What is ok to do with a sacral stress fracture?

Have you gotten your bone density checked at any time? Maybe you're overdoing it with the core training, considering you've had a stress fracture here twice? Try half of your 'normal routine'?

no haven't had that, I drink a lot of milk though so that should never have been a problem.

Drinking milk is fine and you should continue to do so, but you should have your bone density checked.

If you are a female and have stopped having periods (which sometimes is caused by dropping under 12% body fat or so) you would in danger of losing a lot of bone quickly.

I'm not aware of a similar condition in men having to do with low weight. But I know that men also can have low bone density.

Sorry about not stating this in the first post... I am 21 year old male, not too skinny but I do have a really naturally skinny frame. I'm around 5'8" and 135 pounds. The first time I got one I was recovering from another injury (left side IT Band lateral release) and started way too fast and got a sacral stress fracture on the right side. Lost interest in running and took about 9 months off and just lifted weights. So I decided to run again and had not had a problem for about 2 years until this came back. I was only doing 30 miles a week for the last year or so, so could it be possible that the first fracture never really healed and the low mileage was permitting me to run for some time before the fracture gave way again? I'm sort of at a loss because the only variable I changed in the last year from the easy running of 30 miles a week was adding in one heavy lower body weightlifting workout a week with heavy squats and leg presses and box jumps etc. Also, I have a normal arch and have been running in the nike air cesium for the last 9 months or so. Before that I was in the Structure Triax. Nobody has ever noticed any pronation in my gait. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to put all the variables out there so it could perhaps help somebody give me some information. The best back doc in my area was not too familiar with sacral stress fractures when I went to see him 2.5 years ago, and I 'm seeing him again so that's why I'm trying to get some ideas on here that I might mention and discuss with him.

Your sacral stress fracture is a result of your squats. If you think back you will be able to pin point the exact workout . You lifted, went for an easy run and suddenly your hamstring and butt cramped to the point that you had to walk. Squats done incorrectly with too much weight or even too high rep with low weight can cause sacral stress fractures.

perhaps the squats caused it. But in both cases, the first time I noticed a very mild level of pain was when I woke up in the morning. And in both cases, I continued to run and do everything for 2-3 days until the pain became more severe and I realized that I was messed up and this was not any kind of normal soreness. One thing I did notice though was that in the first week after this last one, my right hamstring was tight and I had a moment where the hamstring sort of cramped up, was painful for a few seconds and went away after stetching, but some of the pain, not all, went away from the sacral area. This was when it was really hurting me in the first week. I'm kind of nervous now because I am really young and this has happened to an otherwise really healthy person and I'm worried that this injury may preclude me from running for a long time.

At least, for starters, get your bone density checked. It's done pretty easily now, so there's no reason to wait around and be guessing about things.

I coached one guy who got a sacral stress fracture for no readily apparent reason. He was training fairly hard, but nothing too outlandish.

Still, where this is your second one in two years, you need to check it out more thoroughly. Start with the bone density test.

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Usually the core training should 'help' improve your spine bone mass (~increase muscle mass/strength= improve bone mass). However, considering you've had the same injury in the sacrum AND do a lot of core-type and lower leg training, you're either doing too much of it and/or have problems with bone mass. Exceptional muscular force combined with muscular fatigue leads to greater stress on bone. Recovery is crucial for allowing the body to repair itself and not continue to be broken down. I don't know what your goals are with your running, but if you're wanting to train seriously you should consider the weight training as 'supplemental'.

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