How to Heal Stress Fractures Quickly
Before I talk about how to heal a stress fracture quickly I’m going to lay out a few things like what it is, who gets it and why. In order to heal it quickly we need to know what we’re dealing with.
In this article:
What is it?
A stress fracture is a type of broken bone that happens when the bone can’t take the amount of repeated pressure or load put on it.
Who gets it?
Runners get stress fractures. Locations of stress fractures in runners can be
Shins
Toes
Heels
Other parts of the foot
Pelvis
Femur
Other less common locations
Why do runners get it?
Runners get stress fractures from too much repeated stress on the bone. This is most commonly from running too much too soon.
Can you keep running with it?
No. You should not continue running on stress fractures.
How do you know you have a stress fracture?
You need an x-ray or an MRI to determine if you have a stress fracture. Stress fractures sometimes can’t be seen on x-ray, especially if it’s soon after the pain starts. Stress fracture symptoms include:
Pain at rest
Pain that gets worse with activity
Pain doesn’t get better when stopping activity
Pain with even light touch
Pain that keeps you up at night
How to treat it so it heals quickly
Non-weight bearing: To treat stress fractures you will likely be non-weight bearing or reduced weight bearing for 6-8 weeks. If your stress fracture is in your foot or shin you may wear “a boot” which offloads the lower leg to take the stress off your fracture. If you have a stress fracture in your femur, hip or pelvis you may be on crutches or in a wheelchair.
Diet & nutrition: maintain adequate food intake with higher amounts of protein and collagen which may support the bone rebuilding process. Avoid overly processed foods and high amounts of added sugars which can contribute to increased inflammation which can contribute to high pain levels. Eating too little during the healing process makes it take longer for injuries to heal. Bones grow with calcium and vitamin D so make sure you’re getting adequate amounts of each of these. Calcium to make the bone grow, and vitamin D so your body can absorb the calcium.
Pain management: Ice is the most common home remedy to help with pain from stress fractures. As the stress fracture heals many runners find hot epsom salt baths helpful. Avoid foam rolling and massage guns on the area of the stress fracture as these can aggravate the pain.
Ice for 20 minutes as often as needed. This could be every hour when the pain first starts.
Do Strength Exercises help Stress Fractures?
No. Strength exercises to the injured area will add more stress and pressure to a stress fracture and can make it worse. Strength exercises to the injured area won’t heal stress fractures.
Training when you have a stress fracture
The type of training you can keep doing when you have a stress fracture depends on where the stress fracture is. You may be able to still do some training, cross training that is. This way you could maintain your fitness while you can’t run.
If you keep moving your body while you can’t run you’ll have a much easier time getting back to running when your stress fracture is healed.
Check with your healthcare provider of which of the following you can safely do with your stress fracture.
Swimming
Water walking
Outdoor cycling
Spin class/Peloton
Rowing
Upper body ergometer
Walking
Elliptical
How to prevent it
You can prevent stress fractures by increasing running appropriately. As you know this means increasing mileage slowly over time, but how slowly is slow enough? Typically, follow the 10% rule. This means increasing mileage by no more than 10% every week.
When we’re talking about adding distance to your long run (because that’s typically what runners do.. Keep most runs the same and add to the long run)... This means, adding less than a mile a week, so definitely not 2 miles a week for your long runs.
Why? Because 1 mile is 10% of 10 miles, so unless your long run is 10 miles long you shouldn’t be adding 1 mile to your long run. And 2 miles is 10% of 20 miles, so unless your long run is 20 miles you shouldn’t be adding 2 miles to your long run.
Heal stress fractures quickly
So that’s the quickest way to heal a stress fracture: to reduce the load on your stress fracture and give your body the support it needs to heal. This means wear the boot or use the crutches, and take in the protein, calcium and vitamin D. Keep your blood circulation going, do the cross training that you’re allowed to do so you can keep your fitness while you can’t run. And then prevent it from happening again by increasing your running the right way.
If you're on the road to recovery from a stress fracture and are eager to ensure you're doing it the right way to get back to running as soon as possible, let's work together on your comeback journey!
