Thread: stress fractures

You have hairline fractures in your leg. There aren't exercises to fix that.

I had stress fractures in cross country my junior year of highschool. It is not about 10 years since then, and it still kinds feel weird when I run.

Good luck, and quit being so anxious. Rest that shit and get well.

the only thing you can do is rest and let the bone remodel itself.

kinda thought that was the case...shitty

Yup, it sucks. After you've given it a lot of healing time, be sure to ease yourself back into the exercises. If you go right back to doing things as you did when the stress fracture formed, you will be back where you started.

I had the exact same problem when I ran in cross-country when I was a junior/senior in high school. I always came down with stress fractures both seasons. All you can do is let it heal, and after your fracture has subsided sufficiently, do non-impact exercise like an elliptical or a bike (I don't recommend swimming for a while, it still puts stress on your fracture as you swim against resistance). If you insist on running, I'd start out with walking and then gradually adding jogging to let your body get used to it. Stress fractures happen because your body isn't used to the impact of running/sprinting.

Originally Posted by TopAdams314

Stress fractures happen because your body isn't used to the impact of running/sprinting.

They happen because extremely high repetition impact force will wear away connective tissue and bone over time.

You have a fracture because you exposed your bone to too much overload too quickly. When I was in the army guys would drop with stress fractures left and right. They had a whole regimen designed to let your bones get used to the impact. Basically, when you start running, jogging, whatever, you should really consider the surfacre you're running on. Concrete is the worst surface, followed by asphalt, followed by race track ..the most gentle of surfaces is artificial turf and sand. Start on a softer, more forgiving surface and work your way up.............gradually.

Originally Posted by Duncans Donuts

They happen because extremely high repetition impact force will wear away connective tissue and bone over time.

Ditto. I always thought my high school's coach's philosophy of running every fricking day was nuts - no chance of sufficient recovery. No wonder why I fell apart, I was pretty big for a XC runner. He should've incorporated weight training or other kinds of cardio into our training.

iMan is right as well, start on gentle surfaces. That's what I run on at college, plenty of turf and grass here.

yeah right now I'm doing HIIT on a bike plus trying to get my legs back into form after not doing much with them for a while with squats and leg presses and whatever else. slowly but surely I'll hopefully get them up and running in a few months or so. no pun intended ha.