On the Bench

1

New Member - Femoral neck stress fracture (Read 472 times)

Darla1


    Hi Everyone,

     

    I'm joining a group none of want to be a part of, but I'm so glad you are all here.   I had a MRI a week ago and was diagnosed with a femoral neck stress fracture.   Once my HUGE pity party ended,  I bought a bike and emailed a friend who swims and I'm trying to x-train while I heal.  I was training for a October 4th marathon (my 2nd) do you think there is any chance I still might run this?  I have not run for 4 weeks, and my Dr. wants me to not run for 4 more weeks.  So I'm hoping to x-train enough to keep my fitness up.  If I can work up to one 16 or possible 18 mile run in September, I can do it.   What are your thoughts.

    Thank you for any thoughts or comments.
    Darla


      Hi Darla - sorry to hear about your stress fracture. Are you completely pain free at this point?

       

      It's difficult to comment on this without more information and without knowing what your goals for the marathon are. The thing is, femoral neck stress fractures, while not rare, are not a typical stress fracture. Did your doc have any opinions on why this happened? It's pretty important to figure out why you got this - was it training error, , calcium/ vitamin D deficiency, muscle imbalance.....now is the time to figure this out and try to correct anything you can. Do you have any ideas how you got this? Also, how long have you been running and how old are you? That can factor into your recovery as well. After 8 weeks off running, it would be a good idea to start with aggressive walking and when you can do that for an hour pain free, then start a run/walk program with no back to back running days for a few weeks. After you have a stress fracture, you will be at a higher risk for a repeat stress fracture for around a year. Sounds like you won't be cleared to run until early July - then figure another 6-8 weeks to get back to where you were with your training - if you can progress without any problems. If you can, it would be great to have an evaluation by a sports PT who might be able to help determine if you have any muscle imbalances that you could be working on correcting now, before you start your return to run program.

      Can you do it? If you don't have competitive goals, probably. Should you do it? My vote would be no.

      Wishing you a speedy recovery, Darla.

      Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away...(unkown)




      Go With The Flow
      Thyroid Support Group

      Darla1


        Chenille - thank you for your note.  In answer to your questions:  I am 44 yrs old, been running off and on for about 20 years, but seriously (for me anyways) for 3. I ran my first 1/2 May 08 and my first marathon Oct of 08.  I got lazy over the winter and took most of December and Jan off (got sick of the treadmill, I live in MN) below are my stats of miles per month when I was getting back at it again.

        May: 58.3 Mi
        April: 121.9 Mi
        March: 71.3 Mi
        February: 70.5 Mi

        I did push it harder the month of April, but I was having great runs and finally getting faster!  Then the injury in May.  Ugh!  Hard to know what pain free is??  I seem to always have small aches and pains from running.  Do I feel it every step, yep, but it is a little uncomfortable or achy, not really pain.  I biked last night for the first time, it went well, but only 12 miles and again a little achy today.   I lift weights 3x a week and have shifted my routines to try not to put any weight on my legs. This is hard!  I hate how long this is going to take, and the slowly getting back into running, I could just slit my wrists NOW!   I'm so sorry to be such a complainer, but this really, really sucks!  I'm so used to burning 500 calories a day, and this is the BEST time of the year to run in MN.  I'm wasting it.  Okay, officially the end of my pity party!  Sorry again!!  The hardest part it thinking about the marathon - once I just get it in my head, that I will probably not run it, I can stop obsessing.  I need to begin focusing on what I can do.  Hummm...

         

        Thank you if anyone is still reading.....

        Darla