Forums >Health and Nutrition>I know this is stupid...but
in 2020 I suffered a tibial stress fracture on my right leg, just above my ankle. I ran on it about a month before the pain became so great I couldn't take it anymore and finally went to see an orthopedic. He put me in an air cast, it took 12 weeks to fully heal. At the time I had been running about 50 mile weeks pretty consistently for about five months
I did the rehab, I took it slow, and now it's 2022 and I finally feel back and am registered for a half marathon next weekend, November 5th. I've been running very consistent 40 mile weeks since June. I'm pretty sure I have another stress fracture developing, this time of my left leg, tibia, below the knee. The symptoms are almost the same although as of right now, the pain is pretty minimal
I have a long history of injuries cropping up at the end of my training cycles, I have dropped out of two marathons (hamstring, knee) and been sidelined multiple times. I fully recognize that running with a stress fracture is a DUMB IDEA. all that to say, I'm racing this half marathon and then fully expect to have to rest for the remainder of this year. I will not drop out of another race because of a last second injury.
So my question is, what is the best way to do this? I was already planning to taper a bit and reduce my mileage to half for the next week, but maybe I should just do complete rest? I have started icing my leg where the spot is painful. Has anyone else pushed through something like this to get through a goal race? any suggestions besides stop running and rest now? I do have a pair of calf compression sleeves and some time with Dr Google suggest maybe wearing them daily to support the leg. I do plan on running a bit tomorrow on a soft trail surface instead of on concrete. I could also do treadmill jogs for the next week for a softer landing surface if I needed to.
Right now, its only painful when i start running and then maybe the last couple of miles it starts to get sore. It's a little achy during the day, but not bad. I know from my prior experience that is going to get worse and worse, but I think I can make it one week
RIP Milkman
I had a stress fracture in my tibia back in high school.
This past fall, I started feeling something really weird in my upper leg. No idea what it was, but I knew the pain level was higher than I should be running through. I did the "hop test" and failed: it was definitely painful while hopping. I told myself there's no way it could be another stress injury, because it didn't hurt as much as my fracture and I was way better about strength training and prehab work.
Went to get an MRI and it turned out to be a stress reaction in my femur. Explains why it didn't hurt as much as my fracture, because I stopped running when I knew something was seriously wrong, unlike my tibia where my high school coach told me "it's probably just shin splints"
Long story short - do you fail the hop test? It's a pretty damn good way to tell if you're dealing with a reaction/fracture. If you have a stress reaction, you're turning what could be a relatively short recovery into a major one. You've already seen how long it took you to recover from a stress fracture. A stress reaction? it's usually healed in 4-6 weeks. I was back running in 4 weeks after my stress reaction and ran a marathon a few months later, whereas stress fractures in femurs are absolute nightmares from what I've heard (usually 12 weeks of recovery, followed by a very long road back).
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Yeah, I know it's stupid. The thing is, I told myself (and my husband) that if I got another stress fracture I was going to be done with running. I love it. I have been running and logging here on RA for at least ten years. Two stress fractures in three years though, I feel like my body is just telling me it's done. I promised myself that if it happened again I would switch to something lower impact, I have a gym where I can swim, and I am already looking at rowing machines. Soooo, this is kind of it for me. I just want to be able to run this half (damn the consequences) and then will probably call it quits. I get hurt alot and am just kind of fed up with it all. I strength train, I supplement with vitamin D, I foam roll/massage gun, I stretch. I just don't have time to do any more rehab stuff to keep me running "most of the time" anytime I get close to consistent mileage, something quits on me.
I hear you on that. Some people are just injury prone. Full stop. And some people do absolutely nothing, and can run stupid miles, and never get injured. It's just the body we were given.
Having said that, if you have a stress fracture, recognize you do run the risk of a full fracture, which is a completely different ball game and is life altering, not just "I can't run for a few months."
If you know your risk though, only you can make that decision.
Are you actually failing the hop test though?
Forty years ago, I attempted to race a half with an obviously impending stress fracture near my ankle. I literally heard it crack midway through and was on crutches for who knows how long. It was a bad enough injury that I still feel twinges in that spot when I overtrain all these decades later.
tldr: It's not worth it.
#RunEveryDay
If you are going to do this half (and I suspect you have already decided that), then stop training now and rest. You can get through this half on muscle memory. You know how to run a half. You aren't going to get any training gains in the next week. But schedule an appt to get it check ASAP post race.
Half Fanatic #9292.
Game Admin for RA Running Game 2023.
I can actually still hop without pain, so i think it's early on. I am leaning towards full rest for the next eight days, I agree Meg that running now will just aggravate the site without doing much for me. i do have an apt scheduled with Orthopedic, but the earliest they can get me in in early December the office has an urgent care though, i think if i go there then I can get a fast tracked apt, so my plan is to go in Saturday afternoon after the half
Are you willing to do walk/run intervals to put less impact on your leg? That way you could still complete the HM, but might not aggravate your injury as much.
My hard-learned truth:
Better to be undertrained than not be able to run at all.
I'm still hoping to learn this.
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
Ginny, i'm not willing to walk/run the half itself, i've been working towards this goal race since the end of the summer and while i know I won't be able to PR I do think I can run a decent time. I am willing to take the week off though so it can rest as much as possible. and I started icing and elevating yesterday too. trying to stay off it as much as i can
I absolutely agree with complete rest before the half. You have very little to lose, and perhaps something to gain.
You can also spend the time that you are resting to think about whether you are really sure you want to run the half. Are you prepared to DNF if the pain gets bad during the race?
Good luck whatever you decided
Well, not sure if I will stay the course. I did a little jogging this morning in the fitness room at the gym, very soft surface. Leg hurt pretty bad and I gave it up after maybe two or three laps. I thought about just going in to the doctor today, if my leg feels like that on Saturday there is no way I can finish a half marathon. Really undecided at this point what I will end up doing
Sorry to hear. I don't think a doctor is going to be able to help you within a week. The quickest way to find out is to get an MRI, but even if I got to a doctor today around here, I couldn't get to an MRI facility and get results before about 10 days at best, usually 2-3 weeks.
runktrun
Bone is constantly breaking down and rebuilding. If you stop running completely until the 5th, your body might be able to repair enough bone to get through the half, but it's hard to tell.
Using pain during and after activity is a good guide, if you can be honest with yourself about pain and not just dismiss it as weird niggles.
That said, the fact that it hurt pretty bad after a few days off and minimal running suggests running the half will be risky.
You can look at it as the sooner you start resting, the shorter your recovery period.
Sorry you're dealing with this! In the bigger picture, maybe you can identify a threshold or trigger that seems to correlate with injuries at the end of your training cycle. Maybe you need shorter cycles and more days off but could handle tougher individual workouts? Maybe you'd adjust better to consistently lower training load? Dunno, but hope you figure it out and don't feel like you have to totally give up running; it may just look different.
Not running for my health, but in spite of it.
Decided to go to the orthopedic urgent care that my orthopedist is affiliated with. I went yesterday mostly because my week is pretty busy, but i had time in the afternoon, and the pain I felt at the gym in the morning just was foreboding. The stress fracture showed up on the xray. I only got to talk to the nurse practitioner, but my doctor just happened to be working at that location yesterday, so she consulted with him. they almost put me on crutches but i made many many promises that I would follow a strict rest, keep off my feet, no lower body... so they just put me in an air cast. i'll go back and follow up with the doctor in a month
I'm pretty sure this is it. I know I could probably adjust, do things differently, let running look differently. I'm just so tired of it. When i was heel striking I had hamstring issue after hamstring issue. Worked with a personal trainer, strengthened my legs, have continued to do strength and conditioning since then. Then an ankle issue developed and turned into knee pain. worked with a PT, changed my strike and stride, and now have had two lower leg stress fractures. just doesn't seem like running is working with me.
Now i'm just venting. Thanks for listening