Calcaneal fractures ?

What are your symptoms?

How was it diagnosed?

I had one last Dec. I was pretty down about it.

It's the normal procedure. Take 6 to 8 weeks off. I don't think speed walking is a good idea. Get in the pool or jump on a bike in the gym. I would also be careful not to come back too soon or too hard. I also hope you are trying to understand why it happened. Were you increasing the mileage considerably? Did you just start out running? Are you hitting considerably hard on your heel?

Surprisingly, mine was from wearing minimal shoes (zero heel to toe) and the stress from my Achilles on my heal. I never heel strike.

Good luck.

I echo what bfullem asked. How was it diagnosed?

I had this about 7 years ago. I thought I had chronic bone bruise and an MRI revealed a significant stress fracture. I was in a cast up to my knee for 8 weeks and I still had plantar issues for months after i came out of the cast.

You are talking about being active during your fracture. If you've had an MRI or an XRay, it should have been immobilized and you should be keeping weight off of it to let it heal.

Also, get a blood test. There may be something else going on with nutrition or absorption of your nutrients that could be a contributing factor your fracture. Especially if it wasn't an acute event that led to the pain.

good luck

CherryDonald wrote:

How many weeks of no running? 6-8 weeks--this allows enough time for it to heal

What cross training should I do? swimming (no flip turns, no push off from wall), pool running, water aerobics

Will speed walking be a bad choice? yes. stay off your foot!

Doctor did not give me a boot, should I get some shoes with massive cushion? no

Can I still play hockey? no, no hockey, no skating, no skiing, no.

What did the doctor say?

Diagnosed via bone scan.

Dr. said no running for 2 months. That's all he said.

After 5 marathons I just randomly decided to switch to neutral & lighter weight shoes and I'm a hefty 170 LBS :(

Bump

stress fracture rules:

1. If it hurts, don't do it. It means you're probably doing damage and preventing healing.

2. Boots are stupid (unless you have a Jones fracture, you don't) and will cause muscle atrophy. If you can't walk due to severe pain use a crutch for a few days until you can walk.

3. Your doctor gave you an estimate on recovery time, but he/she really doesn't know when it's safe for you to start running. I've had many stress fractures, including a severe calcaneal. I thought it was just severe plantar fasciitis, so I ran most of a marathon and then hobbled the last 4 miles on it. FYI it took me 10 weeks to resume light running. That sucked.

So when is it safe to start running? Once your pain is diminished and nearly gone, every morning try running or jumping a few steps. The first day that you can do it pain free, you're count down starts. You can start LIGHT running 15 days later. Light means like a 1/4 mile. Preferably on a soft surface. Then 2 days later 1/4 mile again if you're pain free. 2 days later you can run 1/2 mile if you're still pain free. Repeat. If you're still ok in 2 days push it to a mile. Continue to build slowly It's important not run back to back days for first 2-3 weeks. If you get some pain stop running and rest it a few more days.

Cross train while you're recovering. Again: if it hurts, DON'T DO IT! My favorites are stationary bike and elliptical.

Good luck.

and BTW I've had other stress fractures where I've resumed light running with the schedule i gave you after 24 days. It just depends on the severity of the fracture when you stop running.

thanks

Bill the pill wrote:

including a severe calcaneal. I thought it was just severe plantar fasciitis, so I ran most of a marathon and then hobbled the last 4 miles on it. FYI it took me 10 weeks to resume light running. That sucked.

Looking back do you remember what symptoms you had that might have indicated a sf rather than pf? I will probably go to the doctor soon to check my heel out but I'm trying to self-diagnose what is going on. Thanks!

It's hard to know for sure, since apparently I never had PF. Mine developed over maybe 3-4 months, unlike other SFs I've had where they've come out of nowhere. Because of what I thought was PF I changed from minimal shoes to Adidas Boost then to Hokas, which bought me another couple of months, and a couple 50Ks and 2 marathons. There were days it hurt while running, especially in the minimal shoes, but not always. I still beat myself up though for hobble-running through sharp pains those last 4 miles of a basically meaningless marathon. I believe if I hadn't done that I could have been back in 4-6 weeks. I lost a lot of fitness in those 10 weeks. My prior experience had been that pain while running is indicator to be worried about a stress fracture; I would think PF pain would get better once you get warmed up.

sdfasdfasdfasdfasdfsad wrote:

Looking back do you remember what symptoms you had that might have indicated a sf rather than pf? I will probably go to the doctor soon to check my heel out but I'm trying to self-diagnose what is going on. Thanks!

helpful, thanks.

PF pain should not be sharp.

If you think it's a SF just dig your finger or thumb into the sore area and see how that feels :)

bump

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Bill the pill,

I really appreciate your experience, wisdom and no-nonsense advice here!

I'm a 47 yo / 150lb / 6'1" runner who was targeting a sub-85 HM this fall. Sadly, now I too have been recently diagnosed with a stress fracture of the calcaneus. GP thought it was just soft-tissue, Physio thought peroneal strain (tuning fork and ultrasound missed it), X-rays at 1 week missed it (apparently doesn't show up on x-ray for 2-3 weeks). At 2 weeks I demanded an MRI as I have had numerous soft-tissue issues and I knew it wasn't that and ... BAM ... grade 3/4 fracture crystal clear.

I did it 4 weeks ago during a meaningless 10k with mixed terrain (the unexpected road section in the middle did it) and I jog / hobbled the last 2 miles when I probably shouldn't have ... sigh ... sound familiar :)

Now, I'm curious, the specialist at 2 weeks post-injury put me in a CAM boot and told me no stationary bike / cycling (or of course running) for 4 weeks (2 to go - I'm a swimmer now). As expected very conservative advice as he is worried with where the fracture was that putting any load on my Achilles may rip the back section of the calcaneus bone off.

But when I take off the boot I can walk completely pain free and have full range of motion. I have never had any pain in any of the tendons (Achilles or Peroneal) and the only pain I ever had was in the middle of the calcaneus at toe off when walking. No issues now.

Soooo ... stationary bike with seat low, CAM boot on and my heel on the pedal? Surely that's got to be ok?! AFAIK that's pretty standard first active rehab step for recovery from Achilles rupture surgery. What about walking on grass in normal shoes for 400m at a time?! Pretty sure that wont hurt at all. Basically I'm quite sure I could be walking pain free without the boot and so that '15 day clock' has been ticking for a while ...

I really just don't want to 'do nothing' and lose more fitness than is necessary ... I've already put on 5 lbs!

Thanks in advance,

Tim