Stress fracture (femur) - how to maintain fitness?

martinh78

Hi all,

Looks like running, mountain biking, climbing, mountaineering and just about everything else I like to do is out of teh question for a while.

For anyone else who has had this (or a stress fracture of the lower limb) what did you do to maintain your fitness?

Upper body weights are tough as it loads the leg, which I am trying to avoid. Cardio, I'm out of idea apart from swimming (and can't afford that, or swim if I'm honest!).

It will be healed before I get to see a physio of any sorts (at least 2 months waiting) and I'll have gone insane by then!

Thanks for any tips!

fishlover888

Here are some ideas!

Stationary biking (no standing!)
Arm Ergometer
If you know the correct form, do the rowing maching with only the other leg
Water running
Pilates (mat)

Basically the rule with stress fractures is, you can do anything that does not hurt. If it hurts, STOP immediately and do not attempt the activity again for at least 1 week.

If you do not have pain with walking, start with walking.

Be very gentle with yourself and definitely consult that physio when you can! A bone fracture will not heal in 2 months. It takes up to 6 months to form a bony callus and can take a year or longer for full remodeling back to normal bone strength.

martinh78

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I am going to try and get a referal on Thursday, but it'll take ages for it to come through.

Walking does hurt, but I can't rest from that really. Might be worth trying using a stick to take some weight off? (I have hiking sticks). I'm not doing a lot, just the minimum around college etc. Well, at least that's what I'm doing now. 2 weeks ago I was struggling to get off a mountain trying to walk through the pain. That's before I realised what I had done though.

Didn't realise it was going to take THAT long for it to heal. I'll definiately have to give the stationary bike ago, and maybe swimming.

Might have to use the gym and do some seated exercises such as machine curls, presses, bench work etc. Bonus is I do get free gym access at the college.

Thanks again for the advice.

me1269

I have a stress fracture of my medial tibial plateau. I am not allowed to put any weight on the injured leg for two months and I was given a set of crutches to use. Believe it or not crutches are a good workout. I am also riding a stationary bike but not for long periods of time. good luck and happy healing.

kuntry_navy

lift weights and low level seated stationary bike. mine was tibia, not sure if that would make a difference. but those kept me going.

MissJanet55

I have a partial femoral stress fracture. It is taking a long time to heal, but I have osteoporosis. I understand that people with healthy bones heal more quickly.

My walks are limited to half an hour, which is the maximum I can walk without pain. Cycling (and spin class with low resistance) have been fine for me. Someone recommened mat pilates, but that gave me a lot of pain.

For weights, I use dumbbells and machines that target my upper body only.

It's a little hard to differentiate between pain caused by the fracture and pain caused by muscles that don't work enough. But taking it easy for a few months is far preferable to surgery, so give your body a chance to heal.

crobl

Here are some ideas!

Stationary biking (no standing!)
Arm Ergometer
If you know the correct form, do the rowing maching with only the other leg
Water running
Pilates (mat)

Basically the rule with stress fractures is, you can do anything that does not hurt. If it hurts, STOP immediately and do not attempt the activity again for at least 1 week.

If you do not have pain with walking, start with walking.

Be very gentle with yourself and definitely consult that physio when you can! A bone fracture will not heal in 2 months. It takes up to 6 months to form a bony callus and can take a year or longer for full remodeling back to normal bone strength.

^^ A very good list of options. You can also do upper body lifting while seated, thus taking the pressure off of your leg. You can also make things more complex, by utilizing a swiss exercise ball. For example, if I'm using dumbbells or lower weight, I will lay on the swiss ball with my feet on the floor to do a bench press. Works your upper body and core.

Speaking of core - core exercises - situps, russian twists, planks (with weight on 1 leg), etc...

karmahunger

Swimming.

dondimitri

I had a stress fracture of the femur 40 years ago. It wasn't healing very quickly. I was a very impatient person at that point in my life and unfortunately listened to an orthopedic surgeon who indicated that "pinning it" would be the fastest route back to getting competitive.

I have regretted electing that operation for the rest of my life. I have a huge stainless screw in my hip and a stainless plate running down the outside of the femur. I had no idea what "pinning it" actually involved. My fault for not asking more detailed questions. That hip is susceptible to pressure, I am uncomfortable lying on my right side for any extended period of time.
I have other complaints associated with the decision as well but won't bore you with those.

Bottom line advice: Do whatever you have to do to allow the stress fracture to heal. Do not go the surgical route.

By the time I was done healing from the surgery and then rehabbing my hip: If I had just taken that amount of time to let the fracture heal naturally I would have been ahead of the game.

Good luck.

bumblebums

First of all, I hope you gave yourself a good couple of weeks of rest (yes, even from walking--it's not totally impact-free). Other than that, rowing machines, ellypticals, and stationary bikes should be worthwhile, or swimming if you can get access to that.

jonnyman41

I am in a very similar situation with a suspected stress fracture but I am still waiting for x ray to confirm (which probably wont actually confirm as they often dont show up on X ray) and then eventual referral to physio. Looking at most on line info in the last few days you need complete rest until there is no pain weight bearing and then easy exercise such as stationary bike (the low sitting type not the high typ) swimming, particularly without using legs at first then building up, and moving on to cross trainer/elliptical. Once you can actually walk 1.5 miles without pain you can start to run gently building up slowly.

Good luck but dont rush as you can get fitness back after a break but do further damage and it will take far longer to recover.

jonnyman41

bump