How does it feel after coming back from stress fracture?

[Jason]

Hey everyone, I was knocked out with a sfx in my right medial malleolus back in september, put into the boot in october, and have now been in a lace-up soft cast for two weeks.  My doctor cleared me to go to pt and try returning back to normal activities over the next couple weeks, but I am too afraid that the fracture isnt healed.  I tried running on it for four minutes very slowly yesterday and while it didn't get worse, the area feels like a dull ache.  I don't knwo if this is normal, and that I should expect to have pain around my foot since it has been so long, or should I be worried?  Help!  I just want to run already, I have already missed a few running trips to the west coast and I am supposed to be going to Vegas next month and I don't want to back out of that one as well.

[Maurine Lee]

It does take up to a year for any fracture to fully heal.  Have you started out with pool running or biking to get the muscles back in shape without the pounding?

[Jason]

Hey, yea I was swimming for a while and began using the bike and elliptical after my doctor cleared me to do so.  He also had me do the hop test and xray the area to see if there was anything wrong.  Today was better than it was a few days ago when I first tried running.  Today I did a little bike and elliptical, and then headed outside for an easy 6 minute run and there was no pain when running, but I didn't want to push it.  After it was sore, but only when I was sitting for a while and not moving around, which makes me feel that it is more likely to be pain from tendons and muscles since it has been 4-5 months since I last used them. 

[Maurine Lee]

I would start building up your running conservatively again to allow the joints, tendons, muscles and bones to fully adapt.  Make sure you are stretching and correcting any imbalances that might have led to the stress fracture.