Hi,
I am a 30 year old male who has been running consistently ~60 mpw for the last ten years.
In the morning days ago I did a ten mile tempo run without pain. Then hiked 3 miles up the hill to work as usual, no pain. That evening, while walking downhill, I noticed medium intensity pain in my anterolateral lower shin, especially while moving my foot up and down. Yesterday it was present while walking, but I was an idiot and ran 9 miles on it anyways. Walking around that night the pain got progressively worse, and this morning it hurts at rest just laying in bed.
It's sort of generalized pain in the front outer ankle/lower fibula area, that's aggravated when I try to move my ankle. The ankle feels weak and has very limited range of motion. The entire outer lower shin (but not the medial side) is tender to palpitation but I can't quite figure out if it's bone or muscle since that part of the leg has muscle covering it so I can't get to the bone.
I'm out of the country for a conference so probably won't be able to see a doctor for at least another ten days.
I'm suspecting either a fibular stress fracture or some sort of ankle sprain, but the delayed onset of pain seems weird to me.
I know the only way I can figure this out is by seeing a doctor, but does anyone have experience with this sort of thing?