stress fractures

[roxie]

anyone had them how long did it take to feel better i have been suffering since track took some time off the started to do some summer jumping and leg kills, went to dr she said i had a stress fracture

[nitro]

i had a stress fracture and i kept jumping and it fully broke and it takes about 4 months to heal a whole fracture so def. less then that

[txpolevaulter_k25]

i dropped a big log on my leg and got a hairline crack in the middle of my shin, and i was not suppose to do anything for like a month, but that was a long time ago

[rainbowgirl28]

anyone had them how long did it take to feel better i have been suffering since track took some time off the started to do some summer jumping and leg kills, went to dr she said i had a stress fracture

Did your doctor take any X-rays or do a bone scan?

[roxie]

exray first said no fracture so i jumped for three days then had severe pain and she did an mri my mom picked up report and it said stress fracture and something about edema in the bone marrow i have to go see her fri. so ill no more then it just sucks by the way im 16 male

[SlickVT]

Longest sentence ever.

[GMUVaulter89]

stress fractures can be tricky depending on their location and the severity. i would personally go with what you doctor says and stick to it. If you don't you can risk messing things up even worse and being out way longer

[roxie]

im done for awhile, i have fractures in both legs, the dr. said the fracture was in the tibial cortex and i have to go get a density test done

[Tim McMichael]

There is a bigger problem here than an individual with stress fractures. (I'm sorry roxie, and I hope you heal up soon.) Athletes and coaches have to know what kind of pain they can push through and when they need to back off. Stress fractures in the lower leg often come after weeks of severe shin splints. Pain is the body's way of saying "something is wrong here," and we have to learn to listen. Too often coaches and athletes insist on continuing to train and compete when they need to rest and repair. This is one of the reasons I almost never took pain killers. Pain by itself is not much of a problem; it is something you can learn to work around. It was more important to me to be completely aware of what my body was saying. Here are some general guidelines:

There is a difference between overuse and misuse injuries. An injury caused by overuse requires rest. An injury caused by misuse also requires improved fitness, form, technique, and/or posture.

Balanced bilateral muscle pain (pain in the same muscles on both sides of the body) usually means that you are just really sore and can work through it.

Unilateral muscle pain (pain in a muscle on one side only) usually means that something is out of balance. You can work through it, but you should be very careful about doing anything 100%. You may be about to pull something.

Bone and/or joint pain means stop immediately. You are probably already hurt pretty bad and anything that you do will likely hurt you worse. Seek medical help as soon as possible and begin rehab. These kinds of injuries only get worse if you stay on them and can be severe enough to be crippling.

Sharp pain in any tendon or at the insertion point of a muscle also means stop immediately. Injuries that occur in tendons or where muscles meet tendons take a lot longer to heal than injuries in the belly of a muscle.

If pain in a muscle comes and goes and changes in intensity from one day to the next, you probably don't have a pulled muscle. It is more likely a pinched nerve or a case of severe inflammation. These kinds of injuries often mask themselves as muscle pulls, and as long as they are treated as such, they will not get better. Stretching, for instance, can actually make them much worse. These injuries can lead to strains or pulls in other parts of the body as the athlete unconsciously shifts their balance away from the structures that are hurting. A severe hamstring pull often begins weeks earlier with a slight lower back injury followed by tightness and pain in the leg opposite to the one that eventually blows up.

I learned these from my own experience (the hard way) and I am not a licensed trainer or therapist, so take them for what they are worth.

With my elite athletes we say "stay healthy, stay sane" before almost every practice, and I am constantly watching for changes in balance or posture. One of the worst things one of my athletes can do is try to hide an injury from me.

[vault3rb0y]

Ive had shin splints/ shin pain my entire running career, and ever summer i would go through the same recovery process for 6 weeks or so. I would come back out to run or vault, and about 2-3 weeks later they would flare up again. I figured i was just building back into it too quickly, so i would ease back into it, following a physical therapists plan, and sure enough when i started real running again they would come back. Absolutely frustrating- with no end in sight. Finally i researched the causes of shin splints, and ruled out overuse and no stretching enough, since i had done that for a year. Then i looked at my arches, since a lot of people say if you have flat feet, you might get shin splints. I got insoles and they helped a bit, but i would still feel my shin pain after every practice.

Finally, i found a doctor who explained what the problem may be. Simply put, when i run i become pigeon toed. Other doctors would look at my posture when standing and say i was fine, this doctor had me do exercises with my ankles and found that my ankles go inward when i run, hence the pain on the inside of my shins. He told me theres no easy cure, and that you just have to concentrate on keeping your ankles directly over your feet when you run. Sounds like a no brainer, but since ive been building up those muscles in my ankles, my shins have calmed down and i no longer need an ice bath and ibuprofen to feel good before and after practices.

[Tim McMichael]

Ive had shin splints/ shin pain my entire running career, and ever summer i would go through the same recovery process for 6 weeks or so. I would come back out to run or vault, and about 2-3 weeks later they would flare up again. I figured i was just building back into it too quickly, so i would ease back into it, following a physical therapists plan, and sure enough when i started real running again they would come back. Absolutely frustrating- with no end in sight. Finally i researched the causes of shin splints, and ruled out overuse and no stretching enough, since i had done that for a year. Then i looked at my arches, since a lot of people say if you have flat feet, you might get shin splints. I got insoles and they helped a bit, but i would still feel my shin pain after every practice.

Finally, i found a doctor who explained what the problem may be. Simply put, when i run i become pigeon toed. Other doctors would look at my posture when standing and say i was fine, this doctor had me do exercises with my ankles and found that my ankles go inward when i run, hence the pain on the inside of my shins. He told me theres no easy cure, and that you just have to concentrate on keeping your ankles directly over your feet when you run. Sounds like a no brainer, but since ive been building up those muscles in my ankles, my shins have calmed down and i no longer need an ice bath and ibuprofen to feel good before and after practices.

This is a perfect example of a misuse injury, and they are sometimes very difficult to figure out. When the body is doing something that is not bio-mechanically sound, injuries will result.

[smokinvaulter1]

right on the nail tim I've never had shin splints i was told thats because i run with good run technique and proper foot to ground strike.