Don't let it go untreated. I did, now I am stuck with a crooked foot! All I can wear are soft leather or cloth shoes. Of course Crocs and flipflops.

Hope you fair better than I did.

Gayle

That is why I finally went in....I was afraid that I had some how broke it and it would heal all wrong.

Yes, I will go next week!!

I experienced a stress fracture in my lower leg last year, and the orthopedic doctor had me on crutches for 6 wks. so it would heal. He said continuing to put weight on it would exacerbate the situation.

Sandy, didn't the dr put you in a fracture boot or anything?! If not, please STAY OFF OF IT! You could actually make it worse. For the inflamation, instead of the ibuprophen, go to the health food store or G N C and ask for Bromelain. It comes from the pineapple plant and works just like the ibuprophen, but doesn't irritate your stomach. I'm taking it now. I've done too much shopping in my brace, so I'm back in my boot. My dr. told me that a stress fracture won't show up on an x-ray for several weeks, if at all. That it might take a bone scan to show it. Which I already knew, since that's what it took to show the break in my wrist when I fell on the ice years ago.

Hope you feel better soon!

Tami.....who is trying to keep her toes warm and dry in this $#!#$%@#$^T% fracture boot.

and almost shot the coach of cross country! dd2's didn't show up until it was almost too late...in her case, it was the leg, not foot..i want to say it took more than 1 xray...she was casted for about 6 weeks...she also ended up with fitted orthonics for her shoes...

have the sweet/sad pix of her attending a dance with her cute strapless shortie dress and a cast...

I am sorry you are having so much discomfort. Hope you are seeing an orthopedist in Ames. Dr Buck is my favorite but they are all good.

I'm sorry you hurt!!!!!!!!!! Please stay off of it! Have Dean the Dress man run up to the pharmacy and get you some crutches!

LOL Kat!!! We generally go out for Sunday breakfast and then do some shopping, I said that I didn't know if I was going in tomorrow. Dean said that he would even go and get me the 'old people scooter'! LOL

LOL How sweet Dean is! Take him up on the scooter if you go out!
I hope it quits hurting!

Oh yeah, I had a similar experience. I thank God every day it's behind me and I'm back on my feet.

I fractured my femur (thigh bone, biggest bone in the body). How? Walking, just walking. It hurt but did not show up on an x-ray, so I kept walking on it hoping it would heal but not knowing what the problem was at all. Yes, walking on a broken leg (not smart).

I won't bore you with details, but after visits to several doctors, too many months on crutches, and finally surgery to put a rod in the leg, then months of PT and exercises, I'm finally pretty good, but still have a little soreness. I continue to improve, even though surgery was last June. It took 3 years of struggling to get through the whole thing.

I continued to work during this time, and it was really hard.

So don't ignore your foot, follow up and do what needs to be done while you can heal it now so it doesn't become more complicated than it is already. If it hurts, something is wrong.

Have you had a bone density test? I have low bone density, and you could ask or check this out for yourself.

I have had several stress fractures in my feet and find that taping them really helps. I got one of those wooden shoes that you have to wear and it helped also. My foot dr is the one who taped instead of casted the fractures. It depends on how bad they are. Of course stay off of it and at least use a cane until it is better. I also think you need a bone density test.

...and see an orthopedist.

My mother had a stress fracture in her back. She was out of commission for awhile, and had to have lots of PT. My niece had to have gastric bypass surgery because of her obesity causing stress fractures in her somehow very thin feet and ankles. After she had lost 100 lbs., she started having pain in her hips and they found stress fractures in her back and hips as well, all from the weight she had been carrying around for all those years. She's only in her 40's, but has been obese since her teens.

Stress fractures can and do happen, maybe not in such a benign fashion as yours did. During WW2, some paratroopers in training began to complain about hurting feet and their Sarge was inclined to say, "Tough it out. It'll get better as you stengthen." It did not get better; It got worse. After one trainee had been reduced to a cripple, a base doctor decided to try out his new fangled X-ray machine and he discovered many bone cracks.

As part of their trainning, they had been jumping off increasing higher platforms in preparation of an actual jump and how to land to reduce injury. (Hard landings came often with those old style parachutes.) The term, stress fracture, was applied to this injury.

Your injury may be in this class, but at a much lower stress level. Has anyone checked your bone density?

The same thing happened to me. One day I was walking in Sam's Club and the top of my foot started hurting. I did not go to the doctor right away thinking it would get better. It didn't - it got worse.

I did not waste my time going to a doctor - I went straight to a podiatrist which is what I advise you to do as well. Who better is there to diagnose a foot problem than a foot doctor? Mine was a stress fracture on top of my left foot.

Do you have high arches? My podiatrist said that people with high arches are prone to stress fractures in their feet. I was given the boot to wear and told to soak my foot in ice water to relieve swelling and to stay off it as much as I could.

If you are given a boot everyone will ask you what happened. I felt like an a$$ saying that I was walking in sneakers in Sams Club one day and my foot suddenly started to hurt. Often times I would say that I was hang gliding and I landed hard. They would exclaim "really?!?" and then I would tell them the truth. I could tell that they were disappointed. :)

It's been two years since that has happened (my stress fracture occurred right before Christmas too) and I can still sometimes feel where the fracture was. I am careful with what shoes I wear and I do not lift or drag heavy things so as not to put undue pressure on my foot.

After two recent xrays, they didn't see a stress fracture in my lower left leg. It still hurts, but it's more of a dull pain (mainly in the mornings or when cold) rather than the sharp stabbing pains. The doc would have followed up with an MRI if I'd wanted to, but I am just alternating head/cold, which seems to help.

Hope yours gets better soon.