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foot pain - stress fracture?
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I've got a pain in my foot. It's at the top of my foot, on the inside. It started about 2-3 weeks ago. It started as a very small pain (I thought it was a bruise from perhaps wearing tight fitting trainers) but it's gradually got worse. I've stopped running as it is now too uncomfortable and it hurts when I walk. I've been taking ibuprofen. Below is a diagram showing where the pain is. It's just above the metatarsal.
Anyone had this type of injury before? Could it be a stress fracture? Or could it be tendonitis? - I have increased my mileage recently by a fair bit from 60mpw to 80-90mpw, all on road / track as well which could be a factor.
Thanks,
james
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Comments
Don't want to worry you, but that's how the pain started for me in what turned out to be a navicular stress fracture that took nigh on 2 years to sort out, involving several stints on crutches, in boots and finally surgery. HOWEVER, some of the symptoms are shared with tendonitis at that point in the foot, so the best advice is definitely to rest it completely, and if it still continues to hurt when walking, get yourself to a doctor and see if they can refer you for an MRI or CT scan (often stress fractures don't show up on x-rays).
Good luck!
Hi James,
Clarty is dead right, straight to the Doc'sand tell them you want an MRI or CTscan. They will refer you for this, but you do need to be a tad pushy (in a nice way), otherwise you will be told to "wait and see" which will just delay it for a few weeks.
Keep smiling!!!!
Thanks for the advice. I've had a few days off. No real improvement - can still feel it a little with every step. Having read up on navicular stress fractures I've got a horrible feeling Clarty is right
.
Will go and see a GP this week.
Roasties,
I had similar pain in the same place following a Sunday run in 2007. Only way I can discribe it is similar to having over tight laces. Went to the hospital for an x ray the following day and although nothing could be seen they seemed to think it was a small stress fracture...aparently it only shows on x ray when healing...so they said. .... In my case a few weeks off was all it took .....so I think I got off luckily. Good luck.
Cheers Big Dave. I went to the GP. He wouldn't put me through for an MRI or CT scan, said he thought it could just be tendonitis. I hope it is but I'm not convinced.
I've been told to book an X-ray tomorrow, and get some physio. Although I know X-rays only show up 33% of navicular stress fractures. He said if it doesn't respond in 4 to 6 physio sessions, seeing an orthopaedic specialist is the next step.
Cannot see how an MRI/CT will help; if it is a stress fracture - you rest. If it is tendinitis - you rest. If not getting better after a few weeks, then maybe you need tests then.
of course GPs are reluctant to get scans - if you have a scan, that means someone else does not; and maybe that someone has something really bad wrong, like cancer.
I had an abdominal CT scan, it is a bit of a buzz, all that high-tech kit and those amazing pictures - but it actually made things worse - they found something that after lots more tests turned out to be nothing, wasted a lot of my time, gave me a nasty fright, and gave me a big dose of XRays. Hmmm
An MRI/CT scan will help because it will definitely show whether or not it is a navicular stress fracture. If it is a fracture in the foot rest won't help - a non-weight bearing cast would be needed.
I'm resting and treating it as tendonitis (ice, ibuprofen etc). If this doesn't help (which it isn't doing...yet) I'll get a scan.
Don't see what having an abdominal CT scan has to do with anything.
Sorry you had a less than good experience with CT scans, but they can sometimes be rather useful even for relatively insignificant injuries like stress fractures.
Not all stress fractures heal through rest. Mine took 2 years to fix; I couldn't walk on it for several months and I ended up with a bone graft and a screw to pin it all together. The navicular is a bit of a funny one, due to its position in the foot and the fact that it has a very poor blood supply, making healing difficult. The standard treatment is 6 weeks non weight-bearing in plaster as soon as it is diagnosed; if you carry on even walking on it you can make things worse and delay healing even further... which is exactly what happened to me...
I have been running for a couple of weeks testing myself more than anything - about 9 years ago I broke a met on my left foot and after doing 3 5k runs in the gym this week my left foot was in agony felt like a bruise. It has eased off and I have (stupidly) jogged round my living room to test and could handle it but wondering how I could prevent this or even if it's part of the same injury. Couple of people are saying I have ran too much and someone says it could be hitting the treadmill with bad form.