<p>Should read ankles.
He has been running cross-country for his high school, so the season is over. Baskeball my not even be a possibility this year. No one in our family has ever experienced a stress fracture. Any words of wisdom?</p>
<p>I suggest that he get a bone density test to check for osteoporosis or similar conditions.</p>
<p>Lots of rest. Don’t rush back because stress fractures are a total pain and they won’t go away if you push it. Get his feet checked because it is very likely his feet and his shoes are the reason for problems. Also agree with Northstarmom: look into getting a bone density scan done.</p>
<p>Ditto what Northstarmom said, and do it now if he’s going to be off his feet for any length of time because density will diminish without weight-bearing. I think I’d want his biomechanics analyzed (not sure who does that) to see if there is some underlying issue that can be corrected with orthotics or something of that sort and I’d think about a calcium supplement. Sorry to hear this, Toledo.</p>
<p>I wonder if the radiologist can actually see the fracture or whether this is a “precautionary” diagnoses. I’ve looked at some x rays over the years including one where there was no apparent fracture or even a crack that they could point out, and yet the ankle was cast anyway (in that case there had been a trauma, and the age of the child was about 12). </p>
<p>If he’s in pain from cross country training its easy to overtrain and create a chronic painful situation. Has he run before? How much?</p>
<p>I know several HS and college cross country runners who have had/have stress fractures, but have no personal experience to share. I wonder if this is fairly common with cross country runners? If so, you’d think this would be something the coaching staffs, trainers and medical community should address with these young athletes. Are there changes needed in their training workouts? </p>
<p>Good luck to your son, toledo.</p>
<p>stress fractures from running are quite common, particularly in HS (most x country coaches I know aren’t very good), and also adults. But rest, rest and more rest is the ONLY solution. Returning to early can only aggravate it.</p>
<p>Hopefully, they are in ankle bones and not growth plates on bottom of the tibia/fibula.</p>
<p>Very good suggestions here! Thanks! </p>
<p>This is his third year running cross-country. Another girl from his team was diagnosed with the same thing and is now in a wheelchair, as she recovers.</p>
<p>The fractures were not visible on an x-ray. The orthopaedic dr. said that only 50% of stress fractures can be seen on an x-ray. My son actually had to go to the hospital and was injected with radioactive material for a bone scan. He has to carry a little card with him for a few days for Homeland Security purposes :)</p>
<p>Definitely rest for the full period prescribed by the doctor - my D came back too soon last year, now she is running in college but still not back 100%. Agree with hops_scout - I would suggest a consult with a podiatist as well to see if the reason for the stress fractures is something that orthotics could help - my D ended up needing a slight lift in one leg to compensate for the other being shorter.</p>
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<p>This is very common in running especially high school runners. Most of them run way too much in too short of a time. Overuse injuries are very common in high school cross country. I spent last spring at a high school working with their athletic trainer and one sport we covered was track. Except their track program is not a normal track program… no it’s run as a practice season for the cross country team. Their long distance runners would run 20-30 miles a week when the longest distance they would run in a track race is 2 miles. There was one day I can think of in particular where they ran 9 miles! Their sprinters ran what most people would think was a long-distance runner’s program. Yes, stress reactions and stress fractures were found a lot. I believe something like 5 or 6 over the course of the season. I have a friend at that high school this semester and he is getting to see cross country injuries. We’re only 8 weeks into the season, and they’ve had 3 or 4 stress fractures. The coach just doesn’t get it.</p>
<p>Another high school in this area does pool workouts once a week or so to get into the low-impact training. More teams need to move in this direction especially cross country and track.</p>
<p>Injuries like this are very common in high school cross country. It is extremely frustrating. Unfortunately, most of these kids don’t have access to good advise on what to do with the injuries. Too, one can go broke seeing all sorts of “experts” getting tests, x-rays, mri’s, etc. and still not really knowing what the problem is. I think most of the problem is “growing and development” pains (particularily with girls) combined with too much running. Rest and going easy are probably the best cure, but this is frustrating to the athlete that wants to continue competing! When you are in good college xc program, you have trainers and medical support that know what they are doing that make a big difference from most high school programs for these type injuries.</p>
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<p>Yup, and some never do. A local coach in our county would literally run away from the EARLY competition, but by tournament time, his runners were on the DL. This happened year after year after year.</p>
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<p>Girls have an additional need – proper footware – which they usually won’t purchase bcos of the style/color. (The expanding width of the pelvis creates more stress on the knees where the femur connects. Thus, many girls should use stability/motion control shoes to protect against over pronation.)</p>
<p>20-30 miles is not at all unreasonable for a high school runner. For a competitive runner at middle distance, long distance track and CC, it is actually light mileage. HOWEVER, the runners needed to build up that mileage over the summer. Many high school runners get VERY lazy and do not do their summer workouts. Hence, the fall injuries. It is also somewhat due to the loose joints and bone growth. I wouldn’t be surprised if the coach assigned summer workouts and had an expectation that the kids would come to him in September with the necessary conditioning. Unfortunately, school starts, meets start and you need to be doing the mileage. </p>
<p>I hate that both ankles have stress fractures. I really feel for your son. A few years ago I ventured into some minimalist shoe running and wound up with a stress fracture above one ankle. I was off for 6 weeks but came back just fine. I was in a boot but could weight-bear and do spin class and pool running.</p>
<p>20-30 miles a week is not a lot for a cross country runner. That’s only four miles a day, which for a decent runner at training pace is less than 30 minutes a day. Cross country is primarily aerobic capacity, which is built through long runs. As races start, the mileage should be kept under control, with easy days following competitions.</p>
<p>The key to avoiding injury in running is to have a good base built up, and to not push into the area of “overuse”. Distance running is one of the few sports where you become injured without knowing it until a day or so later. </p>
<p>A pretty good rule of thumb is never do a run that is longer than 3x your average daily mileage over the previous month. Thus, no one should do a 9 mile training run who hasn’t been averaging at least 21 miles a week for the previous month. Its not exact, but its a pretty good guideline.</p>
<p>In that sport, avoiding overuse injury is critical. Often they happen in training following a very good performance. You get juiced up about how well you raced yesterday, and decide that laying on some extra mileage will boost you ever further. The following day you are lame… and goodbye 5-8 weeks of training and competing. It is easier for the best runners to become injured than it is for the less gifted ones.</p>
<p>EDIT: doubleposted with MOWC…she is the expert.</p>
<p>20-30 miles is more than enough miles for a high school track athlete who will run AT MOST 2 miles in a meet. They are completely different energy systems to train. And when you start to have problems, you need to STOP. Not continue like most runners.</p>
<p>But in cross country that 2 miler runs longer. The long, easy runs are generally not the problem. It’s hard to know when to stop. It really is. No one WANTS to be hurt, but if you stopped at every little twinge you would never run. If something is really painful and the pain gets worse as you run instead of easing up, then you are officially injured.</p>