Anyone had one? What did it feel like? I have pretty bad pain on the outside of my lower leg concentrated near the bottom, but my shin muscle feels very sore and achy up near the top as well. It hurts to point my toes down and especially outward. I cannot run and even walking is painful. I feel the pain even just sitting at the computer writing this. Stretching and massage feels good.
I actually had one a few years ago. What you describe is exactly what I felt to a "t". Get in an aircast and/or crutches ASAP and start healing.
hurty leg wrote:
Anyone had one? What did it feel like? I have pretty bad pain on the outside of my lower leg concentrated near the bottom, but my shin muscle feels very sore and achy up near the top as well. It hurts to point my toes down and especially outward. I cannot run and even walking is painful. I feel the pain even just sitting at the computer writing this. Stretching and massage feels good.
could be a high ankle sprain? but you didn't tell us how you hurt it? when you hurt it? and the description of the pain leaves me looking at many possible issues...more details could help us better guess
gn1tmac wrote:
could be a high ankle sprain? but you didn't tell us how you hurt it? when you hurt it? and the description of the pain leaves me looking at many possible issues...more details could help us better guess
Here's the story: I remember rolling it but it didn't feel bad. I didn't feel any pain the rest of the run or later that night. There was no bruising or swelling. The next day I had forgotten I'd even rolled it at all. I had 10x400m that day and didn't feel it at all warming up. I felt it a little bit the first two reps but then didn't feel it at all, even on the cooldown. Then, it started hurting about the time I was leaving practice and got progressively worse until when I tried to run the next morning it was very bad and I turned back after only about 400m.
The trainers said it must be a high ankle sprain, but I'm not so sure since I didn't actually feel any pain until the next day after a workout. Also, I'm in constant discomfort. The muscle feels as if it's constantly flexed. If you've ever done toe raises (to strengthen your shin muscles) to the point the muscle hurts and feels totally dead, that's basically how my shin muscle and the side of my lower leg feels all the time. The pain itself is concentrated right where the peroneus longus is located, and that's where it hurts most when I point my toes down or outward, but the whole muscle from ankle to knee feels really sore/tight/tired, etc.
I took about 10 days off originally and the pain had gone nearly completely, and my coach told me to run. I ran light one day and then did half a workout the next and the pain was back in full force, probably even worse than originally. I'm probably going to see a doctor early next week, but of course I'd like to know as much as possible now, especially any anecdotes as I know fibula stress fractures are rare. I've also never had a stress fracture before, and I've been running for 10 years.
Christ, I have had some nasty injuries over the years, but the fibula stress fracture was the worst without question. Does it hurt to put pressure on the lateral side of your lower leg while pushing with your palm? If it is extremely sensitive, you probably have a fracture.
The strange thing about a fibula stress fracture is that it is not a weight-bearing bone, and the fracture is not caused by impact induced stress like most other running fractures are. Additionally, you may be able to continue running for some time before it gets really terrible, at which point walking will become very painful. Furthermore, the fracture probably will not show up on an x-ray until later (for some reason, ask a doctor).
My fracture seemed to be caused by too many miles and tightness in my hip and lower leg muscles that began to torque on the fibula. I trashed the thing really bad, and it took about 8 months before I could get back to running slowly. During this time I found stretching the peroneal area to be comforting. It is difficult to describe how to stretch the area, but if you plant your foot and invert your toe while doing a lunge-of-sorts to stretch the tendon running down the side of your lower leg, you may find that it relives the feeling of fatigue that you described.
The bottom line is that you need to rest, rest, rest.