Bone is a resilient tissue. That’s why we dig up skeletons, not muscles or skin. But bone is not invincible, which is why many endurance athletes suffer bone stress injuries (BSI). Understanding your skeleton’s behavior and tendencies is crucial if you are trying to keep yourself or your athletes off crutches and smashing PRs. At a microscopic level, your bones …
How to not miss a sacral stress fracture
Low back pain is a common problem in active populations, but I rarely see runners with back pain—and when I do, it’s often a bone stress injury (BSI). When a runner reports a gradual onset of unilateral back pain, I’m immediately concerned about a potential sacral stress fracture (SSF). Although rare in the general public, these often occur in endurance …
Programming Exercise for Navicular Stress Fractures
Rehabbing a broken foot is no small task, and navicular stress fractures (NSFs) are particularly challenging. My last blog covered considerations of deciding on surgery or going the conservative route. Today, let’s focus on the critical elements of a successful rehab program. Key Principle One: Absolute Rest NSFs require absolute rest whether you have surgery or not. Complete non-weight bearing in a …
Programming Exercise for Femoral Neck Stress Fractures
Femoral neck stress fractures (FNSF) are challenging to treat. Let’s go through four fundamental principles that are crucial to consider when designing efficient FNSF rehab programs. Then, let’s cover how to implement effective exercise programs with actual people.
Do I Have a Femoral Neck Stress Fracture?
Navigating hip pain can be challenging for runners. Ranging from a mild pinch to pain forcing you to limp to the nearest set of crutches, hip pain can frustrate both athletes and providers. A lot of things can cause your hip to hurt. I want to zoom in on a specific injury we need to do a better job of …
When should I race after a stress fracture?
A runner begrudgingly crutches into their physician’s office with a stress fracture diagnosis and beautiful black boot. The million-dollar question of “When can I run again?” is proposed, and unemotional calculation occurs. The runner quickly circles the specific date on their calendar and heads to the gym to tread water and spin on a bike. Time slowly passes like a kid waiting for Christmas. As the sun rises on the morning of the circled date, the runner happily exits their front door and starts their return to run progression.
How Do Stress Fractures Heal? (Video)
Bone Stress Injuries (BSIs) are frustrating and confusing. Understanding how BSIs heal is vital to allow us to return to running. This video highlights critical concepts you need to know and how to progress back to training. Here are a few topics I cover. If you found this video helpful, be sure to sign up for my newsletter below. I …