STRESS FRACTURE IN FEMUR

I had one about 3.5 years ago. I was non weight bearing for 8 weeks followed by about a month of building up a walking tolerance. It took me about 2 months after getting off crutches to build to 2-3 miles a day. Now i'm back in normal training without any restrictions. The best advice i got was to go slowly and take your time. If you rush back from a stress fracture you normally wind up continuing to deal with it. Take your time and it will be gone before you know it.

You got it from over training so i suggest you take it nice and slow.

I had the same injury last year at the end of June..I took a little over 3 months off from running. Basically I took July and August totally of from doing anything (no lifting, walking alot, running, cross training, etc.). After 2 months I started doing the stationary bike, then after about 2 weeks of that I moved up to the elliptical. After about 3 weeks of elliptical I gradually re-introduced running...I started with about 3 miles a week and moved up slowly from there, taking about 3 months to get back to 40mpw.

In my opinion you are crazy to take less than 3 months off. I know you don't want to hear it, but its a serious injury, if you run on it it could fracture all the way, which would mean surgery and a very real possibility of necrosis in the ball of your hip...which would mean a hip replacement.

Sit back and relax for the next 2 months and take a ton of calcium supplements. You can start cross training lightly in a couple weeks but don't push too hard. Let pain guide you. If it hurts you are doing too much. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice, were you put on crutches at any oint during that two months of doing nothing or were you just trying to stay off your feet as much as pos?

I had a stress fracture in my femoral neck 15 months ago. I was on crutches for about 7 weeks after I was diagnosed with a femoral stress fracture. At that point I started transitioning back to walking. At first I didn't do any cross training with my legs, but after about 4-5 weeks I started doing some deep water pool running, nothing intense. Once off of the crutches I did start biking, and increased the pool running as well as started walking, and gradually increased how much I could walk over about 4 weeks. When I started running, it was about 4 minutes at first, and I only ran on grass for the first 6 weeks or so, taking about 8 weeks to build up to around 45 mins of easy running per day, while doing some intensity on the bike or in the pool 3 or 4 days per week.

I actually was just diagnosed last week with another femoral stress fracture, this time it isn't in the neck, it's far down the shaft, about 1/3 up from the knee. I was told that I don't need the crutches this time, I caught it much early than the last time, and that I have no risk of avascular necrosis where this fracture is. I was also told that I can keep pool running and water running as long as it isn't causing any discomfort, and so far it hasn't.

Basically, all I can say is the closer that this fracture is to your hip, the more careful you must be. You don't want to be messing with hip replacement.

Thanks for that, I hope your rehab goes ok with this one to.

Was your first one a complete fracture or was it only a partial one? I think mine has only just broken through the firt cortex of bone so Im keeping my fingers xed for an uncomplicated rehab stint!

I was on crutches for the first week because I couldn't walk. After that I used them as much as possible for a few weeks but cheated alot, mainly because I didn't want to be crutching around at work having people feel bad for me. I was in very bad pain for the first couple of weeks (was also on oxycodone pain killers for the first two weeks) because I did too much walking, but gradually it began to fade. After a month I could walk with alot less pain, though it did not go away fully until close to the 3 month mark.

I noticed a big improvement shortly after I started taking Os-Cal calcium supplements. Not sure if it was a placebo effect or not, but most people I spoke to about the injury thought they would help me.

One more word of advice, once you are pain free work on strength and flexibility for that leg. Mine was very weak/tight after limping around for 3 months.

Good luck man, I know it sucks, but you will be running again soon enough if you do the right thing and take it easy.

The first time wasn't a complete fracture either. I don't know if I was ever given information about the cortex or how deep the fracture was. It definitely was only a stress fracture, and I did get it early enough that it didn't develop into a hairline fracture or break. It just says mild stress fracture of proximal femoral shaft. It was just below the greater trochanter. I probably ran on pain for 2 weeks, thinking that it was a hip flexor strain or something, before finally talking to someone who suggest that I get checked for stress fracture.

Talk to the orthopedist and find out what you can do. If he suggests crutches, I'd say to stick to it. When you are cleared to walk again, start out slowly, don't risk shocking the system. Bones need a certain amount of stress to heal strongly, on the other hand you don't want to end up back where you started. Take it on the safe side and then some.

It's never been extremely painful for me that I needed medication. I actually preferred to not take anything, then I could really feel it if I was over doing anything. The most sever feeling I had was like a dull ache when it was cold and rainy. You want to stay away from sharp pain!

Keep the come back gradual. Don't be afraid to start off with the 4-5 minutes for the first few weeks of running, and move up gradually, like 1 or 2 minutes 1 or 2 days a week, and just re-introduce your body to the shock. Keep on the grass, soft surfaces are your friend. The running isn't really for fitness at first, it's for re-training your body to handle the shock of hitting the ground. Hit the pool( and bike when you are ready) for the intensity. I'd be careful with biking especially depending on where the fracture actually is.

My come back was successful the first time around. Now I'm trying to figure out why I have gotten another fracture in the same femur in a different spot. I'm trying to get appointments to check bone density, and to get my biomechanics analyzed. For some reason all of the force from my running is going through that left femur.

I hear from all of the doctors that I see how uncommon this fracture is, but there is someone on Letsrun every few months in the same boat, and I know personally 3 others who have had the same thing... So I think that it may not be THAT uncommon.

The good thing about this kind of injury is that you will heal, and you will run again. I just wish that I had been more proactive about finding out a reason behind why I got the fracture the first time, because maybe then I could have prevented it the second time.

I was diagnosed with a femoral head stress reaction. Luckily for me it was caught early, but only after I had run with pain and discomfort for a month. It got to the point where it was painful to walk. I biked for 3 weeks and then gradually returned to running, but on a treadmill. I am now back up to 80-90mpw, but listen to my body very closely. In the past, I would just try to run through the pain... not anymore.

Hoping you recover quickly, but you need to listen!

It is amazing how many people have had this stress fracture and in such an odd place...too many miles?

How many miles were you running when you got your injury?

I was consistently in the 65-75 mpw range for January, February, March with no problems to speak of... I had to switch a long run from Saturday to Sunday one week, which forced the mileage for that particular week to be 90, but if you look at what O ran 1 day shifted in either direction it would have been right around 70.

In addition to that, I was really only doing 1 harder run per week, and even that wasn't killer hard. I was training for Boston, sticking to longer marathon paced runs and 2 or 3 mile intervals on the roads. Not like I was really cranking it out on the track or something where I can see a lot of force being put on the legs.

I was also getting off of the roads as often as possible and trying to run on dirt roads and trails 2-3 days per week.

The only risky move that I can really see is running a 1:13 half marathon on Sunday, and then a 24 miler with finishing miles 16-22 at 6 minute pace the next Saturday. This was the one "high" week of 90. But the miles in between were all really easy. Even the 24 miler didn't feel like it was over the top. I was finished shortly after this though, so it has to be what destroyed me.

I may have been a little more reckless with the first stress fracture, but I don't know. Doctors are saying that I just am not able to run 70 miles per week, but I don't want to believe it yet.

Anybody ever deal with low bone density? Or maybe a biomechanical issue that caused stress fractures like this? I'm currently trying to get both things checked out.

I was running 350 miles/month and ended the year with 4400 miles.