Anyone know what a femur stress reaction/fracture feels like?

I had a stress fracture in the neck of my femur this past cross country season. Preceding any pretty serious pain, the only symptom I noticed was an aching/tight hip. The hip would be really tight for the first .5-1 mile of a run but then loosen up pretty well. Gradually this turned into a sharp pain that would not go away. I had a pronounced limp pretty quickly. For me, the most tell tale sign was pain when i tried to lift the leg. If I laid on my back and tried to lift my leg straight up, it HURT and was difficult to do. The pain would generally be the most severe immediately after I ran or in some cases later on in the night. I also exhibited weakness when seeing my trainer, resulting in a false diagnosis of a hip flexor strain. Looking back now, the weakness was really the leg hurting too much to push too hard or my body just not letting me. The pain also just felt "deep". It felt different than any strain or tendonitis I had had in the past, as I couldn't palpate anything specific where I felt pain.

Good luck and go get it checked out. Mine went misdiagnosed for 5 weeks and it made the comeback that much tougher. That being said, with religious cross training you can still maintain some pretty good fitness on your return if it is indeed a stress fracture.

I had a stress fracture half way down my femur a few years ago. Initially it felt like I had strained my quad. It felt really tight when I ran and would usually take about a mile to "loosen" up. As it got worse, I had pain walking around campus but still only thought it was a quad strain. I remember doing 400's and having a sharper pain in my femur that wouldn't hurt when my leg hit the ground, but would hurt when my leg left the ground (if that makes sense). This lasted about 2-3 weeks. Then, in a 10k, I hit a point where my foot went numb and I had difficulties lifting my leg. At that point I had an MRI done and it was a very early stress fracture. One of the tests the doctor had done to determine what I had was jump on the leg that was bothering me. Another was to put pressure directly underneath where the pain was, on my hamstring. The trainer said since I had pain from that, I most likely had a stress fracture. good luck!

A few days before incurring a stress fracture in the shaft of my femur, I also had a deep, dull discomfort in my thigh, which I attributed to my quad. It didn't keep me from running a 30K a few days later, during which the leg felt fine. However, after my last running step of the race, I switched to a walk and my leg pretty much collapsed under me.

If I had the same warning signs again, I don't think I'd recognize them. I have had other stress fractures in different bones since then (calcaneus, fibula, tibia), and the only common symptom has been a sensation of extreme weakness, although it came more as a sudden onset than a steady buildup that I could have successfully backed away from.

I'll second midwest girl's comment about the pain being worst when lifting the leg with the femur stress fracture. Specifically, what hurt during the weeks of healing, was to go from a weighted, bent-leg position to a straight leg. This translated to having to go one leg at a time both up and down stairs, not hike hills, not being able to zydeco or jitterbug dance (although I could do west coast swing), and obviously not run. I could, however, ride my road bike to my heart's content so long as I kept my butt in the saddle.

It usually feels like muscular pain before it gets bad. A deep but focused ache, sometimes accompanied by sharper shooting pains. Sometimes it goes away when you start running and then returns.

Probably the easiest way to spot a potential stress fracture is to take a couple days off. If the pain is muscular it will go away. If its a stress reaction it will feel better but return once you start running again because bones take much longer to heal. If you catch it early enough you can likely get away with only a couple weeks off, if you let it progress you could need to take a couple months.

If it isn't relieved with massage, ice, or rest... it's probably a fracture. Deep achy, dull pain is typically associated with fractures. Depending on it's location, you might feel it in the quad, hip, or glut. But all could be femoral fractures.

It might sound strange, but sometimes fractures can be better than muscle strains. Fractures are often managed better with a strict "no activity" policy while strains can turn chronic with day-to-day management.

Did your injury ever sort itself out? I have a very similar feeling in my quad right now, though I had the same thing in my other quad two years ago and it eventually went away. I too am wondering if it's worth going to the trainers.

Hope you are healed!

Old thread, I know.

Like another poster above, I notice that when I get out of a chair, especially my car, and my legs sort of rolls over the edge of the seat it really makes for a dull radiating pain.

It's like my quad hurts, but I can't really roll it out. Then when I put a lot of pressure on the hamstring it really starts to ache.

Seems obvious writing this, but that's typical of a stress reaction, right? I still feel decent when I run, but most steps I feel it.

I had a stress fracture, so a "dull" or "aching" sensation is the beginning. Since it's the femur, it's hard to pinpoint unlike the shin or ankle. The big thing to note is that the "aching" will resonate from a single, small point directly where the fracture is occuring. It's a very different feeling compared to a muscle knot, or let's say someone poked you very hard with something leaving you with a sore and bruised muscle. It's deeper, and when you stretch it, it doesn't actually hurt anymore or any less...it's just always there when you walk on it.

If you have the resources, get an X-ray. I ran with a stress fracture for a month, prepping for a major USATF meet. On the day of the race (5k), I could barely walk because of the sharp pain. I took some painkillers and ran anyway, and ended up winning (yay!). But then I couldn't walk for 1 month (was on a wheelchair) and my training was seriously impeded for the next 2 months, which completely destroyed my season. Not worth it.

I have been diagnosed with stress reaction and have very similar symptoms to the above posts, however I’m wondering what can I do to heal it and do I need to stop sport?

definitely stop as soon as you feel something. I went full nuclear with diagnosis/treatment as soon as I felt discomfort, turns out I had a very early stress reaction but was cleared to run 2 weeks after I first felt it. always respond to potential injuries as soon as possible