One of the most common injuries I see in runners is a stress fracture.
All overtraining injuries in runners are stress induced injuries and a stress fracture of course implies too much stress applied to the bone.
A stress fracture is not a problem that you get not because you ran too much, not because you ran too far, or too soon.
Stress fractures only result when your training exceeds the bone’s threshold to recover before your next workout. If you keep doing that, it could get much worse.
What are the three ways a stress fracture can turn into a non-union in a runner?
Well, that is what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »I got a great question from a runner with a sesamoid fracture that turned into a “non-union.”
The sesamoid bones are two tiny little bones under the big toe joint. When you break one of the sesamoids, if two pieces of bone do not heal back together, we call a “sesamoid fracture non-union.”
In this runner’s case, she used a bone stimulator. She wore a fracture boot. She used crutches. But after a year of treatment, the doctor looked at her X-ray and said, “You have a non-union, we should take it out.”
Is it possible to run if you have a sesamoid fracture non-union?
That is a great question and that is what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »I recently got a great question from someone who was watching one of the videos on sesamoid fractures.
Underneath the big toe joint, you have two little bones called sesamoid bones.
Sometimes you can get a fracture or crack in the bone that doesn’t heal. Then it turns into what we call a non-union.
Some people have sesamoids called “bi-partite” sesamoids. It looks like a fractured sesamoid. But its’ normal. The two pieces are connected by soft tissue. But that soft tissue connection can become injured or sprained.
What’s the difference between a sesamoid fracture non-union and a disrupted bipartite sesamoid sprain?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »I just did a second opinion consultation with a runner who called and said she was diagnosed with a grade five stress fracture.
The doctor didn’t actually explain what that meant. He just said it was serious.
Stress fracture are rates by severity with grade one through a grade five. Grade five is obviously the worst to runner.
She wanted to know if she needed a bone stimulator since her stress fracture was serious.
Do I need a bone stimulator for a grade five stress fracture? That’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run podcast.
A runner and a listener to the podcast recently sent in a question regarding how long it takes to heal an old fracture versus a new fracture.
There are many risk factors for developing problems with healing a broken bone.
Each year there are about six million broken bones the United States. Somewhere between 5% and 10% of all of those fractures do not heal as quickly as we would hope and turn into what is called a fracture non-union or a delayed union.
A “fracture non-union” is just what it sounds like. It means to the fractured pieces of bone did not unite. They did not get back together and the fracture just did not heal.
A “delayed union” is a broken bone that isn’t healing as quickly as we would expect.
Today on the Doc On Run Podcast we’re talking about the difference in healing time of an “old fracture” vs a “recent fracture.”
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I just got off a call with a runner who broke his little toe and he is trying to get back to running.
Pain when running is one signal that you are disrupting the healing process.
His main question was if he could run without pain, is it okay to run on the broken toe before it is fully healed?
He is concerned that if he runs and the broken toe doesn’t heal, that would obviously lead to problems and he doesn’t want to have a non-healed broken toe.
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we’re talking about what happens if you run and your broken toe does not heal.
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