much, much worse than it is.
Right now you have a spot that is close to a fracture and chances are you are in some pain.
If you run on it, it will crack, you could wind up being in a cast, etc.
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=2372194;search_string=;#2372194
hopefully that’ll scare you a bit
stay off it
.
Don’t do it, toughing it out for a race put me from the usual 2 months off to 10 months off, not worth it.
I really, really wish people would stop with the “oh, but it’s ONLY a stress reaction…not a sfx”. Like there are several degrees of it, and you can just keep running through each one until you get the terminal point.
Stress fracture, stress reaction, whatever. You have jacked up your BONES. The shit that keep you standing and walking and running and riding and a not a big bag of gelatinous goo. GET OFF IT.
Yes, it blows tremendous donkey balls. I fully understand that. Really. But you (and everyone else who persists in asking this question–and believe me, I have been that person…and learned from it) seriously need to get off your injury, lest you exacerbate it to a point where you are fucked, pardon my french. If you take care of yoruself, there will be races upon races down the road. If you try and race/train through major injuries…you may lose that opportunity forever.
I will now get off my soapbox 
Yeah, tigerchik, the thread scares me. You´re right. I just hope and pray that I´ll be allowed to ride my bike and swim. In that case, I might just have to swallow that most of the season is lost and straight away set my aims for the Barcelona Challenge which I intended to do in october. what do you think about riding and swimming?
Yeah, tigerchik, the thread scares me. You´re right. I just hope and pray that I´ll be allowed to ride my bike and swim. In that case, I might just have to swallow that most of the season is lost and straight away set my aims for the Barcelona Challenge which I intended to do in october. what do you think about riding and swimming?
Swimming, shouldn’t be a problem. non impact, low stress on the hip muscles. Possibly same on the biking, except much higher stress. In either case I’d still get a doc’s ok before doing either.
I don’t know the ins and outs, my big fear other than cracking the hip itself, would be an avulsion fracture where the tendon tears away a chunk of the weakened bone. Serious bad news.
John
Yeah, tigerchik, the thread scares me. You´re right. I just hope and pray that I´ll be allowed to ride my bike and swim. In that case, I might just have to swallow that most of the season is lost and straight away set my aims for the Barcelona Challenge which I intended to do in october. what do you think about riding and swimming?
Swimming, shouldn’t be a problem. non impact, low stress on the hip muscles. Possibly same on the biking, except much higher stress. In either case I’d still get a doc’s ok before doing either.
I don’t know the ins and outs, my big fear other than cracking the hip itself, would be an avulsion fracture where the tendon tears away a chunk of the weakened bone. Serious bad news.
John
About 8 years ago, I came off my bike a week before IMNZ. I suspected a broken hip and broken skull. I had my hip x-Ray’d but it came out clear. Unfortunately, my X-Ray didn’t show the middle of my pelvis…where there was a crack! Bugger.
I took the next week off training, as a taper and did the race. On the bike,it felt like I had a gian blister behind my bollocks. FK it hurt!
When I got off the bike I took a look downstairs and fresh as a daisy!. I resolved to harden up and started the run. Quite painful to say the least. STomach problems slowed me down so it wasn’t tooooo bad. I suffered like a rented mule over the entire run/walk.
A week later I was diagnosed with a broken pelvis and spent 8 weeks sitting on my ever fattening ass. Even swimming was hell (even without kicking, the twisting,from using my legs for steering, was surprisingly painful.
For a broken hip/pelvis or anything similar, I strongly recommend just staying off the damned thing till it’s fixed. Moving it just slows down the healing. Let it heal THEN get back to training. There will always be more races, but you only get one body.
Don’t race. I had bilateral pelvic SFX in May 2008. I’m just getting back to consistent training. I was forced to take 6 months off after a reduced training load for 2 months and no improvements.
Ok. This is what my orthoped said: if it is the most important race of your season, do nothing up until then, race, then rest. I do not think you will break your hip or damage your health. so that´s what I will do. I hope I can manage a good run with the help of a few antii-inflammatories. I will run through a little pain, but stop if it hurts really much. My season is a lost cause anyway. Orthoped said recovery requires 2-3 months of reduced training load and no running. Doc also said there is no hard evidence a stress reaction develops into a stress fracture.
Thanks everybody for your advice. You probably think I´m crazy. If I blow up during the race I can write back and let you enjoy your what-did-we-say-moment 
best wishes… keep us informed
Ok. This is what my orthoped said: if it is the most important race of your season, do nothing up until then, race, then rest. I do not think you will break your hip or damage your health. so that´s what I will do. I hope I can manage a good run with the help of a few antii-inflammatories. I will run through a little pain, but stop if it hurts really much. My season is a lost cause anyway. Orthoped said recovery requires 2-3 months of reduced training load and no running. Doc also said there is no hard evidence a stress reaction develops into a stress fracture.
Thanks everybody for your advice. You probably think I´m crazy. If I blow up during the race I can write back and let you enjoy your what-did-we-say-moment
Not crazy, stupid. In typical stupid-person form you ask for advice, receive it, and summarily ignore it despite a consensus opinion.
Thanks, Tigerchik. And thanks Skoorb, that was nice of you. Perhaps you saw my IQ test score while you thoroughly examined my MRI pics. Which brings me to the one point why I decide to listen to my heart/my orthoped - he is an expert who has actually seen the MRI. But then, I´m Forest Gump, am I not.
Thanks, Tigerchik. And thanks Skoorb, that was nice of you. Perhaps you saw my IQ test score while you thoroughly examined my MRI pics. Which brings me to the one point why I decide to listen to my heart/my orthoped - he is an expert who has actually seen the MRI. But then, I´m Forest Gump, am I not.Hopefully he’s better than the sports docs who read over my MRIs
Ok, I knew before the race it wouldn´t work and it didn´t. The swim was just as it was, terrible because Ironman France is taking way too many competitors. The bike went ok, really, I enjoyed it a lot and the bike course in Nice is really fun to do. I mean fun as in YIIHAA!
But it was of course impossible to run, I tried to jog and could stand it for some 34K before I caved in and started walking. Which was a big mistake because it hurt much more walking, and I couldn´t even walk fast. I don´t know how smart it was, I was out of the race long ago, but I wasn´t going to quit either. Just what kind of an ironhead I am was proved when I tried to beat some guy to the finish line hopping on one leg I finished the bike at about expected 5.40, which would be around 5.05 on a non-mountain course and ok for me, but the marathon jog/walk took some 5 hours…So it wasn´t really a race for me, I just finished it.
That evening it really hurt like ¤%&… But it was better the next day. I was riding my bike on thursday, and today feels like my best day since the race. It´s definitely not worse than it was before the race. My orthoped said that I should come see him if it hadn´t gotten any better two weeks after the race, but otherwise stick to the original plan - which was only swim, bike and other non-aggravating exercise for 2-3 months.
Mass dosing raloxifene + teriparatide = WIN.
Granted you’ll probably never get a prescription for either of those to aid in healing a stress fracture…