This episode actually comes from Eryn and she’s somebody who was listening to the Doc On The Run podcast and then sent in a question. She said that she was 10 weeks out after getting a dancer’s fracture in the fifth metatarsal while she was trying to qualify for Boston and getting ready.
What she said is, “I’m one week in using my EXOGEN bone stimulator one time a day for 20 minutes. I heard you say that you had a runner who healed after two weeks using the device.”
She also wanted to know about, “What else was your patient doing? Did they follow the standard protocol? Was he taking any supplements or other treatment to help the bone?”
Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we’re talking about a dancer’s fifth metatarsal fracture in a runner who was training for Boston.
The fifth metatarsal bone goes from your midfoot out to your little toe. And if you break it, it could be one of three things.
You could have a shaft fracture, which heals pretty uneventfully, most of the time.
You could have an evulsion fracture, where it actually rips a piece of bone off when your peroneus brevis tendon tries to pull so hard to keep your foot under you, that it actually cracks the bone.
Or you could get this thing called a Jones fracture. Now, if you have a Jones fracture, that is a bad thing. Out of those three, it is definitely the worst.
But sometimes a doctor will say you have something called a pseudo-Jones fracture, which implies it’s kind of like a Jones fracture, but not really as bad.
What is a pseudo-Jones fracture? Well, that’s what we’re talking about, today, on the Doc On The Run podcast.