What's Up Doc?

Over the last year or so, I've been plagued with some pain in my shins, or more specifically, my tibia bone, on both legs.  It started around last February, when I decided to try a new, highly intense run program, without really building up to it first.  That was mistake number one.  Mistake number two was not allowing myself the proper amount of rest between runs.  I would typically do my runs, as well as play around three hours of basketball a couple times per week, on a tile court.  Mistake three was not recognizing that I had developed a pretty severe case of shin splints, and should have taken time off to heal, which I did not.  So this leads me to where I am today.  Having to hang up my running shoes for at least two weeks, hopefully not any longer.

Last year, once I had realized that my shin splints had lead to a more serious problem, I stopped running for about three months.  I was fairly positive that I had developed tibial stress fractures in both of my legs.  I went so far as to have an X-ray done, which came back negative (side note: X-rays are not an appropriate way to diagnose stress fractures, as they typically do not show up.  The more appropriate way is through a bone scan.  Unfortunately, it's pretty difficult to convince a doctor that you should get a bone scan, as they feel an X-ray will suffice.).  The reason I believed I had stress fractures was because of the associated symptoms.  Unlike shin splints, which cause pain along most of the shin, I had paint at one specific point on my tibia/shin bone.  It didn't typically hurt when I was walking around, but when I started running, it would hurt for the first five minutes or so, and then the pain would dissipate.  From all of the research I did, I had a classic case of a tibial stress fracture.

Through my research, I also found that there isn't really any treatment for stress fractures, other than rest, which is why I took those three months off.  And taking those three months off seemed to have worked.  I did all my training to qualify for Boston without any problems.  Last Monday, however, I started to have some pretty severe pain in my left leg, at the same exact place where I had the previous stress fracture.

Right where my finger is touching my leg is where I feel discomfort.  It's basically at the same spot on both legs.  If I push on my shin bone at that exact spot, I feel pretty awesome pain.

I've been in contact with a Physical Therapist (we'll call him Doc), and he made me not so happy.  Doc confirmed two things - that what I described to him did indeed sound like a stress fracture, and that there really isn't any treatment, other than rest.  Tibial stress fractures are typically pretty slow to heal, so I have to be committed to my rest.  Doc advised that I not participate in any activities that cause me pain.  This means that running is most definitely out.  The good news is that cycling and swimming don't cause me any pain, so I will be continuing to participate in those sports.  However, if at any point I begin to feel pain, I will stop immediately.  On the running side, I'm going to be using an elliptical machine to at least get some sort of running-type activity in.  If, after two weeks, I feel that I'm pain free, I will begin some light running on a treadmill.  If I'm not better, then I will continue the non-running for another week and then evaluate.

Needless to say, I'm pretty bummed out about this.  The run that I did on Monday was a great run, even with the pain (I did twelve quarter-mile sprints in 1:19 each, which is about a 5:16/mile pace), so it sucks to have to take at least two weeks off, maybe more.  But, I recognize that it's much better to take the break now and miss the training while I still have a lot of time before the big dance, instead of not letting myself heal and compromise being able to race at all.

So if you see me and I look depressed, this is why.  Hopefully things will be back to normal in a few weeks!