A few years ago, I broke my ankle on both sides walking down the hall - essentially I fell off my slippers. But it was the same weekend as the Chicago-Mackinac Island Race (https://www.cycracetomackinac.com/) so I started telling people I broke it crewing in the Mac.
Well, knowsstuff- I know stuff, too! I know the poster, what she was doing exercise-wise, and what 43 years of my own and others running-related injuries and medical care have taught me. It’s a guess without an MRI, but I and others have had that same injury diagnosed as a stx with just MD observation and judgement. If anyone wants to rely on my personal “medical advice”on a message forum, have at it! Although, wise or not, we do it often on the running forums!
I am not here to fight with you. I am just using 30 years of practicing sports medicine injuries. On forums there is a lot of good and bad information. I also treat a lot of runners etc etc. See this sorta condition daily. Use very few mri’s to diagnose it. Mri is over utilized by the medical community. Usually for general physician that don’t treat this that often. Yes, once in awhile it comes in handy. Most of my practice is tendon /ligament injury.
Walking boots are OK but have become a replacement for “real” casting. No one wants a real cast anymore. When I can get someone to agree to it(most of my practice is young and active) there is no question overall they heal faster. Using external electrical stimulation can help as well.
Most of my practice is elite dancers, gymnasts, performers etc. They have to be back on stage quickly. I had to take the lead for the Book of Mormons years ago out for 3 weeks and New York called me daily… Guess what she had?
I am usually given the choice of MRI to more accurately diagnose the injury and it’s up to me whether to do that. I’m a competitive runner with bone density issues and I usually choose to have the MRI. But I won’t confuse my professional degree with yours! I do choose medical specialists for my treatment.
This I think, is a good conversation for those reading this thread… Don’t get me wrong, I use mri’s when I think it’s appropriate. But If I tell you, you have a stress fracture. How is the mri going to change my treatment plan? It’s usually not. So it becomes an expensive test just to reinsure the patient. Cost containment is a reality. The end result is off loading or getting off the foot completely. If after a certain period of time the patient is not getting better and they have truly been off the foot then diagnostic tests would be more useful. Usually the patients gets better without using an mri. I treat competitive runners also and they don’t like to stop running /working out even when injuries. Good thing for water running /training. 
I broke my left ankle about a year ago (fibula and cuboid bone fracture). Was in an air cast/boot for many months. Non-weight bearing for the first month and did zip around on 2 borrowed knee scooters (kept one upstairs and one downstairs that i took in/out of the car) and crutches. If you are non-weight bearing and get a knee scooter, get a sheepskin cover for the knee pad if you don’t want a sore/bruised knee. I left it on as a thanks for the person who lent me the “downstairs” knee scooter I also used to take to and from work- and even took it across country when granddaughter was born a week after I broke the ankle.
Did you break the right or left foot? If its your right, be sure to ask if you are allowed to take it off/allowed to drive. Be smart about it.
If its the top of the foot I would hope you can be weight-bearing with the boot, as life is much easier that way. If not, do consider the knee scooter. Before I borrowed them, I attached a little bag to carry my phone, pad and paper, etc to one of the crutch handles. That was helpful.
The orthopedist gave me 2 compression things (kinda like a stretchy tube sock) to wear under the thicker sock that came with the boot. I was able to wash one and wear the other. Ask about that too, especially if you have a lot of swelling.
Good luck- hope you heal quickly!
People think that College Confidential is a good place to learn about college…yeah, I guess it is…but, man, it’s also really the go-to resource for stress fractures…I literally can’t believe how much I’ve learned from this thread.
Hey, one thing i’ve noticed…my mayonnaise story isn’t getting good ratings out in the real world (“so @abasket started this thread at CC about condiments and somebody mentioned Hellmans and…”) because as soon as I say “mayonnaise” people think “she must eat a lot of it to justify buying a jar big enough to break her foot” so now I’m telling people that it was a jar of heirloom tomato sauce from my garden (“and it was the first jar we’ve used this season…can you believe it?”) and the public is giving me much more support.
i wore a boot for months from an ankle break; surgery, plates, screws, no walking for months etc. etc. It was horrible, painful and expensive! it’s been 1.5 yrs later and i’m still not 100%. Once i could walk, i used that boot all the time and really appreciated it actually. i felt like it protected my healing ankle and we called it Das Boot. I had very little nerve feelings so i didnt wear socks, and my daughter painted my toenails all sorts of colors. I thought about decorating the boot too with sparkles. 3 days after they let me bear weight on my foot and could drive, I got into a decent fender-bender. I think it was because my foot wasnt strong enough to get the brake going. SO – just be careful! I don’t have much advice, just want to say that i’m glad it’s not worse for you.
“How is the mri going to change my treatment plan? It’s usually not. So it becomes an expensive test just to reinsure the patient.”
Since I started asking this question (how exactly will this diagnostic test/image/process - change the treatment plan?) I’ve realized that about 2/3s of the test/images/processes various docs have recommended are just to “find out the exact diagnosis” or to “reassure” me or the doc… and I’ve stopped doing them. I’m spending less money and exposing myself to fewer risks from radiation and other testing and it’s generally a good thing. Consider me a big fan of this philosophy. Going back to the boot/cast example, if I will have to wear it for 6-8 weeks no matter what the DX, let’s just go ahead and put the boot/cast on and move on with our lives; I’m OK with leaving the exact issue a bit of a mystery as long as the treatment is working.
That’s the thing. If I had a stress reaction (or just tendinitis)and not a stress fracture, I did NOT have to wear the boot as long and I would be back to running sooner. That makes a huge difference in my life. I have a challenging job which includes travel and I want to run. The MRI showed the stress reaction and bone bruise. I don’t get many MRIs, but I have never felt that one was a waste. Often you don’t know the treatment isn’t working until 6 weeks have gone by!
Fair point. I guess my reaction is influenced by my experience that’s unique to me. And since I have had more experience with things that have a common treatment plan - for the love of God, just rest that thing for a while! - I’ve had good results with using that treatment approach. Plus, I’m not doing any of this stuff for a living, so it’s not the end of the world if I wear the boot for another two weeks.
“Expensive test just to reinsure the patient”. Great typo!
I had a few MRIs in my life, and probably only one was “wasted” because it did not pinpoint the source of my problem in the targeted area but it did reveal another issue which the radiologist flagged… an MRI is only as good as a radiologist reading it. I would only go to a place that uses local radiologists, not an overseas farm. It takes 3-4 days to get the results, but so what. Now, don’t get me started on “let’s try this and that before we do the “expensive” scan.” Two months of my life in pain cost more to me than an MRI, which is a non-invasive, harmless procedure and does not expose a patient to radiation. Just strong magnetic field.
Just a few comments:
@jym626 …great catch! I suck at texting but that is like subliminal ):
@BunsenBurner great point…and very true…the MRI is only as good as the reader. This is a very important point. In my sports medicine injury practice I use a few groups that ONLY read lower extremity injuries. I get more detailed reports and more accurate reads. There are a lot of bad reads out there and it could be the difference between surgery or not. I have had some patients have redo’s with comparisons which is just a waste of money but sometimes needed.
A few points:
when being a Surgical residency director one thing we would teach young docs was that you treat patients and not tests. 80% at least of a diagnosis should come from the actually history and physical and the actually touching and examining patients. I would say in my practice at least 90% comes from this. An MRI is not to be used because your GP or MD is not sure. I almost strictly use MRI’s for surgery planning not diagnosis. When the patient goes for an MRI I can usually tell them what kind of read to expect. It’s really not that hard for my clientele. Not always but usually.
When the patients requests an MRI I order one. Why? The patient is always correct. You just know your body much better then I will ever know it. Especially my runners. They are some of the most educated patients out there. Tell a runner that is in training that they can’t run/train and watch them go to another doctor. Sometimes just the facial expressions says it all.
Now this is important but…if the MRI comes back negative or inconclusive and you are still in pain…in my tendon/ligament injury practice. after conservative treatment has failed…100% of the time that I have to do “exploratory” surgery, there is “always” a tear in the last 30 years in my practice. 100% of the time. Usually a small interstitial tear but they hurt.
The insurance companies are having us do peer to peer reviews for MRI’s and usually want 6 weeks of conservative treatment prior to ordering one. Why? Because most injuries should be on a path of improvement during this time if treated properly. Not just being in a boot. Also there is so much abuse from the GP and Internists that order MRI’s like candy. This is coming from medical directors from Blue Cross, Humana etc etc not me.
We live in a culture that ordering MRI’s is second nature. Look at any sports programming and once someone gets hurt they are sent to the locker room to get an MRI. These are elite multi-million dollars athletes not your kid’s playing soccer.
hey @Knowsstuff I really wanted to thank you for all of your insights…super helpful…super smart.
I wore one for a soft tissue injury. It’s tiring to wear the boot and walk – do not try to overdo. (I thought it was a good idea to walk a few hundred feet to a shop and back. Wanted to call an uber half way back to take me that last stretch.) You are eligible for the riding shopping carts – take advantage. You are eligible for wheelchairs at the airport. Take advantage.
If you get a knee scooter, as well as the sheepskin cover you can make it more comfortable by buying some foam pillow stuffing and cutting it to the right shape and getting an extra layer of padding under the sheepskin cover. My knee really hurt at first using the knee scooter and the thick layer of foam really helped a lot.
If you are in the boot a while it will get stinky! I couldn’t wear socks at first after surgery because my foot was so swollen and phew! I still can’t get regular size socks on but have some stretchy fleecy socks from JCP and they are comfy under the boot. I spray the inside of the boot with Lysol when I can leave it off a while. And dust the inside with talc. The stinkiness has much improved.
One simple thing I learned from an online video about putting on a cam boot - when you take it off, as you undo each strap Velcro each undone loose strap back onto itself. Sounds a bit “well, duh” but I was not doing that at first and it sure saves the straps getting tangled and stuck together.
Don’t drop the boot on your foot when you pick it up to put it on (especially if you’ve had surgery and plates in the top of your foot). No one is that stupid, right 
Shower chair = priceless. Crutches are helpful for getting in and out of the shower even if you are, like me, a klutz on them for anything more than a short distance.
Portable toilet rails = very helpful if you are non weight bearing.
if using a scooter, you will discover that parking lots have a LOT more slope when using a scooter than is apparent when you are on foot. Use your brakes. Little bitty holes and cracks and pebbles are like valleys and mountains to the little wheels on a scooter - Be cautious and aware.
Be prepared for how surprisingly tiring it is to not be fully mobile. Good luck!
Try to get that approved! Never worked for me. And for good reason. We overuse expensive tests when common sense is often more useful.
@GTalum… Please read through my posts on this thread. What you said is my point of my discussion. I think to fast but should of added when I think it’s needed. So when I think it’s needed and a patient asks for one etc. Of course I am not ordering one just because a patient wants one…
Ok…in the stupid department…
I broke three small bones in my foot running in the hills at school…first day of school.
I was a teacher!