How to tell if a metatarsal stress fracture is healed?

Bump. Anyone out there? Should I re-post this same thread with ROMNEY and OBAMA in the title to get some responses?

You can pray and wait for god to reply to you like Ryan Hall does. No fool! Go see an MD, and have him/her do an x-ray or mri etc.

Yeah well an x-ray probably wouldn't pick up a fracture that small anyways and I'd rather not drop 1000 dollars on an MRI again. Are there any other options?

In all honesty, just see an MD is your safest route. I know it can be expensive but it all depends how much you value running and or your health. Usually, fractures heal between 6-8 weeks. You can wait up to 8 weeks to be sure.

You will not be able to find any test that can confirm for you that your stress fracture has healed. You can get an X-ray, which should show a bone callous forming around the area where you got the stress fracture. MRI would not be helpful unless you think you have reinjured it. Walking/jumping on your toes is thought of by some as a good test, but it does not work. You may still have some pain as you return to running and may have some pain doing that test and others. You really just have to get back to running and make the return to running cautious, but steady. 3-4 weeks to get mileage back, then adding light speed work. 8 months out, if all feel good, you should be able to get back to normal.

Hrm I was afraid of that. Thanks for the input.

8 months out? You mean 8 weeks. 8 months for a stress fracture is too long.

It will be hard to tell. I've had one stress fracture over my running career and mine was also in a metatarsal. After I took my time off, my doctor mentioned that it could hurt a little bit for a little while due to some residual effects after it healed and this happened to be correct. I never re-injured it, but for about a month or so after I started back up, it was occasionally slightly sore. Obviously, be very careful about coming back and up your mileage in a slow and well thought out fashion, but if you occasionally feel a tiny bit of soreness, it doesn't necessarily mean that you need to take another 2 months off.

Your toe will hurt when you run regardless of whether it is healed or not. Jog lightly on grass. Start at 5 minutes a day and gradually increase.

Raptured, I had the same problem when I came back from mine, but I am now experiencing a little pain in the area again (8-9 months after the initial injury). I can't tell if it is my metatarsal or if it is plantar fasciitis which I developed a little bit of when I was coming back from the stress fracture. Did you experience pain in yours this long after yours healed? Could the weather turning have any effect on it?

You need to see a Sports Medicine specialist. Stress fractures almost always hurt more the more you run. If it "never really hurt when I was running" then it is probably something else like a neuroma or a capsulitis or plantar plate tear.

Yeah bfullem I originally thought it was a neuroma. Is it possible to get an incorrect diagnosis like that from an MRI. And wouldn't a plantar plate tear hurt a ton?