Hi all,
I have stress fracture in the distal (bottom) of my fibula, 44 years old, male, high mileage runner (70-80 miles a week). Still don't understand how I got it since the fibula is a low weight bearing bone and I did not have and my mileage/speed work had been pretty stable the 4 weeks prior to the injury.
Here is the timeline:
- Dec 27: felt it in the end of a easy 10 mile run.
- Dec 28: 12 miles of easy treadmill running divided in 2 sessions (tried the treadmill for a softer surface but still a little painful (3/10 in the pain scale)
- Dec 29-30. Stopped running and cross trained in the elliptical in both days (pain 1/10).
- Dec 31: Swelling in the area was much better (had been icing it twice daily since the injury) and run 13 miles outside on pavement on a Hoka (painful again, 4/10)
- Jan 1 to 5: stopped running, cross training on indoor bike (very little pain, 0-1/10)
-Jan 6 till now: cross training with deep water running only
- Jan 2: Podiatrist appointment suspected a stress fracture or peroneal tendinitis, ordered MRI, X-ray clean (6 days after actual injury)
- Jan 7: MRI confirmed stress fracture in distal fibula (just above the lateral malleolus (the prominence on the outer side of the ankle) , no harm to peroneal tendon. Was put on a walking boot for 4 weeks. (11 days since actual injury)
Feb 4 will be the 4-week Doctor return to check if I can go out of the boots, then 2 weeks with no running with cross training and PT, and only then (on week 7) I can start running again slowly, mixing with walking and cross training.
So, my next marathon race is Boston in April 20 and London 6 days later (April 26), I was planning to take up the challenges of running those 2 major races back to back but now, needless to say, my training leading up to those are highly compromised. London is my highest priority since that race is so hard to get into, more so than Boston for me.
Wonder if anyone has experience with this injury and can weigh in on time for recovery/return to training strategies.