Coming back from a metatarsal stress fracture

I've heard that the area where the stress fracture was will ache a bit for a while once you return to running, but it's a pretty scary thing. I'd go get a bone scan and ask a doctor this question. Who wants to risk being sidelined for another 6 weeks?

a few years ago the same thing happened to me. i think i was out 6-8 weeks, not quite sure. i do recall my foot hurt a little when i 1st started back up. i also recall that i was a bit paranoid and so i limited my 1st week or 2 of running to only about 2 miles or so. they were also very slow miles.

ask the doc would be my advice.

I had a metatarsal stress fracture about 10 years ago. I was out for 8 weeks and then came back very slowly. My doctor advised me to walk for the first two weeks and no more than three miles. Then I could incorporate running and build up to three miles running. Once I was at three miles I started to increase my mileage.

It was slow recovery and it was very frustrating to walk and then walk and run but it's been 10 years and I haven't had a problem with the foot since then. I know other people who started too soon and develop other stress fractures.

My advice start slowly and don't increase the mileage or intensity too quickly.

Good luck.

A dog attacked me on a 15 mile run and ran between my legs when I tried to kick at it which was a big mistake. My back foot couldn't come forward with the dog there and went right over on top. The result was three fractured metatarsals in my foot.

Fortunately I was running a loop and happened to be within a block of my home, but was in so much pain that I couldn't utter a sound, tears streaming down my face. I crawled home on my back trying to hold my foot up in the air. It wasn't at all easy getting home and no one around to help.

I got home and immediately put my foot in a bucket with cold water and some ice cubes and kept doing this the rest of the day, keeping it wrapped with an elastic ace bandage in between. I called in that I wasn't coming to work and didn't go to work for a couple of days. The next day I drove to a hospital, driving with my left foot, where they took xrays and told me that my foot was broken. The woman wanted to put my foot in a cast. I said that I didn't want a cast because I needed to run, meaning when it healed. The quack's response was "No, we're putting your foot in a cast" indignantly and walked out leaving me sitting there.

When they left me alone I got up and hopped out of the hospital on one leg and drove home. I kept soaking my foot in the cold water with ice cubes four or five times a day and kept my foot wrapped with the ace bandage in between. I went back to work on the third day and tried using a crutch but didn't like it much so just kept hopping around. It was hard to do that one one leg. Thank goodness for the ice cubes my foot wasn't hurting as much but it ached, so then I would soak it again. I soaked it in between on breaks when at work.

To keep myself occupied I wrote a goal for the marathon in big letters for a marathon 4 months away and a time that was 4 minutes faster than I'd run and had been trying to better for two years. I was in anguish at night and one time crawled into the middle of the living room one night crying and wondering if I'd be able to run again. After one week I went to a running podiatrist, John Pagliano in Long Beach, California. He took xrays again and said my foot was healing quite well already in one week. He said the cast would have been a big mistake and my foot would have taken a long time to heal and been weak even after a year. I was glad my foot was healing well. He gave me a wooden sandal called a una-boot to wear while my foot was healing. I wore it with the ace bandage instead of a shoe and it gave a more solid base to my foot.

After 4 1/2 weeks from the injury I started out training again. The first day I covered 1 lap of the track, alternating 50 meters of walking with 50 meters of hobbling very slowly. That night my foot ached a lot and I kept soaking it in the cold water and ice. I would get up in the middle of the night when my foot was aching from the heat of the bed, stand backwards in the shower and hold my foot under the cold water tap to cool off. That allowed me to keep sleeping. I did this in the dark and one night I mistakenly turned on the hot water by mistake and let out a shriek that probably woke up the dead. Anyway I was much encouraged now because I was doing something, and back on my way to running again.

I kept going to the dirt track every day and running a bit more. Then I was up to a mile, and started running alternating with walking. I have the record if anyone wants to know it more specific but in 6 weeks from the injury I was running. In the tenth week I ran 98 miles, though slower than before as my foot was still healing and still getting used to the training. I ran a 25km race and was 90s slower than the year before.

In four months from the injury I bettered my marathon time by 5 minutes and 22 seconds. I was flying in the last two miles. When I was coming out of the chute my friend was excited that I had done so well and for a very seconds I was very emotional. He asked what was the matter, did it hurt? I said, "No, I did it". I was running again and I had bettered my time. It was a great feeling to do this and I had gained a much greater appreciation for my running than before. I would always keep this with me and value my being able to run greatly from now on.

Having had just a stress fracture in my foot, that hurt just to think about.

J.R.,

I have a metatarsal stress fracture. I was advised by my podiatrist to wear a walking boot since I am a teacher and on my feet a lot. It KILLS me to not be able to run, or even walk. I admire the dedication and determination you took in healing yourself. I would love if you could share with me your record of your return to running after just 6 weeks of being injured. Any help you could share would be much appreciated, although just reading your story has given me some much needed hope. Thank you. :)

Great! Now J.R. really has raised the dead!