What are the best things you can do to recover from a stress fracture? Heat? Ice? Only pool training until healthy?
Also, how will you know when you're OK to run again? Will I ever be fully recovered?
I've taken off two weeks already, and the fracture is in my tibia, will I be able to recover enough to get a solid winter's training and run track in the spring? Granted, no place is good to have a stress fracture, but is a fracture in the tibia better or worse than others?
I had 2 tibial stressies in May, one in each leg.
Rest, rest and more rest is all you can do, that is rest from any weight bearing exericse. Ice if you have inflamation. Pool running every day for about 7 weeks, doing this helped me maintian a fair degree of fitness and now I am running close to PRs again.
No point having another bone scan because the hotspots will still show months later. Your doctor should guide you on your recovery. You will probably take a further 3 months before you can return to normal training, you just can't jump back on the track after 7 weeks off.
It's not the end of the world.
Would taking in extra calcium help?
I'm actually hoping to be back to at least running again by the end of this month or beginning of next. I need to get in good training this winter.
Shoot for good cross-training - you can keep your fitness up but you have to work like an animal. For a tibia stress fracture generally you're looking at closer to 6 weeks off rather than 4 and then you've got 2 weeks of barely running before you can really start training. Even being aggressive, I would give it say 5 weeks (hoping the SF wasn't too bad) then run every other day for two weeks slowly building up (1st day just 2x5 minutes or something until you're up to about 30 minutes consecutive). Then you can start building the miles. Extra calcium won't do anything.
honestly, the best thing you can do is what most people who have experienced stress fractures will recommend. Hit the pool and cross train, ice baths, etc.. And by all means DO NOT try jogging or any kind of running until cleared by a doctor and an x-ray. I think the basic recovery period length for a stress fracture is around 3 - 4 weeks minimum.
From experience, if you really push the cardio work ( I did aqua-jogging and super high resistance bike work ) you can come back mid winter in better track shape than you might think..
STAMiler wrote:
honestly, the best thing you can do is what most people who have experienced stress fractures will recommend. Hit the pool and cross train, ice baths, etc.. And by all means DO NOT try jogging or any kind of running until cleared by a doctor and an x-ray. I think the basic recovery period length for a stress fracture is around 3 - 4 weeks minimum.
From experience, if you really push the cardio work ( I did aqua-jogging and super high resistance bike work ) you can come back mid winter in better track shape than you might think..
Yeah, we had a guy who spent a month or so in the pool, and came out in 15:20 shape. Amazing. As for my own experience on stress fractures, wait for it to heal, no matter how crazy it's making you. Minimum 6 weeks of no running. Good luck, friend. 3 of those in 4 years is what drove me into a 6 year hiatus.
Thanks for the help everyone.
I thought it might help to find out how long my time off will be if I described what I've done so far. First week in October, I ran, but not a lot because that's when it started to hurt. Then, after a race I couldn't walk so I took the next two weeks off. I tried to come back after that and ran about every other day, some runs better than others, but mainly I was just limping, pain wasn't as bad. Then I decided it was best to just end my season, and so it's been two weeks since I've run now. I just found out a few days ago that it was a stress fracture in my tibia. I've run 7 times in the past 33 days. Since I took all that other time off, does it mean I'll have a shorter recovery time, or did I just re-injure it and prolong how long I'll have to take off?
Also, has anyone ever experience a stress fracture from running in Nike Lanangs in XC? I'm just trying to figure out how I got this stress fracture in the first place because my mileage/intensity didn't really change
cassio598 wrote:
Yeah, we had a guy who spent a month or so in the pool, and came out in 15:20 shape.
wow, what kind of shape was he in when he went into the pool?
does eliptical keep u in shape at all?? Anyone have success w/ eliptical xtraining on injury?
I'm currently nursing a stress fracture of the fibula. I would say for tibial SF, you should do no running, as this will definitely make matters worse - no I don't think you can count your first two weeks. Rest, an I am using heat packs to improve the blood flow, minimal use, cycling (though not for tibia as the force is transmitted mostly through the tibia than the fibula), so do abs work, pool work and stretching. If you can weight bear on the leg also consider yoga. These will help keep up your strength, CV fitness and flexibility. I am down to do two trail races in the next two months but will probably just walk them unless I'm completely pain free and have at least 4 weeks of base load resumption mild running to re-establish the bone and soft tissue loading capacity before doing anything more strenuous.
I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Basically stress fractures are overuse injuries so it maybe that you need to spend more time recovering between runs. I only ran about 10 miles per week, and did a 20km run two weeks before in minimal shoes, no problem, but got this injury doing Fartlik training over 2 miles on a road. It sucks but the Zen of running creates patience. Happy days!
I was diagnosed with a femur stress fracture back in March and I did what most runners did - I looked at my fall marathon schedule and said "I can't miss those!" and didn't let it heal as I should have. With pool jogging, calcium (d3 helps with absorption), swimming and rest, I felt "ok" after 8 weeks. Even now I still feel a twinge where the fx was in my right femur.
Ask your doctor if you can pool run. Let your body heal and sleep and catch up on rest. Hopefully by Labor Day you'll be able to slowly start from ground zero and work your way back up. I'd still keep pool running until the end of the year to give your legs a bit of a break.
Stressly fractured wrote:
What are the best things you can do to recover from a stress fracture? Heat? Ice? Only pool training until healthy?
Also, how will you know when you're OK to run again? Will I ever be fully recovered?
I've taken off two weeks already, and the fracture is in my tibia, will I be able to recover enough to get a solid winter's training and run track in the spring? Granted, no place is good to have a stress fracture, but is a fracture in the tibia better or worse than others?
Rest is the only cure along with a good diet.
The Doctor will X-ray your leg again and only when the fracture is 100% recovered can you slowly and gradually return to running.
You are looking at 8 to 12 weeks of no running then 8 weeks of gradual running before full training.
Here is the key....you need to change your program and surfaces you train on. If you return to the same regime as preinjury you will get another fracture.
Diet needs to be assessed too