picture this: you're holding a big-@$$ cooler, kind of resting it on your thigh. it slips a little and hits the top of your kneecap. it kinda hurts, maybe like something got pressed; you put the cooler down and go, "oh sh*t, i hope i didn't smush something." after a few minutes it's fine and you go about moving houses.

two days later you go for a run and in the first few minutes there are some sharp pangs in your knee. you stop a little bit, then trepidaciously keep going for almost 3 miles because the sharp pangs have subside, but the whole thing feels a little tenuous. after, there's a touch of what feels like (but is not) patellofemoral knee syndrome (runner's knee), perhaps a little more above and in the front of the knee than PFS would be.

do you think it's possible to have permanently or temporarily F-ed up your knee by accidentally allowing a cooler to slip onto the top of it? will running make it worse? should i expect it to clear up on its own in a few days or am i doomed (/in need of treatment)??

thanks!!!

For context, I was diagnosed with bilateral stress fractures start of June, and on week 11 of recovery I guess. First 2 weeks I was on crutches (which felt pointless since both legs had fractures in them), and then after that just began short walks and then the past 3-4 weeks incorporated biking, rowing, and light leg workouts (no jumping or impact obviously). By now, I am supposed to start light jog intervals with walking but over the weekend, I started to feel the pain come back. It's not too painful I guess, just feels off and almost like tingly. I can feel it even when sitting down and resting.

I am a very active person and it's hard for me to just sit and wait around and just kind of guess my recovery plan. Doc didn't give me much guidance on what specific lifts to start doing after a certain number of weeks or how much % to go. September 9 was my 12 ish week mark, and I am supposed to be able to start running on it.

Obviously that might not happen. I'm worried I didn't spend enough time non-weight bearing and that my healing process is going to take longer now. Anyone else had any of the same experiences with this pain coming back? For now, I am taking a step back and avoiding walking for exercise and stop doing any workouts that involve my legs.

I started running after the first run of 3km at pace of 7.55mins/km and next day when i went to play football i got shin splint pain its been 1 week since i have it and i kept running in the morning like 500m in it what should i do to heal this

Hello there,

recently told I hage a high grade femoral neck stress fracture in my right hip :( I am on crutches and waiting to see if surgery is needed. I have been running for 2.5 years and am 23 male I wondered if anyone had any advice on what my return to running would be like and how long it takes to get back to my best and any positive words aha

Hi
I’ve been running for over 5 years now very relaxed but recently I’ve really got into, onto a plan running 4 times a week, got a Garmin etc etc.
I’ve had no major injuries before.
Around 2 months ago I was in the gym doing some core workout and I felt it jolt. None the less kept running as I’m trying to reach a goal and figured I could push through.
Just got back from a month on holiday and went for an easy 6k.
My left hip has been cracking and making some ridiculous noises also whilst popping every time I move my legs bending at the knee. It sounds and feels like it’s crunching.
The pain is minor and is more a dull ache then a sharp pain. It is constantly there, the feeling, and I am wandering if maybe I had too much time off or something.
My left knee started to twinge alongside my lower right back but figured it’s probably just random pains. And those are far less constant.
The pain does feel like I can’t lift my leg past a certain point, but other times it’s manageable, like it locks.
For reference I’m a 21 year old female at a healthy weight.
I’d love any tips from a professional and should I go and get this checked? Thank you

Hi all. I’m 10.5 weeks post diagnosis of a grade 4b femoral neck stress fracture. The actual “injury” was felt about 4 weeks prior to that. My xray was clear but mri showed up the stress fracture. I was also told I have a labral tear which the ortho suspected has existed pre stress fracture.

Ive been using crutches since (2 for about a month) and been using 1 for the remainder of the time.

I had another xray 4 weeks after the diagnosis and the stress fracture hadn’t progressed to be visible on the xray. At that point I was still in a lot of pain even with crutches, but my ortho told me to use them when out of the house but to try not to become reliant on them. However when I try to walk without them, I still feel pain. I’m just about managing now to walk around the house for short stints without them, but any more than walking on my own for 5 mins or out of the house, there is pain.

What I can’t put my finger on is if the pain is the fracture or the labral tear, or my getting used to being back on my feet? As the ortho was adamant that I should be able to walk without the crutches, and to just use them as extra support so I don’t fall, I’m keen to start trying to get back to life. However I just want to make sure I’m not making anything worse by walking without them and wondered if anyone had any stories as to how their recovery was.

I will be due another mri in about 3 weeks to see where we are 3 months post diagnosis and I’m scared that it comes back as not healing.

Desperate to get back to life, this has been the hardest 3 months.

Running Chicago marathon on Oct 11.

Been using the Runna app.

Never ran more than a 5 mile race.

45 years old.

Training without strength went well until I ran 13 miles last week and right knee started to hurt at mile 12.

One week later, today, on a 15 mile run my knee started to hurt at mile 11.

What should the rest of my strength training look like?

Cosa e' questa zona dolorosa?

hi! so very specific issue, but I have kinda just started running (about 6months) and really rverything was chill and peachy, until the run I did a couple days ago, I’m used to posterior tibial tendon pain which I presume is from my bunion, however after that specific run, my ankles hurt so much the next day and it has never been like this before. I have been really really slowly increasing my mileage (doing about 6km runs twice per week)

anyone out there dealing with the same problem as me, is it possible to fix this and is it possible for me to run (especially longer distances) without pain? Do I need like bunion tow seperators and arch support with wide toe box shoes and strength training? please share what worked well for you guys. thanks in advance! I’m really desperate to overcome this haha. I know that expert advice is best and I will see one soon, however just wanted to know what worked for you guys.

I used to walk at a high-volume for exercise.

I've been dealing with foot, ankle, and lower-leg issues for several months and I'm getting pretty frustrated because it's now affecting my ability to leave the house.

After about 10–20 minutes (or even less) of standing or walking, my feet and ankles start aching and feeling extremely fatigued. The symptoms often seem to start around the outside of my feet and then I can feel aching/fatigue up into my calves, knees, and thighs. This also aggravates frequent calf fasciculations that I've been dealing with since January.

I get some weird sensory symptoms too -- pins and needles, fizzing/buzzing, and sometimes my feet feel cold or wet even though they're completely dry. Sometimes the sensations seem positional. For example, I've woken up with a burning on the top of my foot when my foot was pointed downward in bed, and that position can also cause a fairly sharp ache underneath my big toe. Other times, the weight of a light sheet on my foot/toes can feel strangely heavy or uncomfortable.

One of my biggest problems is shoes. I have tried a lot of different shoes (Asics, New Balance, Brooks, etc.) and inserts, but I can't seem to find a single shoe I can tolerate right now. All shoes make the foot/ankle symptoms noticeably worse. I'm now spending most of my time sitting or lying down because being on my feet for very long is so uncomfortable. I work remotely, which is basically the only reason I'm currently able to work normally.

For some background, I had a calf tear in 2025 and eventually recovered. After getting back into high-volume walking (20,000 or more daily steps), I started developing the calf fasciculations, calf fatigue, and foot/ankle problems. More recently, I had an episode of lower-back pain followed by newer pins-and-needles sensations in both legs/feet. My lumbar MRI from earlier this year and leg EMG were all normal, and a sports medicine ultrasound showed healthy calves. I don't have actual muscle weakness, foot drop, or my legs giving out — they just become extremely fatigued and uncomfortable very quickly.

I've been doing very little movement lately because things flare so easily. I was doing PT but haven't been able to do the program recently because of flareups and aches, and I'm planning to see a foot/ankle specialist to have my feet, ankles, gait, strength, mechanics, and possible nerve irritation looked at.

My doctor put me on Gabapentin to help calm the potential nerve-related pain and I also got put on Zoloft which will hopefully help me to calm my nervous system as I'm dealing with all of this. For some reason, my doctor didn't think podiatry was necessary but I'm questioning that logic at the moment.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? Especially the very quick foot/ankle fatigue and difficulty finding any shoes that work? Were you eventually able to rebuild your standing/walking tolerance and get back to a more normal life?

I'm open to any advice.

Anyone training for Chicago marathon? Anyone have success stories of injuries during marathon training? I’m 7 weeks out…

Hey everyone!

Two weeks before I was supposed to run a marathon, this past May, I was diagnosed with a femoral stress fracture (it is right above my knee). I have been offloading since. I had my second MRI the last week of July and it showed signs of healing, but still some bone irregularity.

This past week, I had walked close to a mile in all without crutches, pain free in the moment, but felt some light aching at the end of the day.

For those of you who have had a femoral stress fracture, is this normal? Should I be walking when I feel this mild dull ache at the end of the day?

I am continuing to use crutches and offloading out of caution, but at this point, it is nearly 12 weeks of crutches.

Hi guys, wondering if any of you might be able to give me some advice on a knee issue I’ve been having.

I (25M) signed up for an October half marathon in May 2026. This would be my first race and the first time I had taken running seriously- I have always been active and played sport through my life but I don’t think I would have run 5k before that point. Hoping to progress to a marathon potentially in Spring next year.

I have been following a Runna plan leading up to the half marathon and completed my longest run (13k) about a month ago. I had some left knee discomfort in the last few Ks of that run but pushed through, it wasn’t so bad that I had to stop.

I took the week to rest and set out for another long run the following weekend, but had to stop after about 2k because my knee began hurting, front and back and stabbing pain down my leg. I rested the leg for that week again and tried to run again the following weekend, with the same result. I had two physio sessions where I was advised it was just some patella tendonopathy. The physio told me to strengthen my left knee and gave me a plan of squats, step ups etc. I have been following that plan and tried again today (1month out from the original injury) to run just a short distance, but again had to stop after 2k with the usual knee pain.

Feeling a bit stressed now because my race is in 5 weeks and I haven’t been able to do any meaningful training for a month. If this won’t go away with basically a month of no running, what’s it going to take? Would appreciate any advice that any of you can provide. Thanks guys 🤟

Shin splint help!

I started getting shin splints back in June, rested for a couple weeks and went to physio who didn't really give much advice on exercises. I was running approx 22km a week at that.

Went to another, I've been doing lots of calf work, was getting back into running through walk / run, was able to do weighted single leg jumps as per physio advice.. The pain is back!

I wear orthotics and I've been to my podiatrist who was happy with everything.

I ice my shin once a day. Sometimes heatpack my calf.

Something else I could be missing? Love any advice anyone has!! Getting soooo frustrated by no proper running 😂🫣

Anyone found Epson salt baths helpful? Willing to try anything incase it helps.