Recently, I had an MRI on my right tibia to rule out a stress fracture that was otherwise diagnosed as fairly typical medial shin splints. Turns out, the MRI revealed a “stress reaction”, which I am told is an early version of a stress fracture. I was planning to do the Miami Marathon on January 29th, but now I have cancelled it and have not run in two weeks.
The sports doctor told me that typical recovery time for such an injury is 4-6 weeks. I am only at the two week point in recovery, but the pain has subsided considerably and I am itching to start running again. Would any of you resume running prior to the 4-6 week point identified by the doctor? Would any of you actually turn around and actually run the race?
Ditto to ERS, I just got over stress fractures that started the same way, had me out for almost 3 months. It’s not worth it. You’ll screw your whole season instead of just a few weeks. I used the time to work on my pitiful swim…now it’s, well it’s still pitiful, but it’s pitiful in fewer ways.
Do you think it is also unwise to target a replacement marathon at the end of March? If I start running again in early Feb (the 4 week recovery point), that will give me 7-8 weeks to prepare.
Dude, you’re best off not planning any races that will bias (i.e. help you ignore pain) as you try to get back in shape. The 4 weeks might be on the early side, you won’t know until you get back into it and start running. Just be happy you’ll only be sidelined for a month or two, and make sure to go back into it slowly. You don’t want to end up on the chronically injured list. It sucks, way more than missing a marathon.
You could try and it might work but it may also shelve you for the entire spring and summer. I would ease back into it.
I had a tibial stress fracture in college and tried to come back to quick so that I could finish my senior season of cross-country. Didn’t work so well and I was shelved for most of the winter season.
Following the Columbus Marathon '99, I went through much of the following month with fairly bad shin splints. On Jan. 1 '00 I started a run, and only a couple hundred meters into it I stopped because my shin was so sore - an almost nauseating soreness. I went to my doctor and he gave me a few diagnostic tests that seemed to rule out a stress fracture, and the diagnosis was shin splints (which probably could’ve been classified as “stress reaction”), on which I could periodically try to run as I saw fit. This is what I did for a month, maybe about 6-8 attempts, returned to him, and he ordered a bone scan - which proved the problem to be a tibial stress fracture. At that point I had done considerable damage to it and couldn’t run for about 10 weeks.
In '03 I clobbered (don’t ask…) the exact same location, and a few days later felt the same symptoms of nauseating achiness. This time an x-ray revealed a hairline fracture, but because I had stopped running immediately after the first symptoms, I was only off the run for about 5 weeks.
That’s a long story for which I apologize, but my two approaches to the two episodes demonstrate how much quicker recovery can be if you jump on it right away. I just think that if you don’t take the necessary time off now you may end up paying for it at a time that is perilously close to the multisport season. Best of luck with this, David!
I had a fibular sfx this summer and am just coming back from a metatarsal sfx. Yours sounds as if it’s on the point of fracturing further, which will just keep you out for more time.
In 4 wks, try to run 2-3 mi on a gentle surface – track, grass, 'mill… do that every other day for the first 2-3 weeks. Then either add a mile or so to some of the runs, OR run 3mi, 2 days on/one day off… and increase it GRADUALLY so it doesn’t crack again.