Stress fracture

[hikernutcasey]

Just got back from my latest section hike Hot Springs to Erwin. Left on Saturday and late in the afternoon on Sunday I got this sharp pain in my right foot. It hurt but I could still manage to walk on it. Four miles later and at the shelter it got to the point that I could barely put any weight on it. The next morning nothing had changed and I had 8 miles to the next road. I figured I would try to go part of the way and then call for a pick up. But then strangely enough it almost quit hurting all together. I kept going and finished my hike on Wednesday hiking about 40 miles after the initial incident.

Got home and it hurt but wasn't anything major. I thought I had just bruised it or something. Then by the weekend I could barely walk. Went to the Dr. yesterday and found out I have a stress fracture in my right cuboid bone. Doc said I should heal fine and it shouldn't affect my future hiking but I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this and if it has affected them since their injury?

[Pedaling Fool]

Stress fractures only make you stronger.

[litefoot2000]

I have had several stress fractures as a runner and it usually takes 8 weeks with no running for them to heal. If you put stress on it before 8 weeks, then you get to start over.

[MuddyWaters]

5 weeks in a walking boot once here, followed by a week or two of taking it real easy.

Did at least 15 miles with fracture, grimacing every step.
It didnt REALLY hurt until quit walking for a day. After that, couldnt walk 50 yds before real pain set in.

[Game Warden]

I had a stress fracture in my foot while doing some hiking in the US Army. It healed up OK, but 25 years later it showed up again. Hemingway was wrong when he said you're stronger in the broken places, etc. Once you hit 50, all your old injuries come back with a vengeance. Last hike, my foot swelled up painfully once i got home, and the doc said it was a "soft tissue injury." which feels and looks much like a stress fracture. He sent me for Xrays, thanks to my good insurance, but there were no new fractures, although the radiologist could see the old stress fracture. I had to take a week off from work, thanks to my good labor union, but it still hurts two months later. Apparently soft tissue injuries and stress fractures are common among marathon runners. One way to tell the difference: if you can't stand on your tiptoes, it's a stress fracture. (Not a medical professional.)

[Praha4]

back in my distance running days, I got a stress fracture in one of my metatarsels in one foot... podiatrist recommended to stop running on concrete sidewalks. 4 weeks in a soft boot was the solution, and it healed, I laid off distance running for a couple months to give it more time to heal. My symptoms also came on very strangely, at first I thought it was shin splints, the pain radiated up my shinbone. Never had a stress fracture from hiking yet, knock on wood.

[Game Warden]

Interestingly, the hike that gave me the soft-tissue injury involved a lot of pavement miles.

[Pedaling Fool]

Running on concrete does not lead to stress fractures; running too much (relative) causes injuries. It's probably true that running on concrete will cause a stress fracture sooner than a softer surface, but you just need to work at it, in other words there's no need to avoid concrete, nor is there a need to set a "limit".

So far I have not gotten any stress fractures from running on pavement and I do run a lot, but I can still overdo it, but I also improve, i.e. no limit. I have had stress fractures from hiking, so maybe (since I started running late in life) I've learned how to guage my workouts to prevent injury.

Funny thing: About 3 years ago I started running in soft sand, this was after many miles of running both on pavement and hard-packed sand. I very soon got shin splints, which I hadn't had in a long time, so long I thought I was almost immune to them. I think what happened is that my foot was not too use to being flexed in so many positions in very quick order and I am pretty flexible.


And my worst knee pain, from everything I've done, including running, weightlifting and hiking, has come by the way of cycling.