11-24-2018, 09:16 AM
A stress fracture is a fracture (broken bone) that occurs due to the accumulation of repertitive stresses which individually would not be enough to cause the bone to fail, but cumulatively are enough to cause a fracture.
Before the bone actually breaks, the bone starts to microfracture, which is when you start to have symptoms. This is a stress reaction. As the micro fractures coalesce into a frank fracture, where there is a separation in the cortical bone, you get a stress fracture. So you can think of a stress reaction as being a precursor of a stress fracture. The good news is that the recovery for a stress reaction is faster than for a stress fracture. The bad news is that many players try to play through the pain or try to come back too quickly and are not at 100%. The really good news is that unlike ligament or joint injuries, typically the stress/fracture process eventually produces cortical thickening and strengthens the bone following recovery.
I’ve had a stress fracture, and it is not fun, but also wasn’t the end of the world (of course I was not a collegiate athlete). I quit running for a while and switched to swimming, but was otherwise ok, aside from the fact my leg hurt for longer than I thought it should. Fun fact, I injured myself because I was running on a treadmill during the Stanford-Maryland game that took us to the final four, some ten years ago. Because I was so engrossed in the game, I totally ignored the pain in my leg until it was too late.
BC
Before the bone actually breaks, the bone starts to microfracture, which is when you start to have symptoms. This is a stress reaction. As the micro fractures coalesce into a frank fracture, where there is a separation in the cortical bone, you get a stress fracture. So you can think of a stress reaction as being a precursor of a stress fracture. The good news is that the recovery for a stress reaction is faster than for a stress fracture. The bad news is that many players try to play through the pain or try to come back too quickly and are not at 100%. The really good news is that unlike ligament or joint injuries, typically the stress/fracture process eventually produces cortical thickening and strengthens the bone following recovery.
I’ve had a stress fracture, and it is not fun, but also wasn’t the end of the world (of course I was not a collegiate athlete). I quit running for a while and switched to swimming, but was otherwise ok, aside from the fact my leg hurt for longer than I thought it should. Fun fact, I injured myself because I was running on a treadmill during the Stanford-Maryland game that took us to the final four, some ten years ago. Because I was so engrossed in the game, I totally ignored the pain in my leg until it was too late.
BC