Ritz's injury

It's the femUr, pal.

my theory is downhill pounding. femur is a tough bone to get a stress fracture. that, or not enough milk. another buffalo had had that same injury, as in the book.

i had a fracture on my femur that was caused by pronation on that leg (inside) the force was directed high on the leg as opposed to the lower tibia

riley had the same injury in his freshman or sophomore year. that was the first time i had heard of it. but he obviously recovered nicely.

I was wondering if anyone knows where in his femur is the stress fracture. Up by his hip? Lower by his knee?

Man, I saw this thread and I just had to reply. I don't mean to take the marrow out of your bone, but, umm... who cares?

why don't kenyans come down with stress fractures? Or it appears to never happen to them

Yes they do.

You know the kenyans who come out of nowhere, run great for a year or two and then disappear never to be seen again? Those are the guys who got the stress fractures.

Well the reason you dont see very many kenyans with stress fractures or any other type of running injury(not saying that dont get hurt cause they do) is because a lot of them run barefoot....now that may sound stupid, but when running in these $100 dollar shoes that says they will do all these good things for you, really causes more damage then good. Not saying all running shoes are bad. But a lot of the shoes cause people to over pronate and another concerning thing is that the shoes that are cushioned and suppose to absorb the shock really do the opposite...I am going to try to explain this the best I can...your legs has natural shock absorbers anyways that help you run when your barefoot...but putting the shoes on causes a illusion to your legs and how much pounding your doing and your legs dont have there natural shock absorbers working thus causing more of a pounding then you would have if you ran barefoot. Now basically I am talking in layman terms so you can get the idea. Now I am not saying to run barefoot, but realize the importance running shoes has on your feet and injuries and be careful what shoes you pick.

I haven't a clue.

Speedy is pretty much right on. My observation is that the more built-up the shoe, the greater the liklihood of a stress fracture. Which in part explains why 100 lb girls so easily get stress fractures running in shoes designed for 150+ lb runners. They are unable to get proper foot mechanics and might as well be running in army boots.

It would be interesting to compare the rate of SF's in athletes with different weights of shoes. In particular, the Japanese who train 150+ miles/week in racing flats- do they get SF's?

not so...

no money to travel, offered a fixed job.

My theory on the Kenyan's staying healthy is because they run on dirt roads. Think of it as the silver lining to living in a third world country. How many people on this board run on something other than asphalt or cement?

Woody- that is the other half of the shoe + surface equation. Which one = stress fracture: big shoes + pavement, or light shoes + dirt. A no-brainer.

Stress fractures are simply from OVERDOING it. Period. (Biomechanics are a major integral factor- i.e. make people more prone than others...)

it IS possible to do everything right and end up injurred.

woody19...good point man. honestly though, i always stay away from concrete, asphalt, and anything that resembles either of the two. especially during the xc season.

take me to a springy bark chip trail and i'm in heaven.

To answer your question, Ritz femural stress fracture was right above the knee. He will be back and better than before. Remeber he's a tri-athlete so he will be able to maintain his cardio via other forms of exercise.