Stress Fracture?

grizzly · Jul 16, 2013

My wife finally drew a good tag (La Sal Mtns Muzzleloader Elk) and now we just found out she has a stress fracture in her right leg from running.

We have the bone scan today, so hopefully it isn't too bad and doesn't require surgery. Obviously, that makes it hard to scout an area that we have never been to... but we'll head down the first part of August and ride around on wheelers and try to learn the area.

Hopefully by the end of September she'll be able to get out, hunt hard, and find a big bull.

Do any of you guys have any experience with stress fractures? How long do they take to heal?

Grizzly

PS. Tristate, please be an adult and respect my wishes that you do not respond to any of my posts. I, in turn, will do you the courtesy of not responding to any of yours. I simply do not wish to converse with you.

travishunter3006 · Jul 16, 2013

I've had stress fractures in my ankles. If she can medicate over the pain, (legally of course!) she should be able to low impact activities.

Hunting without carrying any weight or putting any more stress on her leg than is required to lift her own weight, etc... She should be fine!

They hurt, they suck but hopefully she can make her hunt!

Trammer · Jul 16, 2013

I have had 2 stress fractures from running. She should be good to hike after 4 to 6 weeks from her last run and even able to run after 8 weeks. Hiking does not have the concussion that running does. I think she will be fine by the hunt but she should not run at all before the hunt. You do not want to risk reinjury.

littlebuck2 · Jul 16, 2013

LAST EDITED ON Jul-16-13 AT 04:41PM (MST)[p]I got one in my foot several months ago. I was training for the Wasatch Back Ragnar. I quit running and doing any exercising that was high impact on my foot for three weeks. I iced it, elevated it, and ibuprofened up and it was good to go. My doctor recommended mild exercise on a stationary bike or elliptical, which I did just to help keep up some fitness and it seemed to help. I had about a month before the race after I healed up and started training again, and ran my race and it hasn't hurt since. Hopefully this will be the case wish you guys luck!!!

BeDawg · Jul 16, 2013

She should be fine by the hunt.

grizzly · Jul 16, 2013

She had her bone scan tonight and we see the surgeon on Friday. The tech who did the scan thought it looked fairly typical for a tibial stress fracture and he doubted she would need surgery but the radiologist hasn't issued his report yet. From the X-Ray last week, the surgeon wasn't able to tell if she would need screws or not, but it is looking good right now.

I hope in 3 weeks she can hike and help me do some scouting so we can find a place to camp and hunt. I've been recording all the rut elk hunts on TV so she can watch them, she is starting to get excited.

I'm more excited to show her a good time and a bunch of elk than I am for my own tags. Hopefully we hit the rut right this year and we get into some decent bulls. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Thanks for the input. I feel better about her hunt already.

Grizzly

PS. Tristate, please be an adult and respect my wishes that you do not respond to any of my posts. I, in turn, will do you the courtesy of not responding to any of yours. I simply do not wish to converse with you.

Sierra · Jul 16, 2013

>She had her bone scan tonight
>and we see the surgeon
>on Friday. The tech
>who did the scan thought
>it looked fairly typical for
>a tibial stress fracture and
>he doubted she would need
>surgery but the radiologist hasn't
>issued his report yet.
>From the X-Ray last week,
>the surgeon wasn't able to
>tell if she would need
>screws or not, but it
>is looking good right now.
>
>
>I hope in 3 weeks she
>can hike and help me
>do some scouting so we
>can find a place to
>camp and hunt. I've
>been recording all the rut
>elk hunts on TV so
>she can watch them, she
>is starting to get excited.
>
>
>I'm more excited to show her
>a good time and a
>bunch of elk than I
>am for my own tags.
> Hopefully we hit the
>rut right this year and
>we get into some decent
>bulls. I'll let you
>guys know how it goes.
>
>
>Thanks for the input. I
>feel better about her hunt
>already.
>
>Grizzly
>
>PS. Tristate, please be an adult
>and respect my wishes that
>you do not respond to
>any of my posts. I,
>in turn, will do you
>the courtesy of not responding
>to any of yours. I
>simply do not wish to
>converse with you.

Good luck on the hunt. It was a pleasure meeting you, your wife and your buddy during last year's NM hunt.

Cornhusker · Jul 17, 2013

Grizz congrats on getting to hunt with your wife, from my experience I would guess she will be ok in time for the hunt. I was prone to tibial stress fractures throughout college whenever I ran over 100 miles a week. They always healed so that I could walk or bike within 4 to 6 weeks. It was good advice not to risk running before your hunt and injure it again.

If I were you and your wife I would look into the cause of the fractures possibly a foot strike problem or imbalance of foot problem. Doctors seldom worry about the cause. If your wife wants to continue to run a bio mechanical therapists can help her out so she doesn't get hurt again. I change my running strike pattern from heal striking to mid-foot about 10 years ago and have had no problems maintaining 30 mile weeks. Good luck on your hunt, hope you both have a really good time

grizzly · Jul 17, 2013

>Grizz congrats on getting to hunt
>with your wife, from my
>experience I would guess she
>will be ok in time
>for the hunt. I
>was prone to tibial stress
>fractures throughout college whenever I
>ran over 100 miles a
>week. They always healed
>so that I could walk
>or bike within 4 to
>6 weeks. It was
>good advice not to risk
>running before your hunt and
>injure it again.
>
> If I were you and
>your wife I would look
>into the cause of the
>fractures possibly a foot strike
>problem or imbalance of foot
>problem. Doctors seldom worry
>about the cause. If
>your wife wants to continue
>to run a bio mechanical
>therapists can help her out
>so she doesn't get hurt
>again. I change my
>running strike pattern from heal
>striking to mid-foot about 10
>years ago and have had
>no problems maintaining 30 mile
>weeks. Good luck on
>your hunt, hope you both
>have a really good time
>

She had previously done the running analysis with therapists and running pros and everything was great (she even ran with a metronome in her ear to keep the right cadence). The issue was she didn't run for a few weeks while we were in Idaho hunting bears and the day she got back she did a "quick 12-miler" and pulled her hamstring. She let that heal a few weeks but started running again a little soon. This caused her to change her gait to prevent the hamstring from hurting, and within a month she had a stress fracture. We are pretty sure the hamstring caused the stress fracture.

You are definitely right to look for the cause. Hopefully we know what it was so it doesn't happen again.

Grizzly

PS. Tristate, please be an adult and respect my wishes that you do not respond to any of my posts. I, in turn, will do you the courtesy of not responding to any of yours. I simply do not wish to converse with you.

Cornhusker · Jul 17, 2013

I'm impressed you and your wife have done all your homework. Most coaches in my area don't know as much as you guys. It sounds to me like the hamstring is the issue I had the same thing happen to a kid who should have won state this year. He had a sore hammy from a sprint workout ran a road race over the weekend an a stress fracture diagnosis by Wednesday.

Looking forward to the pictures of a monster elk.