Hey, so about 5 months ago I was diagnosed with a stress fracture (tibia). I took 6 weeks off, the doc said it was nearly fully healed and to slowly start running again. I started at 5 miles a week and over a month got up to 15 (in 4 runs/week) at which point it started aching again. Doc said to go down to 2-3 times a week and drop the mileage until it felt better, but that it was important to keep running and 'lightly' stress the bone to stimulate healing. So over the next 8 weeks I built from 5 mpw to 20 mpw (in 2-3 runs). That helped, but I still had off and on aching so Doc ordered MRI but assured me it was healed and that the aching would slowly subside and I could ignore it. So the last 4 weeks I've built to 35mpw in 4-5 runs. The MRI results came in and the fracture is in fact healed, but there is a stress *reaction*.
Doc is out of office and I can't wait for a full discussion. Any experiences here? Is the reaction a normal part of the healing process or a new injury? I feel like I've been overly careful, always on soft surfaces, running slowly, etc. Should I drop mileage or stop running? Or keep my training at 30% until it goes away?
Help!