Hello, my name is Brian, i am another lurker who hardly ever posts here but today i am looking for advice in a kind of shitty situation.
A little background:
22YR M, been a athlete my entire life. Former possible relevent injuries include a R ankle condition when i was 14-15 called OCD, took 2 years of Crutches/boot wearing to resolve non surgically, followed by a partially torn R Hip Flexor after returning to strenous activity w/out proper rehab. Ran X country/track since i was very young, swimming off and on since i was 4, started road biking in 05’. Picked up triathlon in late 05. I am a Reconnaissance Marine and have been doing the tasks associated with that in addition to my triathlon training.
In 07 I did Wildflower and Lake Stevens, after lake stevens and subsequent runs i developed a light nagging pain in my entire R groin area. I attended Airborne school in August and a few rough landings aggrivated the pain to the point i did not do any extra training runs and spent more time in the water and bike. I started a regime of Ice and anti inflammitories. After a week or so the pain became lighter and i resumed light running and a slow pace. While attending Army Pathfinder school i had another shitty parachute landing and the pain returned. Two weeks later it felt slightly better and i ran a 5k race. That brought the pain to an all time high. I had suspected a hip flexor injury or just a groin pull, but now the pain radiated down the inside of the theigh and on the side of the hip. I suspected bursitis and avoided impact/running as best i could.
I was deployed a few weeks later. Once i arrived here(iraq) i continued to rest the hip until it felt pain free and my walking limp went away when i was off the AI Pills, I began a slow running buildup and i felt dull pain returning so i stopped. We began a jump package out here and once we were loaded out with full mission profile equipment(i am 170lb, i weigh 300 with all equip), i had two back to back hard landings in a 2 hour period, i could barely walk after the 2nd one. I was excluded from subsequent jumps and was finally given a green light to see a doctor. I had an Xray taken of the hip to check for serious issues and it showed a normal hip joint. The doc told me it was probably bursitis, told me to rest and if that didnt work we would give it a cortico steriod injection and that should fix it.
I began the rest cycle which was interupted by operations but avoided high impact essentially for 6 weeks. I did have to bear significant weight and hike a lot for part of that period though. I attempted a longer slow run after 2 weeks of additional solid rest and the pain returned to its highest level. I went to the Doc and had the corticosteriod injection and it did nothing. He told me i have a hip stress fracture but i would need a bone scan or MRI to confirm and the nearest machine is in Germany but i probably didn't need one anyway. I asked to see one of the in country orthopedists and was denied, i was pulled from operating and told to just not run and in 8 weeks it should just get better.
I am kind of concerned that this is just negligence and they just don't want to do the paperwork to let me see someone. If i need to use crutches for an extended period i will be sent to germany or to the states. We've already sent a few guys home for broken legs and other bones from jumping and it looks bad if more people go, so they want me to limp aimlessly around for 2 months despite the fact this is not 2005 and we have no mission. I just doubt this is going to fix the problem and i know of a negligent case where another military doctor had a kid with a stress fx hip do a hop test and he snapped his femoral head right in the office.
My question is should i keep up my crusade of trying to get sent to get the scan and what i consider proper treatment or just shut up and wait and see? Any doctors or people who've had a similar injury let me know what your treatment was please.
I’d like to get it resolved, i am signed up for Buffalo springs, stevens and louisville. It would also be cool to not limp around anymore.
God i can’t wait until i can actually choose to see someone who gives a shit about patients.
Demand a CT scan or bone density scan or both for that matter. Stress Fx is #1 on my differential diagnosis list at this point for you. If you need a bit of a moral booster, Chris Lieto had a femoral stress Fx approximately 4 years ago, went through the proper treatment protocol via his MD and look at him now! You will get through this. Be demanding yet not commanding and make sure that all avenues to a proper diagnosis are taken. ERIK
Sorry man. An MRI is a very good idea, but probably won’t change your treatment much at this point (although, you should NOT have had a corticosteroid injection if a stress fx was a possibility).
Shame you didn’t get to see Dr. George Gumman while at Ft. Benning for Airborne school. I injured my ankle at Ft. Benning while at Airborne school and he was great - instrumental in my career choice as well. For the record, OCD = osteochondral defect (likely in your talar dome).
You absolutely can not run for at least 8 weeks, perhaps 12 since your “regular” duty is still plenty of walking, etc. Not sure how you would go about pressing for another “opinion”, but there are still other posibilities (like AVN - avascular necrosis of the femoral head, etc.) that really need to be addressed as later tx can be much worse here.
I had a stress fracture in my hip a few years ago. Sounds similar to what you’re going through. I noticed the pain but it wasn’t significant enough to stop training. It felt like I needed to stretch more…I was training for my first marathon so pretty much everything hurts at some point. I did the marathon and at about mile 21 my hip started clicking and it hurt like hell. I was thinking it was a cramped up IT band so I kept going…walking and running…running hurt less than walking for some reason. The last five miles were miserable. I finished in a bit over 5 hours…very happy to finish but hugely disappointed.
Once I finished I tried to stretch and catch my breath, went to take a step and almost passed out. I was still thinking it was a muscle spasm, so I didn’t go to the hospital. I crawled around my apt until the next day when my sister took me to the emergency room. They could see the fracture with an x-ray and an MRI. Lower femoral arch fracture.
Moral of the story…it will get worse, much worse if you don’t allow it to heal properly. The doctor told me not to do anything at all. “Can’t I swim?” “NO!!” “Bike?” “NO - you have a broken bone in your leg. You can’t do anything.” It took a month for me to walk without crutches and another 2 months to take a step running. It was by far the most frustrating thing I’ve ever experienced. It did give me a huge appreciation for how fortunate I am to be healthy and mobile.
Good luck…don’t jump out of a plane until it heals!
I had a femoral stress fx last year. Had to take around 8 weeks off from running. Could do everything else. Don’t run until at leat 8 weeks. Get another mri at that point to confirm you are ok and only then start running, etc.
My question is should i keep up my crusade of trying to get sent to get the scan and what i consider proper treatment or just shut up and wait and see? Any doctors or people who’ve had a similar injury let me know what your treatment was please.
I’d like to get it resolved, i am signed up for Buffalo springs, stevens and louisville. It would also be cool to not limp around anymore.
God i can’t wait until i can actually choose to see someone who gives a shit about patients.
Quite the story - I am so sorry. You must be in terrible pain. I’ve had stress fractures, though not in my hips, and even treated well they are miserable things. To have been mistreated plus all the weight you’ve still put on those bones, awful.
I hope you can get proper medical care, somehow, because without it this probably won’t heal correctly. I do not know enough about fx of the hip to be able to tell you any more than “get enough calcium” as that’s one of the little things you can do to help - and stay off it as much as you can (not sure how possible that is in your job).
Keep trying to get better medical care, not sure what an MRI or bone scan would do for you at this point except maybe make everyone else take notice that you need some better tx? But don’t give up your bones and body are too precious.
Stress fx on the underpart/inferior part of the femoral neck can be treated with crutches and nonweightbearing successfully in a vast majority of people…no problem
Stress fx on the top/superior aspect of the femoral neck often needs screws put in the bone to stabilize the bone because this are is under tension and could pull apart
IF #2 is the fx, then ‘if’ the bone displace (could occur without proper treatment), then the prognosis for a successful recovery is poor (much high risk of avascular necrosis which would put your athletic life in jeopardy!!)
Yea, that tension sided SFX is kind of what i was afraid of and since there is no way to confirm one or the other without proper imagery it seemed like my hip was worth only a guess, which is not acceptable to me. I’ve given two deployments and put up with 4 years of crap and the one time i have an issue i get kicked to the curb, it’s frustrating. I am seeing the head doctor on Al-Asad tomorrow morning and we will see if he has a different viewpoint. He ultimately makes the decision.
Saw a different Doc today, he basically repeated what you said Jayhawk. Told my guys i needed to get sent out to get an MRI ASAP and put me on a non-weight bearing status.
I am a lot more comfortable with that outcome then with the one i would have had if i would not of made some noise.
Thanks guys, let you know what happens since it will probably be a few weeks before i find my way to an MRI machine…
your bones and body are too precious.