Injury Verdict is in

This morning I went to Ortho Arkansas to see Dr. Nix. The nurse asked me some questions about where I was hurting and how I did it. After telling her my quick story she sent me over to X-ray for some quick photos of my lower leg. Didn't take them but a few minutes and I was back to the waiting room waiting to see the doctor.

The first thing he asked me was had I ever been injured running before and I told him not to the point of going to the doctor anyway. Then he said well, you have your first official running injury then. He put the X-ray up on the board and showed me where I had a stress fracture on the upper part of my lower leg. It didn't really look cracked to me but he showed me where the white outline was and he said that was where it was healing from the injury. I guess since I haven't really ran for 4 weeks had helped it heal which is good. The official name for my injury is a "proximal fibula stress fracture." He said these were pretty rare. Of course, I knew I had something weird or rare going on because I couldn't find anyone that had some of the symptoms I had, even on the internet. It seems most stress fractures are in the lower part of the leg and mostly on the tibia. The fibula is the small lower leg bone and the damage on mine is right close to the top almost at the knee. He said this is usually caused from too much pronation and sometimes too many miles. Well I knew I had some moderate pronation but I didn't think it was that bad.

This picture show the lower leg bones. Right below the head of the fibula is where mine is hurt

He asked a lot about my shoes, if they were worn, etc. Then he asked if I had any spring time events planned. I told him I was planning on Little Rock in March, probably the half and maybe the full in Nashville in April. He was really positive and said I should have no problem being ready for those events especially since I had already done a marathon. They put me in some special orthotics to help the healing and reduce any pronation and told me to come back in four weeks. He did say that I should try to not run facing traffic as this would put more pressure on the leg because of the curve of the road. I really had other questions to ask but he was gone and had the orthotics person in there before I could. The nurse told me the best thing to do would be not to run for about 3 weeks and then give it a try before I come back in. Biking or other non weight bearing cross training is ok. I also have to drink more milk for strong bones. I have been taking supplements but I guess they didn't help.

So, I guess its more time on the bike for me. Maybe I can find some other cross training that will work too. So far I haven't found much info on the internet on this type of stress fracture but what I have read seems to lead me to believe that its better than a tibia stress fracture. So, now if I can just find something to keep my cardio and endurance where I was I'll be ok. It could have been worse I suppose. I will still be able to run again in a few weeks.