Posts Tagged ‘stress fracture’

First off, a big thanks to all who responded to my question from Sunday’s post, both here and privately.  I received so many informative stories and experiences that went far beyond the initial question but were all fascinating.  What I learned from it is that there are tons of variations for symptoms, pain levels and layoff time, thus you really can’t compare anything.

Walking around these past few days, feeling like a healthy normal person again has been troublesome for my emotions.  It’s one thing to be sidelined when you’re in pain, you know full well that resting is the sensible thing to do.  Once you feel good again though, it’s like “How can I possibly need more weeks off?  It can’t be that bad”.

I admit to asking my friends in the 3:20 thread that, if I didn’t get an appointment and have a diagnosis by the end of the week, would I be an ass to try a test run on Friday?  I got a good mix of answers for yay and nay, but in the end, I was hugely relieved when the insurance came through yesterday so this isn’t even in my psyche to consider.

I would have chickened out anyway.  I haven’t even run across the street in two weeks, that’s how paranoid I am.  Besides, from all the responses to my question in the last post, I know full well that just because it doesn’t feel like anything doesn’t mean shit. It was just me being hopeful for a day.  Since then, I vacillate through hope and resignation every few hours.  It keeps me busy.

Last night, I prepared myself for the worst and figured out the gym situation.  The swankier club in my neighborhood has a trial month for $30 so that should cover most of the remaining time off, should it come down to that.  FYI, today is my 15th day of rest.

The MRI is at 5pm today and I’ll have the full report on Friday morning at the doctor’s appointment.  In the meantime, they’ll give me a disc with the images.  I’ve been Goggling MRI images so I have a clue about hot spots and how they appear.  It seems pretty straight forward on bone: if it’s a dark image, there’ll be a light spot and if it’s a light image, there’ll be a dark spot. Please, let there be no spots.

Btw, I have to apologize for dragging this thing out, I had planned not to post anything till Friday when I had the final word but I’m going a little stir-crazy from waiting (the last two weeks have been all about waiting), writing a post is a cathartic time-waster.  I’ll be back in a couple days with the dealio.  Wish me luck.

I’m beginning to think this is not a sfx after all or if it is in that family, maybe it’s his friendlier cousin, stress reaction.   It’s day 12 of rest and I just went for a walk to the park, about 2 miles, and had no pain or need to limp.  Also, the testing stance that has elicited a twinge since this thing began gives nothing.

Most happy-making is that descending stairs, which has been a no-fail way to get a grimace or 12 outta me for weeks now,  doesn’t produce a thing.  It’s weird to automatically brace myself for that first step only to find nothing bites and I can just walk down the damn things.

So now it’s a waiting game for the MRI appointment (hopefully insurance will let me call for one tomorrow).  If, knock on wood, the results are clear and they tell me what’s what over the phone, I might cancel the 5 minute appt. on Friday, since between co-pay and getting a car it’ll be about $65, though I’d still stay off it till the end of the week.

OTOH, I am interested in seeing the MRI if there’s something to see (not just for worst case scenario), so if there’s some crappy stuff to look at, I’ll go.

Speaking of moolah, for interests sake, here’s the lowdown on the cost of this.  I have an HMO through Aetna so the specialist copay is $50 and if I’m reading the plan correctly, it’s $50 for x-rays and $250 for an MRI.

Money aside, I’ll never put off calling a doctor again for something like this again.  I’m kicking myself for not doing it 6 weeks sooner but my aversion to (what I thought would be) red tape was enough to put me off.  Had I known how straightforward the process was…anyway, lesson learned.

But I’m getting ahead of myself since it’s still up in the air.  For now, I’m just thrilled to finally be wince-free.

Soft Tissue vs SFX
I’ve read in numerous forum posts over the years and well-meaning folk have said to me that perhaps a sfx is not worse case scenario because at least it’s over in a finite amount of time.  I can totally understand this reasoning and have even offered it to friends who’ve had sfx’s as an “upside” because compared to chronic or serious soft tissue injuries like plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, a Grade 3 muscle/tendon tear or an issue that never gets properly diagnosed then yes, a sfx is definitely preferable.

But here’s the dirt on a femoral sfx:  providing everything goes smoothly, there’s generally about 4 months from diagnosis till running semi-regular mileage after a slow, drawn out ramp-up in the 3rd month.  The road to return is usually accompanied by tons of self-doubt, fear of reinjury and an ongoing sense of fragility.

In contrast, a non-chronic, non Grade3 soft tissue injury, when given time to rest/heal, will usually resolve itself within a period of weeks, not months.  I know I don’t have a Grade 3 injury and it’s highly unlikely to be chronic since the ART lady gave me immediate relief and my current state is pain-free. Thus, I’m sticking to my “hope this is soft tissue” druthers.

If it is a stress fracture
I don’t think it’s my shoes, my gait, the surfaces on which I run or even my mileage (caveat below) that caused it.  You can tsk, tsk in your mind and I know some will, but I’m convinced that the underlying cause was a muscle strain that grew out of control, the way shin splints can cause a sfx on the lower leg.

I can easily find that set of affected muscles now but I couldn’t then.  So the next time I can’t locate the source of a problem, I’m not going to hope for the best, I’ll call a doctor.  Period.

As far as mileage, I don’t think the level I reached was to blame and I’m raring to get back to it.  However, the mileage I kept after the injury had been planted…that was greediness and I screwed up.  I should have been happy with 5 miles a day but I kept pushing the envelope till it tore.  I take full responsibility for that.

In my defense (defending myself to myself, lol) I’ve had 2 real injuries besides this one: ITBS and an ankle injury.  Both lasted a couple months but I was able to run through them.  I thought I could do the same with this and perhaps I could’ve if I’d cut back more sensibly.  But I didn’t. Live and learn.

A Question For Those Who’ve Had Stress Fractures
What is your experience with declining symptoms?  Did your symptoms disappear soon after you stopped running or did they last a few weeks? I know everybody’s different but I’m looking for masochistic ways to kill time, so this question is a good start.