Femur Stress Fracture - Questions

[Camille Smithson]

Okay, I just got back from the doctor and am now aware that I have a stress fracture on my femur.  I have never had anything like this before, and have a few questions:

1. How long does it take to heal?

2. What cross training can I do while it's healing?

3. What should I be doing to prevent such an injury?

Thank you in advance for any advice you give me!

Camille

[Scott Zincone]

Had a stress fracture in my femur at the mid point last year.  I took 4 full months off from running, end of April to end of August.  And when I say take off, I mean none at all.  Not even when playing with my kids in the backyard.  Which was hard to do while trying to teach my daughter how to ride a bike without training wheels.  I swam and rode a bike daily.  I actually put more effort and dedication, it seems, in my trying to stay in shape without running than I do when I am running.  Aqua jogging is excellent, but I found boring.  But it will work your legs.  I see you are from Arizona so I am just assuming you will not have a harsh Winter.  Which is good if you decide to bike a lot.  I never used an elliptical only because I did not have one available to me at the time.  But I do not know how that would be on this type of injury.  My doctor did tell me to do no weight bearing exercises during my recovery.  He also did not like me biking either.  But I did it anyway.  So you may want to check before doing that too.  During this time the best you can do is do what you can can to stay in shape.  You will lose some running fitness, but you do not have to lose all fitness.  It will be so much easier for you once you are healed.  Also you can take this time to watch your diet so you do not gain too many extra pounds.  Of course I say this to you, but did not do this myself.  I always eat too much of all the wrong foods.

As far as how to prevent it..I have no clue.  I do not know how it happened to me and am so glad it has not happened again.  But once this is over you will probably be very aware of every ache and pain wondering if it is another stress fracture.  At least I am.

Good Luck !! Only time off will help this injury.  That will be the hardest part.

Oh one last thing.  I had my initial bone scan which detected it.  Then had a follow up a couple of months later.  It showed healing was occurring.  But due to the high costs I skipped my final one.  I took a risk on the bone being healed enough to run.  The doctor had told me originally 4 months so that is what I went with.  I was lucky it worked out for me.  But I had heard x-rays will pick up the area when it is healing.  Something about calcium building in the area.  That may be a lower cost than getting multiple bone scans.

[Camille Smithson]

Scott,

Thank you for the great information.  4 months is a little depressing... okay, a lot depressing.  I guess I will have to suck it up, but I just got into racing and was really enjoying it.  4 months puts me out of commission during the racing season.  I suppose I live and learn.  I wish I knew what I did to cause the injury.

Did biking hurt?  I mean sitting on the bike seat and everything?  I've contemplated biking because it is beautiful outside, but right now I'm in too much pain.  Maybe in a few weeks the pain will subside a bit and I can give it a whirl. 

Thank you for the extra information regarding the xrays vs. bone scans.  That is good to know.

[Scott Zincone]

I could feel a little twinge in the femur when biking early on, but it soon went away as it healed.  Or were you referring to how the seat feels on your rear.  I finally had to break down and get a pair of padded cycling shorts.  My rear would be more sore than my legs sometimes.  But you get used to it. And you know you are getting a good workout so that helps.  Did your doc say 4 months also?   Sometimes I wondered about mine.  He acted like he did not want me to do any exercising while I was injured.  He even told me I needed to realize I was not a professional athlete?  And that got me a little fired up.  But I live in a small town with only 2 orthopedics and they are both in the same office.  What can you do sometimes ?

Also when I was looking for advice from the blog, Scott Browning helped me out.  He had a similar injury in the past.  He also had lots of knowledge on what to ask my doctor and other things.  You may want to go to his blog and ask for any suggestions.

http://sirenesque.fastrunningblog.com

[breanna cobler]

I had a stress fracture in my femur this past spring. It was right during track season which was very frustrating. I took some time off but only about 2 months. I ended up running in region and state for my school on it after not having ran in 2 months and it didn't hurt too bad so after state I started to run again. It was still painful to run but it was bearable and I didn't have to limp. It kept hurting for probably about another month and now it doesn't hurt at all anymore.