stress fracture?? :(

ladycheshire5

Barefooters
Aug 16, 2011
91
1
8
I posted about blisters a couple days ago. Found out my form needs help. But, Wednesday this week I developed foot pain on a run and read a thread here about pain in the ball of the foot and thought it was maybe like that, a possible "bruise" on the bone or somthing. Well, call me stupid and over eager :( I ran on Friday wanted to give the new form a try. I think I ran 1 1/2 miles maybe a little less. The new focus on form helped A LOT for blister pain - none! BUT, towards the end my foot started to hurt again like it did on Wednesday. :( What happened on Wednesday I don't really know, I didn't roll my foot or have an "accident" of some sort, just all of a sudden during my run I feel pain in the ball of my foot like a bone was protruding out and it was sore all of sudden. Later on the pain seemed to feel deeper and could be detected from the top of the foot also. Rested Thursday from running but I'm on my feet for work and other things. Ran Friday because I didn't feel the pain anymore but it came back at the end of my run. Friday we drove south and attended a festival, on my feet for 3 hours at that. Pain persisting. Saturday All day festival as well and I took advil which helped for a while during that but at the end of the day pain again only this time I see swelling as well. :( Woke up today still limping from pain and swelling. It's the swelling that worries me. I really hope it's only a strain but don't know what the possiblity is for a stress fracture. Should I rest it? (I know I should but to what extent?) See the doctor tomorrow? I have to go back to work too. Don't know how to proceed, if this warrants time of from work? :-(



Thanks for any advice.
 
Your still very new to this I

Your still very new to this I think and have been over doing it a bit. You need to back off for now...in the beginning its really hard to tell about aches and pains and your feet/lower legs have to adapt for several months. I would just stay off from running for a few days, massage your feet with your fingers between the little bones mostly the tops where you feel any soreness and just see how that goes for a few days.

It takes awhile to develop the body awareness to really know how much to push your feet/legs vs when to hold back...most newbie's over do it without realizing but very few actually get stress fractures. So don't worry yet and just relax for the next few days... then re-evaluate, often times it seems something is wrong then it goes away the next day or two.
 
Point taken. I'm taking it

Point taken. I'm taking it easy, no running but I still have to do most other things, grocery shopping, work. :( I work in healthcare so today I'm going to ask some of the urgent care doctors what they think. I sorta of expected the pain to subside a bit by now but it hasn't. It's weird, I can touch the area with a little pain but it's walking on it that sends me through the roof. Still minor swelling. Did ice and heat alternating last night. Work should be fun, limping around all day. I hope it's not a busy day.



Thank you.
 
Soft tissue injuries can take

Soft tissue injuries can take a while to heal, apparently. I had one of the docs at work check out my foot, we were pretty sure there was no break but since xray is what I do so he ordered me one just to be sure. No stress fracture. He said there is a common ailment where I have pain called metatarsalgia because many tendons and nerves rub across the bones there in the foot and can get irritated and inflamed. Rest, yep that is the doctors recommendation. Ibuprofin works, kind of, on the pain. But, this morning still minor inflammation and pain causing me to limp and not be able to walk right. :( Bummer.

I'm going to be stir crazy now though because I'm jonesing to run. My shoes are shot too. :( Looks like I'll be dusting off the bike just hope stuffing my feet into those shoes won't hurt much. :)
 
Laura, Any local pain and

Laura,



Any local pain and swelling around a bone is high probability for stress fracture. A negative xray means nothing as these do not show up for a few weeks. Yesterday say a runner in clinic with similar scenario and pain for four weeks. She said “of course it is not a stress fracture since the xray was negative”. Xray was done after 2 days of pain so of course was negative. The diagnosis was obvious and for confirmation the xray now had a stress fracture.



DO NOT TAKE IBUPROFEN . This inhibits normal healing and also can mask discomfort.



You need a good clinical exam to identify the exact source of the pain.



Dr. Mark
 
Thank you Dr. Mark for your

Thank you Dr. Mark for your input. It's very helpful. A side note: just start my period so I took Ibuprofen for that pain, I hope that is acceptable - otherwise I'll be in misery! But, I will heed the advice to stop for the foot pain. Now, for now the xray is negative but the doc did say stress fractures don't show up right away and suggested doing a follow up xray in a week or two? I'm going to double check with him again. He did physically examine my foot and made that other comment of it possibly being metatarsalgia only because it's quite common but it was not a definitive diagnosis. We are kind of in a wait and see place. Not sure what else I could do unless I found myself a specialist. We do have a podiatrist on campus but I am afraid to see him since he's big on orthodics and such and not on board with BF stuff. :(



Thanks again!
 
Lady, if I were you, I'd get

Lady, if I were you, I'd get a boot and wear it until I found out for sure it was or wasn't a stress fracture. Can you rent those things from a medical supply store? The boot will help you to finally start healing. My understanding is you need to keep a stress fracture immobile as much as possible. If it turns out not to be a stress fracture, then no harm done; if it does, then you are well on your way to healing.
 
Laura,

PLANTAR FASCIITIS come from too much chronic STRESS in the plantar fascia of the foot. It starts with inflammation that turns into scar tissue that later calcifies.
The question is... What is the cause of this chronic stress in your foot?
In walking or running as you know there is simplistically the "take off" and the "landing". We all know the majority of STRESS injuries occur in the landings.
Like a plane, the human body has a landing gear, spring-loaded shock absorbing mechanism built into the arch complex as well as the muscles that allow the foot to impact like a spring and not a bang.
Foot Cuff: http://teamdoctorsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Suspension_Muscles_Bottom.jpg
Foot Spring Suspension Muscles: http://teamdoctorsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Spring-Suspension-system-muscles.jpg
The key is to
· release the muscle spasms around the 33 joints of the foot, so they can move better. That allows the impact to be moe evenly distributed across the foot like a spring load instead of a bang.
· Stretch the foot in a 3 dimensional plane so it is flexible to absorb the impacts of walking
· strengthen the suspension system muscles or the pronation supination cuff muscles that suspend the arch so it works like a spring to spring you off the ground rather than bang you into the ground
Here are some simple stretches and massage techniques you may find helpful:
Scissor Stretching Of The Feet
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2011/08/05/video-tutorial-84-dr-james-stoxen-dc-demonstrates-scissor-stretching-of-the-feet/

Deep Tissue Treatment Under The Big Toe And Second Toe
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2011/08/03/video-tutorial-82-dr-james-stoxen-dc-demonstrates-self-help-deep-tissue-treatment-under-the-big-toe-and-second-toe/

Video Tutorial #80 Dr James Stoxen DC Demonstrates How To Self-Help Deep Tissue Treatment Of The Subtalar Joint Of The Ankle On The Inside.
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2011/08/01/video-tutorial-80-dr-james-stoxen-dc-demonstrates-how-to-self-help-deep-tissue-treatment-of-the-subtalar-joint-of-the-ankle/

Video Tutorial #81 Dr James Stoxen DC Demonstrates How To Self-Help Deep Tissue Treatment Of The Ankle (Subtalar Joint Outside)
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2011/08/03/video-tutorial-81-dr-james-stoxen-dc-demonstrates-how-to-self-help-deep-tissue-treatment-of-the-subtalar-joint-of-the-ankle/

Video Tutorial #87 Dr James Stoxen DC Demonstrates Self-Help Deep Tissue Of The Ankle Mortise
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2011/08/10/video-tutorial-87-dr-james-stoxen-dc-demonstrates-self-help-deep-tissue-of-the-ankle-mortise/


Here are my last two articles you might find helpful:

How Does The Body Spring Back Safely From Impacts Of Running and Walking?
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2012/06/13/video-tutorial-12-is-running-bad-for-knees-how-the-body-springs-back-safely-from-impacts-of-running/

Self-Tests & Exercises To Reduce Over Pronation and Over Supination From Impacts During Walking and Running
http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2012/06/18/video-tutorial-28-the-impact-absorbing-landing-muscles-of-the-human-spring-mechanism-testing-and-training-the-spring-suspension-muscles/

Dr James Stoxen DC, President, Team Doctors The Barefoot Running Doctor
 

Support Your Club

Natural Running Center

Forum statistics

Threads
19,122
Messages
183,505
Members
8,693
Latest member
kmeiners11