Has anyone been unlucky enough to have this happen? I’m a little paranoid when it comes to injury and at the moment I have a tender spot on my tibia (about 1-2 inches) below my kneecap. It’s not Osgood Slatters as I’ve had that (years and years ago) and it’s actually just below where that ‘bump’ is.
When I run/bike I don’t notice it - it’s only tender to touch and the area is only about the size of my finger tip. Very local. And it never hurts unless I touch it (not yet anyway). I had thought that it was an inflammation caused by the Tibialis Anterior running over the Tibia - when I flex this mucles the ‘end’ of the muscle expands and covers the tender spot so I can’t get at it.
Was wondering if anyone has had a stress fracture before and if this sounds like one - at this point I wouldn’t have even found the tender spot had I not been feeling around my shin (I don’t recall why I was doing this, but anyway…). Stress fracture just sounds way more painful…
Thoughs/opinions/experiences would be appreciated. Thanks.
tom
edit: I should mention that I recently changed shoes and think the new shoes might be straining different muscles in my lower legs which could have caused an inflammation (maybe?).
yup. mine presented like shin splints at first and then progressed (as i continued running when the ‘shin splint’ pain subsided some - i have good pain tolerance) to the point that i was ‘aware’ of the sore spots when pushing off the wall in the pool and walking downstairs for instance. after 3 weeks of no change in my symptoms my doc sent me for a bone scan. only way to really know if they are stress fractures as they generally don’t show on regular xrays. well, maybe if you used the airport scanner… one fun way to see if it is a sf that works sometimes (did with mine) is the tuning fork test. really freaky feeling there.
hi there - i’ve had very similar symptoms in the last few weeks.
a bone scan nor an xray revealed any fracture. the issue seems to be over pronation over working the muscles that resist pronation; tibialis posterior is pulling away from the bone at its insertion to the tibia as a result. there’s no pain when i walk or sit or swim or ride. if i run fast - sub 4:30 km’s - i have no pain. if i run slowly, pain starts after a few minutes and progresses the longer i run.
active treatment is on the soft tissue, on strengthening the appropriate muscles, and on reducing pronation. working well!
It appeared at the end of the season 2002–left tibia, pretty high up. I kept running on it, not knowing what it was, until it got too painful. The ortho told me one of the “tells” is that very localized hot spot. The only way to diagnose it for sure was with a bone scan–it didn’t show up on the office radiograph. After it was diagnosed, it became painful to even walk. Don’t know why I didn’t feel much pain until after it was diagnosed…I become sensitized when I know something is supposed to be wrong?
Since then, I have felt tenderness in the area that might be what others have described. I spend at least two weeks each season since worrying about it, then I dismiss it and it never is another fracture.
I don’t know if this was helpful–I hope so. One of the crazy things I’ve done is get my chiropractor to put a tuning fork on it. Apparently, if you have a break in bone, it really hurts when that “fork” is on it. Don’t know if this is true or not, but it has made me feel better!
tibial stress fx are not usually that high - you seem to be pointing to the insertion of the patellar tendon at the tibial tuberosity, a less ominus pathology
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I had a stress fracture back in 2000. Shin was sore, but not a sharp pain. It was bugging me for about 6 weeks before, but I kept training and racing on it. Managed to even qualify for Hawaii with a bum leg. So, after a while it got worse, and I finally saw a doc, got a bone scan, and had two nice bright white spots on the screen. Two stress fractures.
4 weeks of no running, and limited walking. Air cast on most of the time. Managed to do IMUSA with it, but decided to skip the run. Finally started a regimented recovery protocol prescribed by a sports doc. First run was 400m walk, 400m jog, 400m walk. Did two runs per week like this, with the distances climbing each run (50% max increment), until I was comfortably running 2km. This was now 4 weeks before hawaii. I was going insane. Kept the long run by water running, which perpetuated the insanity. Leading up to hawaii I had a longest run of 1.5 hours. Now I’m constantly looking out for any shin pain and back off as soon as I feel a twinge.
So, find a good sports doc, take some time off (critical), wear an aircast(kinda smart), get a good recovery protocol (critical), listen to your body when you start running again (critical), do some water running (never again), and you’ll be back on the road in no time.
My reading (and experience) with tibial stress fracture also says that yours is too high. Mine was about 2/3 of the distance between knee and heel, and it seemed to develop out of shin splints. It took my sports doc several weeks to pin it down because I didn’t show any of the normal symptoms; not even the tuning fork got my attention. But running did, especially the first few minutes, and I set myself back quite a ways by “testing” to see if the “shin splints” were better. A bone scan finally proved that it was a stress fracture, and it turned out to be my best bad injury in that I rehabbed by swimming and spinning (I didn’t have a bike then and besides, it was February in Canada), which got my into triathlon rather than just being a runner.
It recurred 3 years later after I clobbered it walking into a steel janitor’s mop bucket at my school while I was carrying a pile of cardboard boxes. This time it was really a hairline fracture, but right on the stress fracture site. I recognized the symptoms almost immediately and stopped running right then and there, and my recovery time was 5-6 weeks instead of the 9 weeks of the original stress fracture. So, if I have any advice it is to treat this very conservatively and not persist on running if the pain starts up and then abates as the run progresses. Water running will be the therapy-of-choice, but that kind of choice is really a dilemma — so be cautious with the tibia! (And I hope that rroof is accurate with his assessment as you’ve described the problem!)
I have stress fractures in both tibia, and I’m in week 6 of a 12 week recovery period. I would agree with the other posts that stress fractures usually don’t present themselves that high on the shin. However, I would suggest that you get a bone scan to rule them out. I suffered from what I thought were shin splints for 2-3 years. I tried different orthotics, cut back on the my running, iced, etc… Sometimes my shins would only hurt to the touch, other times they would hurt for the first few K. It was tough to run consistently, and my performance suffered. I would have been much better off with an early diagnosis.
The area I am refering to is shown on this diagram (the higher point on the tibia)…
I should really clarify that it’s not a pain. I first noticed the tender spot some 2-3 months ago when I was knealing. It doesn’t hurt when I run and I don’t notice it after I run - but it is definately more tender (?) after the run.
I will probably go and see a doc this week just to be sure.
That diagram is just showing the names of the bones with some percentages (of lower extremity stress fractures I would assume). It does not point to exact locations, although the upper tibia mark would be near your point of pain per your description. Also, 2 of the bones are not even spelled right (Calcaneus and Sesamoid(s)) so I wouldn’t put too much weight in this!
Again, sounds like infrapatellar bursitis or insertional patellar tendonitis at the tibial tuberosity
I had several of these. I got an X-ray of my leg in 1990 and the Dr. found all these bumps on both Tibias. A bone scan followed and they scared the shit out of my wife and I about some sort of cancer. Eventually got referred to an Ortho guy (a runner) for a possible biopsy. He took my history and said “it’s bone” from old stress fractures and “I wouldn’t let anyone cut on me for that.”
Stress fracture sounds like a big deal and it can be, but other injuries can take just as long or longer to heal. I had probably just trained through some of mine, others I thought were shin splints .
I was new to tri at the time and my mileage was too high so it was overloading the smaller muscles and my ankle was rolling inwards pulling on the anterior tibialis. A few months in orthotics and some additional strength in the lower legs and I was good to go.
Yep. Many years ago, I had a tibia stress fracture in the shin area. It hurt me when I ran though (as well as to the touch). I thought I had shin splints and kept running. Finally my coach told me I probably had a stress fracture and it was confirmed with a bone scan. Fortunately by the time they saw it, I was already in the healing phase. Still took 6 weeks off. Amazingly the next year was the best running year of my life (big time marathon PR) so maybe the break in running was good for me. I actually started rowing during my recovery and got in great shape without the pounding of running.
one fun way to see if it is a sf that works sometimes (did with mine) is the tuning fork test. really freaky feeling there. 
