Tibial stress fracture recovery

Your rehab and strengthening sound good.

When i had a tibial SFX, i took 8 weeks of no impact. I spent about 6-7 hours a week on a road bike trainer during that time. When i first started running again, i ran 3-4 easy miles, 3-4 times a week, per doctor's orders. And if i even had the slightest discomfort, i didn't run that day. The most important thing: listen to your body. if you have pain/soreness, don't push it. you'll be back to square one.

personally, i noticed a big difference when i actively paid attention to my calcium intake. drink milk, and if you don't like it, get calcium tablets. but take it slow coming back. an extra day off today is better than a week off later.

Typically tibial stress fractures take between 6-8 weeks to heal so you should be able to start light running again. I'd proceed with caution though. When I suffered this injury my coach put me on a run walk program where each day was a total of 30 mins. The first day was 6(30s run, 4:30 walk), second day 6(1 run, 4 walk), third day 6(1:30 run, 3:30 walk). . . increasing each day until I was running for the full 30 mins. Once you get to that point and are still pain-free, you're ready to build your mileage back up again.

Thanks to you both for the reply. Chase, in my past 3.5 yrs running and when I was a young man and was into bodybuilding my wife complains about the amount of milk I consume in a day lol. Thanks for the advice and I will pay attention to my body and ease back into it. I really have been missing it bad but knew I had to stop for awhile. Being and older dude I will do recovery runs rather than balls to the wall runs all the time.

And to and then, Thank you for that run/walk schedule. That seems like a very logical way to do it but I wouldn't have come up with it had you not told me about it. I wrote it all out by day and it looks like it will take ten days to run thirty mins. with no walking. I do believe that I will walk some before I run for warm up for awhile.

You both have helped me a lot since you have experienced the same injury and I appreciate your time and help, Thanks again.

I had three Tibial stress fractures in college over the period of 1.5 years. Two of those stress fractures were from trying to come back too quick, I should have learned after the first. It sounds like the rehab you have done has been excellent, would not add anything to that, but KEEP doing it at least for the first two months you are running (and always do calf raises before you run). Also, I would wait until you have been completely pain free hoping on the leg for 1 week before you start up again. When you do start up if it is possible run on grass, it will help immensely, if not just hit up the track and slowly ease back onto the roads. I spent two weeks on grass and then added a day a week on the road for my successful comeback. As has already been mentioned be very careful coming back, you will almost certainly experience pain but pay attention and if it get sharp or increases throughout the run quit, ice it and take another day off. I can't find my logs right now but my come back (after the third stress fracture) was something like 5 min jog day 1, 5 min jog 5 min walk day 2, 10 min jog day 3, off day 4, 5 min jog day 5, 10 min jog day 6, 15 min jog day 7, 20 min jog day 8, off, 10 min run day 9, 20 min run day 10, off, 20 min run day 12, 25 min run day 13, 30 min jog day 14, off day 15, off day 16, 30 min jog day 17, 30 min run day 18. Then I started back running 30 miles a week and gradually built up using the basic 10% rule. It is a very slow buildup but be careful, it is better to take it slower than you want than to get another stress fracture and be out another 6-10 weeks. Most important advice though is take it slow and run on grass. Good luck!

I am comming back from one too. I laid completely off running for two weeks and the got in a few weeks of like 5 to 10 miles and last week I did 25 and this week I think I could do 30 but maybe I should wait another week. It's really amazing how the body can heal even at 49. I think a stress fracture heals better if you can continue to run on as much as possible without too much pain. The main thing is not to re-injure it and you will know that by STOPPING if it hurts.

gooddog wrote:

I am comming back from one too. I laid completely off running for two weeks and the got in a few weeks of like 5 to 10 miles and last week I did 25 and this week I think I could do 30 but maybe I should wait another week. It's really amazing how the body can heal even at 49. I think a stress fracture heals better if you can continue to run on as much as possible without too much pain. The main thing is not to re-injure it and you will know that by STOPPING if it hurts.

I guarantee you your stress fracture is not healed after only two weeks, either that or you did not have one to begin with, possibly just a stress reaction. I would take a lot more time off. And No, a stress fracture does not heal better if you continue to run on it.

I first experienced this back last April. I started icing after runs then took three weeks off. I was then able to run from around May until six weeks ago. It came back or flared back up and in the exact same spot and I know this for sure because I had massaged it so hard in the spot where it hurt(hoping it was scar tissue or tendon/ligament problems), that I had made a sore the first go round and have a scar on my leg right where it hurts.

Hey fellas, what caused us to get these stress fractures? I mean I can understand someone that first starts running getting shin splints and then a stress fracture if they don't use their head but what about people that have run a long time? Neglect of keeping the shin muscles on the front of the lower leg strong? Bio mechanical problems? Since I haven't ran for six weeks it doesn't feel normal and I can tell that it seems my bad leg..right one...is over pronating but my left is normal. I wear neutral shoes and my left shoe that was worn before the lay off is wearing down the middle in the front but my right one the big toe side or inner side at the big toe has been bending inward beyond what neutral would be I think. It is worn like this to the point that this spot is way more flexible and worn at that point than the left shoe. I didn't notice this back before the injury but like I said not running for six weeks I could tell that the right shoe was worn different and can look down and see that the right foot is wanting to go too far inward. I have a newer pair of shoes that I only ran in maybe fifteen times and they haven't worn like this yet and felt good on the first run walk day. The more worn pair are Asics Gel Nimbus 9's.

I realize that I need to go have gait analysis but don't have the funds right now and don't really have funds to buy the shoes if I could. I have real high arches and have read most folks like this need neutral shoes but.... help me out as much as you can...thanks.

I had a tibial stress fracture last year and was strictly on the bike and in the pool for about 8 weeks. Pool workouts help a lot because there is virtually no impact on the leg at all and if you work hard enough you get a pretty good workout anyways. You can swim or jog with an "aquajogger" strapped on your waist to mimick running. Whichever you prefer. After the 8 weeks I did very little running and was on the elyptical machine until i was able to run about 5 days a week. Just make sure you are always icing, icing, icing. I also switched shoes and am now using a cushioned shoe which has seemed to help me a lot. I haven't felt pain since and am doing about 65 miles a week now so it all seemed to work.

The 6 weeks of no running is about what I did. I then started with slow 1-2 mile jogs. I ran 5 miles the 1st week, and then added on 5 each week, so I was running 50 miles per week in 10 weeks.

I would avoid any hopping or jumping.

I’m bumping this thread because I have this same injury. I have had 3 tibial stress fractures in the last 10 years, but none (until now) in the last 5 years. This particular time, I didn’t even go to the doctor because I recognized that ruthless pain all too well. I stopped running on November 30th and haven’t run a step since. I spend between 45 minutes up to an hour in the pool running with a belt around my waist. I quit caught and acted upon this injury so quickly that after 3 days of no running, I was able to walk without feeling any pain. Another day after that, I was able to hop on one foot without pain. As of today, it’s been two weeks thus far and this injury has actually “reminded” me that it still exists by “throbbing” maybe twice or thrice per day while sitting at my desk, or driving my car….strange, eh? It doesn’t ache to walk or hop on it, but it “throbs” for no apparent reason.

Since I caught it so early, I was hoping that I could be able to start jogging by January 1st. Thoughts? If I do everything correctly (eat right, sleep right, take calcium supplements, etc.) would I be on target to try jogging on New Year’s Day?

Thanks

I used a similar plan to this after 8 weeks in a walking aircast. It was pretty helpful.

Thanks for the response. I haven’t ran on it at all, but the sucker feels tight today for some reason – kind of like a “tug” in the area. This is the strangest injury a person can have, and the most fickle. It feels ok at times, then you can feel it when you sit. How much sense does that make? The only questionable thing that I do every day is walk about 600m – 800m from my car to my work building in dress shoes. I’ve started taking TUMs to help with calcium consumption. Any other thoughts?

Bump...anyone experience a similar tug when coming back from a stress fracture? Does it go away? What is it indicative of?