I want to bring this up because I have seen it so much and doctors have NEVER been able to prevent it because they don't think it is possible. Afterall, the fibula "is a non-weight-baring bone!"
Most of the time they'll say you just have tendonitis. Which may, at first, be true. The big problem with tendonitis is most doctors think it isn't a problem. Of course, when a doctor says that to you, you'll say "well, this guy is a doctor so he must know what he's talking about" and you'll just run through the pain. It's true that with normal people tendonitis isn't anything to worry about. But what happens with runners in training is the tendons get very tight and inflamed and pull on the bone they are attached too. It gets into a cycle where the more it pulls, the more it hurts, the tighter it gets, so the more it pulls, etc. Tendons are so strong they will actually get to the point where they pull on the bone so hard the bone breaks and THEN you have a stress fracture.
I personally know 4 people just in my area who have had fibular stress fractures and every time it was because the doctors told them the same thing: "It's just tendonitis. The fibula is a non-weight-bearing bone so you won't get a stress fracture in there." I actually coached a high school kid whose leg really hurt after a race and the trainers told him it was tendonitis. I even asked, "could it be a stress fracture in his fibula?" They said, "No that is very uncommon since it's a non-weight-baring bone." They actually gave me a look like, "are you really that retarded?" He ran another race on it and went to the doctors the following week. Guess what... a stress fracture in his fibula!!
It seems like simple mechanics to me that if a tendon is too tight to fully extend it is going to pull hard on the bone. It doesn't matter if it's not bearing weight because it is still bearing FORCE! That is why we have a fibula. If it was no use to us then why would we have it?
Anyway, I wanted to share that with everyone so if you have a friend or know someone whose having a lot of pain in the outside of their leg and they think it is nothing to worry about, tell them they should take it easy.
Anyone else had a similar problem with a fibular stress fracture or know of someone?