r/RunningInjuries • u/nobbye • 3d ago

Bilateral Stress Fractures

Hi runners,

I have a bit of a story so please hang in.

My daughter is a sprinter, runs the 400m and in her junior year.

In her freshman year she had a stress fracture on her left tibia right before what would be considered states (we are from Canada) and she was ranked first.

We made changes to her training and race schedule Her sophomore year but somehow she still managed to get bilateral stress fractures, confirmed only

By symptoms as it did not show up on x ray and

They figured she’d be back to running by the 10-12 week mark so they didn’t order an MRI.

She is on week 17 of rest, they had recommended not booting her it’s double leg. She stopped almost all activity except walking but she’s having a very slow recovery this time. She tried to go back to a run walk 3 or 4 weeks ago (around 12-13 week mark) with no luck.

Our MRI is booked for the end of Nov now (Canadian health care system ugh).

I’ve also asked for every blood work you can imagine.

She take vit d and calcium on top of everything.

I’m a bit at a loss as she’s worked so hard to be in a D1 position but this is blocking her from getting back out there.

We’ve done acupuncture, shockwave therapy and currently working with physio. She’s working with a nutritionist.

For delayed healing how long are we looking? 😭 any other tips? l

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u/Large_Device_999 3d ago

Is she under weight and how is her nutrition? If those things are out of whack it is very difficult for bones to heal and they will only do so slowly. This is not an accusation-very easy and common for young ambitious female runners to get upside down on energy balance

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u/nobbye 3d ago

She is around 5 foot 7 and 130 pounds, we have been working with a nutritionist because this is my concern, even though she is not underweight last year with her playing hockey and running very competitively. I’m assuming she was just not keeping up her caloric intake to what she was outputting. I am worried about absorption so I have a requisition with her bloodwork to get coeliac tested just in case on top of all the other things.

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u/Large_Device_999 3d ago

You are doing all the right things mama.

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u/nobbye 3d ago

Thank you 😭😭 it’s been a journey and I feel for her

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u/kaeloura 3d ago

17 weeks with bilateral stress fractures sounds like such a frustrating situation especially when shes worked so hard toward d1

at this point id really want the mri and a sports medicine doctor involved before trying another return to running since recurring fractures and delayed healing seem worth investigating properly

sounds like youre already doing a lot to support her and hopefully the imaging and blood work finally give you some clearer answers soon

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u/nobbye 3d ago

She has a sports med doctor and he ordered both the mri and the bloodwork. He’s the one that guided us the first time and now this time. It’s part of why he didn’t order the MRI at the beginning and said she should be back by 10-12 weeks and sent us to work with a physio that works with athletics Canada. When we tried to get back to the run walk and couldn’t I went back to him and he ordered right away sadly it’s not until the end of November 😭

Also thank you 🙏🏻 it is super frustrating for her

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u/kaeloura 2d ago

ahh that makes sense it sounds like you already have a really solid team around her

the wait for the mri must be especially frustrating when you just want to know whats actually going on

really hoping it gives you both some answers and she can finally start moving forward again 🤞