stress fracture

I have just been given the bad news that i have a stress fracture in my nevicular bone in my left foot. i think i have had it for about 4 wks…it showed up clearly on the bone scan…

i have a few questions, firstly, what do people think the best way to deal with these are and also what happens if you keep running on it

i have a major event in 4 wks which i have bn training for and don’t want to miss…

my specialist gave me two main options, he said to rest it and not to do any type of activities and hope it heals or put it in plaster for six weeks and go on crutches…i will bear the pain if it means i can run in 4 wks and it wont do too much damage

thanks

if I were you I would wait till it is fully healed and how would it take 4 weeks for you to go and get a scan? I broke my foot playing football and my mom convinced me to go to the hospital that day, it’s been about a month and I’ve started walking on it again. I’d say your health is more important based on possible long term problems you could encounter.

sorry, captn pain…i must have poor literacy skills…i didnt know it was a fracture i just thought it was pain from running (general) i did get it checked up fairly quickly when it really started to hurt

aaahhh, I see

probably a pretty silly question, but what are the risks of the fracture becoming a break if i adjust my training and modify the program to try and come up for a race in 4 weeks time. i have been running with it for about 4 weeks, unknowingly, and want to know the risks. i am consulting my specialist but wanted to know if any1 had 1st hand experience

ok let me set you up with some info dils. the danger is that a fracture is a break, just not separated, if you train on this bone, depending on the blood flow to the bone, you’re gonna either have a non-union and it might become a “pseudo” joint (it won’t heal) the other option is that it will heal but it might heal in a position that wasn’t the original position and might affect your sprinting

dils, I too have had a stress fracture in the navicular of my left foot. Haha, it’s a small world. :slight_smile:
I’ll tell you my story. Last February I starting getting pain in my foot. In March I ran at state champs where I ran a PB in the 100m. The state champs is the end of the track season where I live. Anyway, I tried training throughout the year but I still had pains and I think in around August/September I finally had a bone scan which told me I had a stress fracture.
The damage wasn’t too serious. It was only a minor fracture and I spent 6 weeks in plaster. However, I’m still recovering. I’ve been doing sprints at 60-80% for the last couple of weeks and the doctors say I’ll be back at 100% by 2005. So really, because I couldn’t train properly from March to about August due to the pain in my foot, I’ve missed a whole season.
I’m guessing you sprint 100m-200m?
If I were you, I wouldn’t run at this “major event” unless you know you are going to win easily. I mean, what’s the point of training for another 4 weeks only to come last at this major event? Those 4 weeks can be spent in plaster recovering from your injury. Think long term bro, not short term.
But on the other hand, if you have what it takes to win, and you are worried that because of your stress fracture you won’t run fast at this major event, don’t worry. Speaking from experience, I had a stress fracture and like I said before, I ran a PB with it.
Tell us how things go and good luck. :slight_smile:

Maeshughes…thanks for the advice…i am deciding what to do in the next week or so and i will let u know…thanks again…i will probably not come up trumps for this event but i think i have a good chance to male the final and it just kills me watching boys from my club running well when you know you can beat them…