2nd metatarsal stress fracture recovery

To cut to the chase, assuming you have good nutrition/diet, you'll be out/in a boot for four weeks. There is no magic remedy for healing a bone faster. You must wear the boot at all times except for when you sleep and shower. Not wearing it will extend your recovery and could cause other problems down the road.

In the meantime, you can aqua jog. That's about it. No cycling, elliptical. You can continue to use the foam roller to stretch your ITB and other muscles/tendons.

Upon clearance to start running again, you must be patient and come back slowly. You should follow something like the following:

Day 1 - Three minutes of running followed by one minute of walking for 30 minutes

Day 2 - off

Day 3 - Three minutes of running followed by one minute of walking for 30 minutes

Day 4 - off

Day 5 - Three minutes of running followed by one minute of walking for 30 minutes

Day 6 - off

Day 7 - Five minutes of running followed by one minute of walking for 30 minutes

Day 8 - off

Day 9 - Five minutes of running followed by one minute of walking for 40 minutes

Day 10 - off

Day 11 - Five minutes of running followed by one minute of walking for 40 minutes

Day 12 - off

Day 13 - Seven minutes of running followed by one minute of walking for 40 minutes

Day 14 - off

Day 15 - Seven minutes of running followed by one minute of walking for 40 minutes

Day 17 - off

Day 18 - Assuming no setbacks, shoot for 40 minutes of continuous running.

Day 19 - Still no issues, you should be clear to continue training again.

Lesson learned...you jumped your mileage way too fast. You have to be patient with recovery and then with building back up. Endurance runners aren't built in a month, it's a process over many seasons. That first full week back, you should target 35-40km. 2nd week 40-45km and the 3rd week 45-50km. The fourth week, go back to 35km. Continue to slowly build your mileage over the next few months. Take a down week every fourth week.

Follow this approach and you'll have more than enough time for an April race. Best of luck!

6-8 weeks, elliptical or bike after 2, if it doesnt hurt

Thanks! That's some good advice)I guess I was too eager. I am going to get the dreaded boot now. My best friend for the next four weeks...

By the way, how do you get clearance to run again? Do you need to do another mri/ct scan? Go to the doctor? Or just run when it doesn't hurt anymore?

Definitely get the advice of a professional (doc I mean). The running when it doesn't hurt technique is just asking to re-injure yourself. I'm about your age, have been running since high school, and hadn't had a single injury until after I ran my first marathon last fall. I developed chronic shin splints that were prolonged for 6 months because I kept trying to run again even when things felt okay at first.

Not trying to scare but it's always piece of mind to seek advice from an expert.

I've had two 2nd metatarsal stress fractures. I think both took 8 weeks to heal and I got clearance to run after that. The doctor will probably give you an X-ray. They can't detect stress fractures, but they do show new bone growth in the area.

The doctor will probably tell you what to do for the first two weeks of running. You'll start really slow (like a .5-1 mile your first day) to make sure you won't reopen the stress fracture. Focus on the long term. I recovered to where I was after my first stress fracture, and I'm on my way back from my 2nd. Don't get discouraged if your training sucks for a month or two.

8 weeks feels like forever ( I am already discouraged and have been crying my eyes out for the last 24hrs. Feel lost without running and it is almost ironic it happened exactly at the time I got a coach and decided to get serious about it. Feel hopeless..

6-8 weeks approx if you take care of this now. See an ortho or good sports podiatrist ASAP if you haven't already. And you're actually fortunate in the sense that you have a low risk SF, unlike high risk ones like in the navicular bone (e.g., Laura Fleshman). Good luck.