So, i built my mileage up after a while at a certain amount…too quickly. i was just enjoying running a lot.
i woke up one day and noticed a slight sensation on my shin.
i still ran because i thought nothing of it. i did run on soft trail that day…it did not notice it during my run at all (7 miles) but could after a little. it was odd enough to cause me to question it and decide to take a few days off. i still feel it a little. its not uncomfortable of painful…but just a dull sensation???
i had an xray wednesday and found out yesterday that there was no sign of a stress fracture but they wanted me to see sports med guy to have him look at it. well…he isn’t available until 7/16. shit.
i’m still not running. i am biking and swimming. its not causing me any issues swim/bike or walking, but i notice it is there. it’s my understanding that a SF may not show up on an x ray.
has anyone had any experience with this? how long did you take off? was it a SF? was there anything you did to rehab it?
I obviously don’t know the specifics of your situation and I’m not a doctor but unfortunately I had something similar but in my fibula. Didn’t initially show up on the x-ray and about 3 weeks later (and no running) it did show up. As I understand it, stress fractures that don’t initially show up on an x-ray can sometimes appear on subsequent ones when they start healing.
For me, I was 10 weeks in a walking boot with no running. But it took me almost a month between noticing a pain in my fibula and doing something about it so it was a pretty bad stress fracture.
Same here about not being a medical professional. But I do know that stress fractures commonly do not show up on Xrays. The sports medicine doctor should be able to order an MRI if he thinks it is fractured. This happened to me after a bad bike accident. My elbow (radial) break clearly showed up in the Xray but I kept feeling significant pain in my wrist. MRI revealed a fracture on one of my tiny wrist bones. My wrist hurt more than the bigger break on my elbow.
MRI can reveal the stress fractures but sometimes they don’t show even if they exist. The sports medicine doctor will also be able to put pressure on different parts to narrow where the injury may be. Either way, it’s smarter not to run until you can figure out what’s happening. Even if it is less serious, the rest will help you heal.
So, i built my mileage up after a while at a certain amount…too quickly. i was just enjoying running a lot.
i woke up one day and noticed a slight sensation on my shin.
i still ran because i thought nothing of it. i did run on soft trail that day…it did not notice it during my run at all (7 miles) but could after a little. it was odd enough to cause me to question it and decide to take a few days off. i still feel it a little. its not uncomfortable of painful…but just a dull sensation???
i had an xray wednesday and found out yesterday that there was no sign of a stress fracture but they wanted me to see sports med guy to have him look at it. well…he isn’t available until 7/16. shit.
i’m still not running. i am biking and swimming. its not causing me any issues swim/bike or walking, but i notice it is there. it’s my understanding that a SF may not show up on an x ray.
has anyone had any experience with this? how long did you take off? was it a SF? was there anything you did to rehab it?
thanks so much!
Your unwillingness to capitalize the first word of sentences aside, from experience, I concur with what others said, diagnosed or not, this will only go away with rest. Please don’t risk an actual fracture. Good luck.
That does not really sound that typical of a stress fracture to be honest (coming from someone who has had three…!).
There is not enough information to get a full picture-where in the shin is it located? (How high up and in the middle, outer or inner side) What sort of milage were you doing? Is it sore when you first run or OK and just gets worse as you go along?
Going straight to a plain x-ray is not normally the first imaging test if they are really worried about a fracture. An MRI or bone scan is better placed to detect it if they are really worried, did you see someone with any sports medical/sports injury experience as doing this test first would suggest they might have not quite known what they were doing.
FYI: medical doctor, not an orthopaedic surgeon or sports doctor though
I have had two stress fractures, and I was told (after the fact of course) that an x-ray won’t show a stress fracture until it starts healing. An MRI will, so I’d try to get one of those. I had to sit in the doctors office and refuse to leave until I got one written up. “Wow! It lit up like a Christmas tree!” was the response when looking at the MRI results. Don’t risk it, it ruined a season for me.
I’ll push for MRI. I’m not scheduled to see Sports Med person until 7/16. I’m not planning to do any running until then to be safe. I’m not trying to do anything else stupid.
I’ll push for MRI. I’m not scheduled to see Sports Med person until 7/16. I’m not planning to do any running until then to be safe. I’m not trying to do anything else stupid.
Thanks all!
Unfortunately GPs may not be the best for a sports related injury like this. Have you have shin splints (medial tibial stress syndrome) before? Where in your tibia is it located? Does it go away with simple pain relief (anti-inflammatories)? Can you hop on the affected side easily without pain?
You may not have to rest it completely until your sports med appointment, I would be really surprised if it is a stress fracture as opposed to a stress injury, from what you have said so far your symptoms just don’t seem severe enough that it would be at the fractured end of the spectrum.
A sports med doctor and a decent physiotherapist will likely be what you need. A physio can help in the interim before the sports doc appointment as well.
I’ll push for MRI. I’m not scheduled to see Sports Med person until 7/16. I’m not planning to do any running until then to be safe. I’m not trying to do anything else stupid.
Thanks all!
Unfortunately GPs may not be the best for a sports related injury like this. Have you have shin splints (medial tibial stress syndrome) before? Where in your tibia is it located? Does it go away with simple pain relief (anti-inflammatories)? Can you hop on the affected side easily without pain?
You may not have to rest it completely until your sports med appointment, I would be really surprised if it is a stress fracture as opposed to a stress injury, from what you have said so far your symptoms just don’t seem severe enough that it would be at the fractured end of the spectrum.
A sports med doctor and a decent physiotherapist will likely be what you need. A physio can help in the interim before the sports doc appointment as well.
I can’t tell you the last time I had shin splints. Maybe 9-10 years ago. I would say I notice it on the middle third of the medial side of my shin.
I actually haven’t tried taking any meds bc I hate having to. Maybe I should?
I can hop on it ok. Yesterday I went to the local soccer field and VERY gently jogged the short sides and walked the long. I have maybe 4x20 seconds of light jogging. It didn’t bother me during but I definitely noticed it as uncomfortable later yesterday. It’s very mild this morning.
I’ll try to see if I can find a physiotherapist in the area to go see. Thanks for the thought!
I bent my knees backwards far enough once for my patella to break my tibia on the very top of it.
Two sets of xrays showed nothing, knee specialist thought it was an ACL tear (based on mechanism of injury). MRI showed the top of my tibia, which he said looked like the shell of a hard boiled egg smashed into a table.
So yeah, you can fracture your tibia and it not show up on X-ray. You could also have a muscular issue in your shins too. The front compartment of muscles on the shin can get really irritated and feel like shin splints.
So, i built my mileage up after a while at a certain amount…too quickly. i was just enjoying running a lot.
i woke up one day and noticed a slight sensation on my shin.
thanks so much!
These are always tough as posterior tibialis stress is often part and parcel to stress fractures of the medial tibia shaft. The pain you are feeling is not from a stress fracture (if it exists) it is likely from the soft tissue attachment to the bone in that area or the muscle itself.
Regardless, get a differential diagnosis and consider load dynamics on this muscle and its association with pronation and some compensated foot types. Lots of other stuff to consider.
Could be a one-off due to excessive ramp, but you may have some compromise there that you will want to address in conjunction with rehab so it is less likely to happen again.
You shouldn’t need an MRI, a bone scan and/or CT scan should show it (often done together).
At least here in Canada it is -much- easier to get in for a bone scan, like a matter of a few weeks, whereas a wait for our ‘free’ MRI can be several months. So I’m assuming it would be easier and/or cheaper in the US too.
stretch your calves. Sounds like medial tibial stress syndrome
Roger that. You know, the past few months I’ve been working on my stride rate as well…which has definitely put me more towards mid foot. That combined with mileage build too quickly could have a lot to do with it
So, i built my mileage up after a while at a certain amount…too quickly. i was just enjoying running a lot.
i woke up one day and noticed a slight sensation on my shin.
i still ran because i thought nothing of it. i did run on soft trail that day…it did not notice it during my run at all (7 miles) but could after a little. it was odd enough to cause me to question it and decide to take a few days off. i still feel it a little. its not uncomfortable of painful…but just a dull sensation???
i had an xray wednesday and found out yesterday that there was no sign of a stress fracture but they wanted me to see sports med guy to have him look at it. well…he isn’t available until 7/16. shit.
i’m still not running. i am biking and swimming. its not causing me any issues swim/bike or walking, but i notice it is there. it’s my understanding that a SF may not show up on an x ray.
has anyone had any experience with this? how long did you take off? was it a SF? was there anything you did to rehab it?
thanks so much!
(I’m a sports physio)
You won’t see a stress reaction appear on XR in the tibia until about 3 weeks after onset of symptoms.
Hopping is a good quick dirty test. If you can’t hop without pain, don’t run
You shouldn’t need an MRI, a bone scan and/or CT scan should show it (often done together).
At least here in Canada it is -much- easier to get in for a bone scan, like a matter of a few weeks, whereas a wait for our ‘free’ MRI can be several months. So I’m assuming it would be easier and/or cheaper in the US too.
MRI avoids the significant and unnecessary radiation exposure of bone scan +/- CT, and also shows more detail.
For symtomatic bone stress reactions, your scan does not change the strategy. You better back off the aggrevating activity until it settles. I’m no big fan of letting pain guide you (for most MSK injuries painful rehab works just as good as painfree is not better) but for bone stress reactions you better back of and progress with what your pain allows, otherwise it will take forever. It sucks to drastically reduce activity levels but it will allow the stress reaction to settle much quicker.
Getting a scan is a waste of time and doctor resources. If you need any help, see a good physio (one that doesnt do a ton of passive stuff to you or sells you dysfunctions, but instead understands the patho-physiology if your complaint). The scan can show plenty of stuff which might even be unrelated. Maybe you have equal amounts of stress reactions in both of your tibias but only symtoms in one…
