Foot pain, what is it? Should I cross train on station bike or elliptical?

What is the morbid fascination with "stress fracture"? If someone's a$$hole hurts, the first thing that goes through the heads of letsrunners is "stress fracture".

Your foot hurts, put some ice on it, take some ibuprofen and STFU.

Go fcuk yourself seriously. You're a jerk. I'm just nervous and obviously I'm going to ice and elevate but if this is something with my bone then I don't know if it's already too late or whatnot. And if I had pain not on my foot I wouldn't be thinking stress fracture idiot.

Anyone who doesn't want to be an ass, I'd very much appreciate any advice or opinions.

Dropping to the bottom of the first page - yes, I am a jerk but apparently there is no one here who meets your criteria for offering you advice.Your foot hurts, move on.

Help please wrote:

You're a jerk.

Anyone who doesn't want to be an ass, I'd very much appreciate any advice or opinions.

You should take time off anytime you have pain that is concerning/unusual that persists during or after a run, IMHO. You kind of learn what to run through, as I'm sure you already know, but this doesn't sound like that kind of thing. So many injuries are complicated by continuing to run in pain, so why in the world at your age would you risk not taking a few days off?? That's insane. You have your whole life in front of you and if you don't learn to take time away when you are hurting . . . you won't last long in running. I'm not being a jerk just being honest. LEARN as a runner to take time off when it's needed. And whatever you have, you need time off by virtue of your description and the fact that you took time to post. You may not have liked the opinion of the other poster, and he could have been gentler with you, but honestly he was right. Ice and rest. I would disagree on the NSAIDs . . . don't take them. If you are still hurting in a week, go to the doctor and have them run tests. Icing every two hours with really good ice pack (I like those on massagewarehouse.com) can work wonders on many injuries pretty quickly if caught early. Do whatever cross training gets your heart rate the highest and doesn't hurt your foot. I prefer the elliptical but again that might hurt your foot.

For the past week and a half I have had what seems like a very similar problem. Midway through a run I started to feel pressure/soreness on the outside of my right foot, it worsened and I had to stop and walk a few times on the way back. It was very painful for a couple days, bad enough that it hurt to walk around and put weight on it, but after biking for a few days, as well as icing and staying off it as much as possible, it started to steadily get better. I've run the past several days, just easing back into it. I'd say cross train for now, just do whatever doesn't cause pain (whether it's the bike, elliptical, pool, whatever). If the pain hasn't lessened at all after a few days I'd definitely get it checked out.

When my foot started hurting I thought of a stress fracture as well, I think it's natural to fear worst case scenarios. While you shouldn't automatically jump to that conclusion I don't think it's smart to just rule it out either.

For icing feet, what often works well is to submerge them in ice water. I am not confident that I remember the numbers exactly, but something like 40-50 degrees, 10-20 minutes in, 20 minutes out. Fill up a bucket or a large cooking pot or something.

For what it's worth, I had a similar problem with my foot that lasted for two months because I kept trying to run on it. The first doctor I saw said it was nerve damage, the second said it was bruised soft tissue. I eventually just cross trained for two weeks, and my foot hasn't bothered me since.

So what good luck man is saying is the same thing that "B I G G U Y" said. 2 differing doctor's diagnoses and $$$ out the door only to be solved by ice, ibuprofen and cross training.

good luck man wrote:

For icing feet, what often works well is to submerge them in ice water. I am not confident that I remember the numbers exactly, but something like 40-50 degrees, 10-20 minutes in, 20 minutes out. Fill up a bucket or a large cooking pot or something.

For what it's worth, I had a similar problem with my foot that lasted for two months because I kept trying to run on it. The first doctor I saw said it was nerve damage, the second said it was bruised soft tissue. I eventually just cross trained for two weeks, and my foot hasn't bothered me since.

I think the main problem with the initial post is that any serious runner would post after one day of pain. I mean, it's kind of funny to some of us who have had really serious injuries. I've had so many injuries . . . would never post on day one but then I'm not high school age, either. We live and learn. Ice and rest first, starting asking questions in a few weeks if that doesnt' work. A few days/weeks of cross-training and/or not training at all are just part of the gig.