Stress Fracture

[DavidHowland]

Does anyone have any experience recovering from them? gave myself the injury running and am looking to recover from it now.

[Steady Grind]

No experience myself with them, but I've had several friends develop them while we were running a lot in the Marine Corps.

As for Jill's comments about the diet...I personally think that diet is less of a factor than genetics...unless of course you are seriously missing some essentials in your diet...and if you're athletic enough to run into a stress fracture, I'd hope to think that you're eating well.

My reason for this is that when I was training in the military, we all ate the same food, drank the same beer...etc. Some guys were just more prone to the stress fractures. Whether it was just weaker bones, or maybe a poor running form, I don't know...but we all ate the same.

As for recovering...the only advice my friends got when they had stress fractures was to ice it and stay off of it...Try swimming.

[RayMondo]

I had them as "shin splints" quite painful and wondered what the heck the pains were. Mine were definitely cause by repetetive strain from Badminton tournaments and overtraining.

Abstinence of the activity is likely the best cure, as they are really micro-fractures in the bone matrix.

[junodirtrider]

Hey man! Runners mag did a story on painful running last month. I ramped up my foot mileage to 28 on three runs in five days and began to hobble. They recommended changing the medium you run on. Weaker ankles should stay off trail and gravel and stick to running on tracks or road. Dirt is softer and can aid people with strong ligaments and tendons and can cushion legs better then pavement.

Another thing is that I am very guilty of ramping up my training to fast. An old olympic swimmer recently told me to extend mileage by a maximum of 10% per week. Other then that, I don't know. TIME.

[RayMondo]

The human foot is not meant to be supported underneath, especially the sole. Kenyan runners often run the marathon without any shoes. It's all just marketing crap as it could seem a good idea to "supports your arches". The problem is that the "tibial" muscles then have to ride over the arch support when they're actually trying to straighten. After all, if you have a bow string, it's wanting to straighten out under tension, so bunging in an obstacle just increases the tension. Something stressed wrongly in once place transmits stress to another. When I play badminton, I just cut that stupid foam bit out or replace the whole inner sole.

[junodirtrider]

Seems logical.