poprad

So I got the news that I managed to get a stress fracture in my foot, in the bone that the metatarsals tie into. On the up side my doc greenlighted cycling as long as it doesn't cause pain, but she's gonna put me "in the boot" on Monday, and of course all running is off the table.

I am curious what your experience was riding with a stress fracture, and what your podiatrist advised. I'm going to just go spin some flats to avoid the pressure of grinding the hills, which sucks because the hills here in PDX are great. My injury doesn't cause pain except at high loads, such as running intervals on the treadmill. On the bike I can hardly feel it at all, even with fairly good effort, until about an hour into a ride.

Probably the biggest question is how long did it take yours to heal? My doc is predicting 3 weeks if I follow directions.

Sexywheelman14

I went thru the same type thing a while ago at a point in my life when running was my primary sport, cycling was #2. At that time I was only riding about 10 miles a day; both the doc and my running coach both stressed that I use cycling as a means of staying in shape, relatively speaking, and keeping active to help heal faster. They also said to avoid high torque, low rpm cycling. Stick with spinning.

While your trying to keep yourself going, it doesn't pay to aggravate your injury. Foot stress fractures are typically a result of being over-active, I guess, so it's easy for sport types whom naturally push themselves to not let their foot injury actually heal properly. That, and since you're still mobile and physically active, it's easy to mentally downplay the time your body needs to heal up.

All that being said, riding worked great for me, but make sure to keep your cadence/rpm up. I'd use this time to stay in shape rather than for training or race prep. And while exercise will help, I'd recommend trying to avoid too much time on the bike.

poprad

Thanks for the wisdom, helps and reflects what I figured. I spun an easy 12 mi today. Felt worthless as exercise, but I know it's a lot better than nothing at all. I suppose I'll have to concentrate on the weights for awhile. Yecht.

TheSerge

seriously i recommend you resting the injury. It can become a recurrent problem if not healed right the first time around and ultimately ending up in surgery worst case scenario. However light exercise actually promotes healing but listen to the doc. VERY light exercise isnt too bad but if you work a job that you are on your feet all day i recommend just staying off of it and it should take more than 2-3 weeks to heal. good luck! (im a first year med student by the way)

poprad

Sage advice indeed. My problem is compounded by an impending overseas assignment preceeded by some pretty high-impact training. I'm supposed to be starting this in early March, so it's quite important to me to get this thing healed as soon as I can. I think the trainer is going to be my friend for awhile, unfortunately. It's perfect weather out for a nice long ride today, and I'll be in the garage making a lake of sweat.

Pi}{ie

I havent stress fractured my foot while being active yet, but I'm pretty sure I did stress fracture my leg, I've got some tests that verify that suspicion is probable as well. Me being the moron I am ran a 5k on said stress fracture in my shin. Then couldnt run or ride a bike for a good 6-8 weeks after that at all due to shear pain. I could barely walk at some points. That was truely crappy. It is my biggest worry with triathlon training that I'll do that again, I personally blame the damn GT 2120s that the asshats in Dicks sporting goods put me in. Never EVER put a Supinator with arthritis and osteoporosis in a stability shoe, that is the stupidest idea ever. They thought arthritis meant stability never looked at my feet or how I ran. I swapped the shoes about 3 weeks before the race but after 3-4 months of running on stability shoes dammage was done wasnt a shin splint was something worse. Felt better in cushioned shoes of course but my first meeting with real pavement for distance in a 5k was not a happy way to reinforce that injury. I reccomend you stay off that foot, if you're on a bike you also risk going down. Plus you push with your feet on the bike.

yobtah

I broke the fifth metatarsal in my right foot last fall. The podiatrist recommended no running or cycling for eight weeks. He said cycling would be bad because there's more micro-motion inside the foot while pedaling than most people realize, and it can delay healing. I wore a boot for four weeks and a hard-soled post-operative shoe for another two weeks after that. For the first four weeks, water running was the only cardio exercise I did. I followed Pete Pfizinger's recommendations and the plan at the links below:

https://pfitzinger.com/labreports/water.shtml
https://pfitzinger.com/labreports/9wkH2O.htm

After four weeks, I started "running" on an elliptical machine with a tightly laced shoe. The podiatrist was hesitantly okay with this, and it seemed safe because my foot remained stable and flat on the elliptical machine's platform.

After the full eight weeks passed, I started real running and cycling again. The podiatrist recommended increasing distances by no more than 10% to 15% per week. He also said that a bit of short-lived aching would be normal but I shouldn't have any acute pain or pain lasting over night.

Admittedly, my injury was a full break so it was more severe than a stress fracture, but a lot of the advice probably still applies. You really don't want chronic foot problems, so I think it's good to err on the side of caution. I almost went bonkers when I couldn't run or ride, but screwing up the healing process and doing it again would be even worse.

leakysieve

I actually have a stress fracture in my foot now too. It doesn't affect me at all to ride. I can't even feel it. In fact riding actually helps it heal faster because it get the circulation going in your foot. The biggest concern however is to not put too much more stress on it or it'll turn into an actually fracture, then i don't think you would be doing much cycling.

poprad

Yeah, it's a bizarre injury. It actually doesn't hurt much unless I put some good stress on it, like a treadmill interval or a good 6% grade. I had it for about a month just thinking it was soft tissue until after one particularly heavy interval run I hurt so bad I was limping and could barely walk. That was a good clue.

The bone i fractured is the cuboid, right in the middle which the metatarsals tie into. A bone scan showed lots of blood activity in/near the bone, and they said that's clearly a stress fracture. Hopefully since it's a relatively minor break (walking on it doesn't hurt, neither does moderate paced cycling) it'll heal quick. From what they tell me blood flow is the worst issue, but for an athlete extremity blood flow is as good as it can be, so that helps.

I'm off to the garage for an easy trainer spin and then keep off it the rest of the day. I think I'm getting booted Mon or Tues when they get the bone scan results, but I'm going to see if she'll minimize that. The last thing I want/need is mobility issues once the boot is off. I need to strike a fine balance between atrophy and enough activity to keep the blood moving in there.

Thanks for the comments, at least it helps to hear what others ahve gone through. One other thing I'm considering trying is a rowing machine at the gym for cardio. I don't think that would put pressure on the feet so much, but then again you do have to push backwards. Hmmm.

yobtah

Oh... yep. I forgot to mention I tried a rowing machine while my foot was broken also. I ended up using it fairly regularly, but I did notice more pain than I expected the first few times I used it early in my recovery period. For the first couple of weeks, I wore my Aircast boot to keep my foot stable while I used the rowing machine. It was awkward, but better than screwing something up worse. I think you're right about pushing backward and the pressure on your feet.

TheSerge

again you have to listen to your body. I personally had bone edema and a stress fracture on the cuboid bone. What helped? very light exercise and plenty or rest and good old fashion vitamins. 3 weeks later i came back strong in soccer and havent had a problem since. You HAVE to let it heal but play it by ear my friend and you will be fine. You can gradually increase the work load on the foot if you feel NO pain or discomfort. Other than that i seriously recommend as a future doctor to let it heal so it heals right the first time and you can continue your training without interruption! good luck!