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