YOUR Stress Fracture Story...I'm looking for hope..
6-Months ago, I was diagnosed with a femoral stress fracture (hip) and *STILL*, I am getting hip pain twinges/pain after high impact exercise. I also have pain if I try to do any leg weights. I haven’t been able to do leg weights at all since my fracture. I’m so darn frustrated! I just don’t know what to do anymore! I feel like I will NEVER heal unless I stop working out all together (no, would never happen)!
My weekly workout:
Monday – Run 2-miles on treadmill at 5-6mph. Recumbent bike 10-miles on a manual level of 7-12.
Tuesday – One hour spinning class
Wednesday – Rest day
Thursday – One hour spinning class
Friday – Same as Monday if I’m not feeling pain in my hip
Saturday – Spinning class
Sunday – Rest day
It’s not like I’m fatiguing myself here. I’ve cut back a lot these last 6-months, and it shows in the progression of my weight loss. I haven’t lost a pound these last several months.
Has anyone else experienced a femoral neck (hip) stress fracture? If so, how long did it take for you to heal and do find that you still have pain associated with exercise?
Get back in and have it x-rayed right away. Seriously.
Several years ago, I had a stress fracture of the femoral neck, only I didn't know it. I thought I'd pulled a muscle. I walked around on it for a few days but eventually was in such pain that a friend convinced me to go to a clinic. They didn't x-ray it and said it was probably a pulled muscle. I could lift the leg, even walk on it without a limp at times. I decided to just rest and stay off of it as much as possible, although I felt like a wimp.
Months passed. I stepped off the curb wrong one day and had a twinge of pain. The guy I was with convinced me to go back to the clinic. They x-rayed it and immediately put me on crutches. I had to have surgery to put a pin in my hip because the fracture hadn't healed, had spread from the additional stress and the doctor told me that, had I taken a wrong step, the head could have broken off and I would have had to have a hip replacement! He said I was lucky because it looked as if the head could have started to die. I had the pin in for a year.
Keep in mind, I was walking around on this, sometimes without any pain. I was even walking for exercise. Spinning takes the weight off of the hip, so it doesn't surprise me that you can do spinning.
Go to the doctor! And don't do anything to stress it until you do.
The recovery did last quite a long while. I was on crutches for six weeks and then had to go to rehab to work on walking correctly. I can't remember how long that was, but it was really annoying. I was using a cane for awhile. I felt like such a dork. Then I had to have surgery a year later to take the pin out. That took some time to recover from, too.
Sorry I have such gloomy news.
Hope you get good news from the doctor. Keep me posted!
I'm 99% sure I've got another fracture (or re-fractured the same area). Though the pain isn't nearly as intense as the 1st time around, I am getting the same numbness that shoots down my back when I stand, which I experianced alot with the 1st hip fracture.
EEEK! My appt. is in 24-hours and I can't wait to hear what the doc has to say. I'll be sure to post when I can.
I am so sorry to hear about your stress fracture. I know how darn hard it is to stay down even when injured. My femoral neck stress fracture was two maybe three years ago now. Let me just say it takes a LOOOOONNNGG time to heal. I first began with 'active recovery' under the advisement of my sports doc. During that time I tried to swim and cycle. No go. After four months or so of monkey around with this he finally gave me a set of crutches and told me to take a rest on the couch. "You've obviously earned it." Nice. :sg: I used the crutches for about three months. At the end of that I did physical therapy and upper body lifting only. (I needed to do something to get back into the gym for my mental health) I think in total the healing process took about nine to ten months. It would not have taken quite as long if I would have been on the crutches from the very beginning and didn't try to find other ways to workout around my injury that involved the lower body.
The healing process was very slow and the pain lingered for a long time. Even after the MRI showed that the fracture had healed I would feel pain in that area when I would shift my weight from one hip to the other. I think it took several more months before that no longer occurred. If you rest, it will most likely heal. It's just so darn hard to sit on the couch but you can do it. Trust me. It's worth it. I was one visit away from meeting my surgeon. I'm so grateful that I didn't have to go through that. Today I can do back squats, lunges, run, bike, etc without any pain in the hip. Now, the knees are another story.
Turns out to be a bad case of trochanteric bursitis! I"M SO EXCITED IT'S NOT A FRACTURE!
He going to keep a close eye on my progress though, since I still have issue with my hip.
I'll be on steriods for a week, followed up with Naproxin and plenty of stretching and ice. He said I can continue my spinning class 3X a week, but not running..we'll work up to that after several weeks.
I'm so relieved!!!!!!!
THANK YOU BOTH, UFI and LYDIA for your comments and support!
I'm so glad its not a fracture. Still, do exactly as you are advised and listen to your body. If it hurts, stop. I'm always amazed at how resilient our bodies are at healing if we allow it to do it's job efficiently.
YOUR Stress Fracture Story...I'm looking for hope..
two maybe three years ago now. 
Let me just say it takes a LOOOOONNNGG time to heal. I first began with 'active recovery' under the advisement of my sports doc. During that time I tried to swim and cycle. No go. After four months or so of monkey around with this he finally gave me a set of crutches and told me to take a rest on the couch. "You've obviously earned it." Nice. :sg: I used the crutches for about three months. At the end of that I did physical therapy and upper body lifting only. (I needed to do something to get back into the gym for my mental health) I think in total the healing process took about nine to ten months. It would not have taken quite as long if I would have been on the crutches from the very beginning and didn't try to find other ways to workout around my injury that involved the lower body. 
It's just so darn hard to sit on the couch but you can do it. Trust me. It's worth it. I was one visit away from meeting my surgeon. I'm so grateful that I didn't have to go through that. Today I can do back squats, lunges, run, bike, etc without any pain in the hip. Now, the knees are another story. 
I'm so glad its not a fracture. Still, do exactly as you are advised and listen to your body. If it hurts, stop. I'm always amazed at how resilient our bodies are at healing if we allow it to do it's job efficiently. 