Back to gym after stress fracture

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victoriavoodoo
victoriavoodoo Posts: 343 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
WOOHOO I have been given permission to discard the boot and wear "sturdy tennis shoes" (wow I am way too young to need to worry about shoe sturdiness).
I have a two week trial period with shoes before I go back to the doc, and I have the ok to weight train and use stationary bike.

I am kind of scared though. I was only in the boot for a month and from what I've read this is a short time for a sesamoid fracture. He didn't do an X-ray today; he just wiggled my toe around and asked if it hurt. It did and I said so, but he said I can try shoes now anyway and sent me off.

Should I get a second opinion or what? This is what I wanted but I don't want that whole month of limping around to be wasted. This doctor is free through my campus' health clinic, so it won't cost me double to get a second opinion.

I thought I'd be getting another xray today I guess is why I'm nervous; I wanted to see some progress or something from the first X-ray:
27yzbpt.png
(the two little round things on the right are supposed to be one little round thing; he said I broke it in half)

Replies

  • bokodasu
    bokodasu Posts: 629 Member
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    Uh... I think I'd get a second opinion. I mean, there's no way for us to tell over the Internet, but that seems a little sketchy. I just got out of a boot last month for a really minor ankle stress fracture, and they took followup x-rays for that.

    Fun fact: the campus doctor at the college I went to was barred from practicing medicine in four states. His treatment for everything was to ask if you were pregnant, and then hand you codeine cough syrup. Everything. So I may be just a *leetle* biased.
  • TinaDay1114
    TinaDay1114 Posts: 1,328 Member
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    I am kind of scared though. I was only in the boot for a month and from what I've read this is a short time for a sesamoid fracture. He didn't do an X-ray today; he just wiggled my toe around and asked if it hurt. It did and I said so, but he said I can try shoes now anyway and sent me off.

    Should I get a second opinion or what? This is what I wanted but I don't want that whole month of limping around to be wasted.

    ... I guess is why I'm nervous;

    I think you have your answer in your own words. If you're worried, feel like you didn't get enough of an answer, and are nervous about moving too fast on this injury, DEFINITELY go get another opinion.

    I had a heel fracture a year or so ago, and the first doc I saw (a podiatrist) told me I should just wear tennis shoes all the time, and I could probably still run the 1/2 marathon I was training for, I just might have to stop 1/2 way through due to pain. (!?!?!?!) At this point I was in so much pain (and I'm good with pain) I couldn't walk to the bathroom at work without wanting to cry.

    I promptly went to a sports ortho who put me in a boot for 6 weeks, had me no impact for 6 more weeks, and I haven't had an issue with that injury since. I ran my 1/2 marathon four months later and did well.

    RUN (well, walk gently) to another doctor. STAT.
  • kacysuzanne
    kacysuzanne Posts: 27 Member
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    If it hurts to walk around in the tennis shoes or continues to ache at night, I would let him know. It's not a big deal to go back into the boot for a couple of more weeks. It's also fine to get a second opinion.

    I just broke my toe and went through the easing back into workouts. Letting pain be your guide, if you have on sturdy tennis shoes while riding the stationary bike and stay seated the whole time, there are minimal forces going through your foot/the break, so it should be fine to do that. Upper body lifting and non weight bearing leg work shouldn't bother it either. It took a little longer for me to be able to do squats/lunges without residual pain.
  • victoriavoodoo
    victoriavoodoo Posts: 343 Member
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    Fun fact: the campus doctor at the college I went to was barred from practicing medicine in four states. His treatment for everything was to ask if you were pregnant, and then hand you codeine cough syrup. Everything. So I may be just a *leetle* biased.
    That is terrifying. They hired someone like that?
    I think you have your answer in your own words. If you're worried, feel like you didn't get enough of an answer, and are nervous about moving too fast on this injury, DEFINITELY go get another opinion.
    I think I will make an appointment somewhere else. They want us in and out as fast as possible at school and I didn't get to ask many questions; definitely uneasy about it.
    If it hurts to walk around in the tennis shoes or continues to ache at night, I would let him know. It's not a big deal to go back into the boot for a couple of more weeks. It's also fine to get a second opinion.

    I just broke my toe and went through the easing back into workouts. Letting pain be your guide, if you have on sturdy tennis shoes while riding the stationary bike and stay seated the whole time, there are minimal forces going through your foot/the break, so it should be fine to do that. Upper body lifting and non weight bearing leg work shouldn't bother it either. It took a little longer for me to be able to do squats/lunges without residual pain.
    That sounds like great advice. I am not good at being guided by pain though. I think I learned to basically ignore all but the worst of it when I was having sessions for my biggest tattoo. Anyway I wasn't slowed down by the fracture enough to go to a doctor until 6ish months after it happened when I couldn't hardly walk. I did most of couch to 5k in that time and it hurt about like a tattoo on bone but I didn't think anything was broken.

    I know you shouldn't power through pain but in my defense I have never broken or fractured or even sprained anything before and assumed if a bone in my body were to break I would be writhing on the ground so I thought this must be joint pain from picking up running.

    So far the tennis shoes don't hurt(its been 3 hours lol).

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