Stress Fracture HELP?

[LauraSB]

HI ALL!
Cathe,
Congrats on your hard work. I hope the 20 hour-a-day business is an exaggeration.

OK - here's my question. I have a stress fracture on the bone leading to my second toe (next to the big toe);
I think too much high impact (stadium stairs, track sprints, a "boot camp" class) weakened the bone.

Now, I know about RICE and to lay off. I've been trying to do spinning, stairmaster and elliptical. But these don't seem to be helping. Does this mean I can do nothing but swim?
How long do I stay off of this for? How much aerobic capacity will I lose?

Do any of you have a suggestion about what kind of cross-training activities I can do to stay in good shape? Should I increase my weightlifting activities?

Any advice/comments are most appreciated. And Happy JULY 4th In advance.

THANKS!
Laura

 

[lynn]

Stress Fracture

Hi Laura-
Sorry to hear about your injury!I am not Cathe, but I too have a fractured foot. ( I actually fell off a ladder about a month ago, and fractured it in 6 places, broke it in two.)I am currently in a cast for another 3 weeks, but my doctor said it would be ok to resume weight lifting activities (non impact)in the meantime. I have been modifying all of Cathe's P/S series so that I can continue my fitness regime. You can pretty much figure out how to modify everything to a sitting position, with the exception of the standing leg work in her leg tape (duh!)
Anyways, I would ask your doctor about what you should do..fractures aren't anything to take a chance with. You could run risk of the fracture just getting bigger.
But in regard to cardio activity, have you tried a recumbent bike? That might put less stress on your foot than a regular bike. ( I have been able to do that w/ doc's permission, and while it isn't Interval Max as far as heartrate uppage, it does seem to work.
Finally, I took about a month off from doing cardio because of the injury, but have continued w/ my strength program. And actually, I think I have made some fitness gains, just because my body isn't so tired from all of the cardio, and I have tended to concentrate and focus better on lifting. (Silver lining in the cloud?)
Sorry for the long message. Good Luck and let me know how you are doing!
From,
One "hopalong" to another!

 

[LauraSB]

Hi HOPALONG LYNN!

Oh I am so sorry to hear about your foot. Gives me NOTHING to complain about!

Your email was really helpful and encouraging, and I thank you for it. I will give the recumbent bike another try!

I hope your foot heals quickly! Should only be one more month before you can do stuff, right?

Take care, and thanks again.

Laura

 

[lynn]

Thanks Laura!

Thanks for the kind words.. I get my cast off July 12th.. counting down the days, hours, minutes, :}--Will have to start back slowly on any type of impact work...no running for 6 months. I am not sure what the Doctor will let me do as far as step or kickboxing. (I hope he says its o.k., because I preordered all of Cathe's 8 pack!--Major buzz kill if I can't do them right away!
Good luck on your recovery, and be proud of the fact that you are disciplined enough to even work out while injured! Not many people would even consider that.

Happy 4th!
Lynn

 

[Kristin Aziz]

Stress fracture--UGH!!!

Hi Laura,

Sorry to hear about your stress fracture. Unfortunately, I know about them all too well (from personal experience). I had a stress fracture in my hip that was diagnosed last November (I had been having pain since September). To make a long story short, it was a LONG recovery. But stress fractures in the foot heal MUCH faster!

Here are my 0.02, though--definitely ask your doctor for specifics regarding what you can and can't do. It's really worth it, because if you keep putting pressure on the foot when you're not ready to, you could delay your healing. In my case, with the hip stress fracture, I could have eventually ended up with a displaced fracture that could have required a hip replacement. You can bet that scared the bejeezus out of me! But as I said before, feet heal MUCH faster. When I was first diagnosed I continued to do the recumbent bike, and then a new doctor I started to see told me to lay off ALL cardio and to do only upper body work and abs for 3-4 weeks. THAT'S when I started to see an improvement. After that, I was able to bike (on the recumbent), swim and deep water run. When I had no pain walking for a while, I was given the OK to do some low impact activities and walking. I gradually increased my activity and my impact and have had no problems with my hip since. I'd say that I probably lost a little bit of leg strength and cardio endurance, but it came back quickly. By the time I was able to increase my impact, I could up the intensity as well. I didn't notice much loss of fitness.

Hope this reassures you, and PLEASE ask for specifics from your doctor! Stress fractures are nothing to fool with. And remember again, feet heal faster than hips!

Kristin