I'm curious.  If you had no pain, what caused you to get an MRI?

I'd had what I thought were shin splints for a couple months, and I suppose it's likely that it did start off as shin splints/stress reaction and only recently progressed to a (possible/probable) fracture. No pain while running, but a few hours to a day afterward my shin would be a bit sore to the touch. Ice and ibuprofen helped, strengthening my lower legs helped but nothing made it go away completely. The fact that it didn't hurt while running led me to believe I'd be okay to keep running. It had been going on for long enough that I finally made an appointment to figure out exactly what was going on and hopefully rule out a stress fracture. X-rays were clean but the doctor wanted an MRI to be sure since the soreness had become a little bit more localized when I had my first appointment.

I've never had bone pain of any kind before so I had no idea what to look for, and I have a pretty high pain threshold so it's possible that someone less stubborn than me would have seen a doctor sooner. It's really hard to describe, I don't feel pain but my left leg feels different/not quite right compared to my right. This week I've had a DOMS-type achy soreness in my calf which I just assumed was due to my workouts, but I felt it again last night and it's been more than 3 days since I worked that leg.

Sorry, that was kind of a long and vague explanation. TL;DR my leg doesn't necessarily hurt, but it also doesn't feel quite right either.

 Xactly! Knitting is good!LOL I just finished the 7th scarf for some of my son's friends.

They request them every year.  At the very least if knitting makes me cool with 20 and 21

yr olds I"m OK with that!

 

Lauren, really sorry about the injury. I was off running for 6 weeks early in the year becuase

of surgery. It wasn't running related surgery but it still sucked.

 

Enjoy the swimming.

No kidding. Reading and knitting kept me sane during my injury and after my surgery. At least... sane comparatively speaking, I guess.

 

Red flag for stress fracture.  Ignoring it makes it worse.  Sorry, not trying to make you feel worse but I'm 5 months past where you are now.

 

No point crying though.  Get your a$$ in the pool and concentrate on other things.  Get on with life and staying active.

 

Shoot. Well now I know to stop immediately and get myself to the doctor if it happens again in the future.

My first swimsuit came in the mail today and it's roughly 3 sizes too small D: I just read a million reviews and figured out what size I should have ordered. The pool is closed this week anyway, next suit should arrive on Thursday and I'll be in the pool the day after New Year's. Upper body weights only until then!

Maybe a pelvic stress fracture is a lot different, but when I had one it was always painful and was definitely more painful when I ran. As it got worse, running was not even possible without a significant altering of my form. I would wait to see what the doctor says and not panic yet.   I hope you get good news.

I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV.

 

I have a few guidelines I follow when it comes to running through pain.

 

1.  Does running make it worse?  In other words, does it hurt worse when I try to run and does the pain keep getting worse the farther I run? If so, it's time to quit running.  If the pain goes away after half a mile or so, I figure I can run through it.  I have run through some stuff that made me want to scream it hurt so badly the first half mile.  I currently have something wrong right at the head of the 5th metatarsal on my right foot.  I want to cry every time I step on a rock at that spot.  I can't walk on hardwood floors or cement barefoot without enormous pain.  But, the pain goes away after a couple of miles.  So I run.

 

2.  Does stopping running make it better?  Most of the time, if I tweak something, a few days off makes it better.  If taking time off doesn't make it better, then to hell with it.  I'm running.

 

3.  I'm old.  Shit's supposed to break.  At age 50, things are going to hurt.  I had an MRI on my knee not too long ago and the tech noted degenerative changes.  As my orthopedist told me, there are degenerative changes in the knee MRI's of approximately 99.99% of all 50 year old men.  (OK.  He didn't say 99.99% but he did say that there would be degenerative changes in an MRI image of nearly all 49 year old men which was how old I was at the time).

 

4.  Make your own call.  I'm very aggressive and risk tolerant.  I run until it really breaks.  That's probably not the best approach.

Those are terrible guidelines and I hope nobody here tries to follow them. The most debilitating injuries I've had were the ones where the pain went away after a mile or two. Until eventually it didn't.

I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV.

 

I have a few guidelines I follow when it comes to running through pain.

 

1.  Does running make it worse?  In other words, does it hurt worse when I try to run and does the pain keep getting worse the farther I run? If so, it's time to quit running.  If the pain goes away after half a mile or so, I figure I can run through it.  I have run through some stuff that made me want to scream it hurt so badly the first half mile.  I currently have something wrong right at the head of the 5th metatarsal on my right foot.  I want to cry every time I step on a rock at that spot.  I can't walk on hardwood floors or cement barefoot without enormous pain.  But, the pain goes away after a couple of miles.  So I run.

 

2.  Does stopping running make it better?  Most of the time, if I tweak something, a few days off makes it better.  If taking time off doesn't make it better, then to hell with it.  I'm running.

 

3.  I'm old.  Shit's supposed to break.  At age 50, things are going to hurt.  I had an MRI on my knee not too long ago and the tech noted degenerative changes.  As my orthopedist told me, there are degenerative changes in the knee MRI's of approximately 99.99% of all 50 year old men.  (OK.  He didn't say 99.99% but he did say that there would be degenerative changes in an MRI image of nearly all 49 year old men which was how old I was at the time).

 

4.  Make your own call.  I'm very aggressive and risk tolerant.  I run until it really breaks.  That's probably not the best approach.

Ah, no.  No, it's not supposed to break.

IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

So the doctor said it's shin splints. Clearly my lack of medical degree is showing I start physical therapy next Thursday, and I'll continue resting until then because it certainly can't hurt and probably will help.

Still going to start swimming too, because now I have the gear and I'm all excited about it... debating whether I should return the aquajogging belt or hang onto it just in case I ever need it.

Woohoo!

 

Ahem, didn't I tell you NOT to worry until you talked to a doctor?  Sheesh, woman!

I know, I know! I'm going to listen to you from now on