Saturday 2nd June 2012

Stress Fractures

I thought I'd write a few lines regarding how doctor can fob off runners who have stress fractures by telling them that they have shin splints and that their course of treatment is Rest Ice Compress Elevation (RICE) and to stop running.
A very good friend of mine started to feel pain in the shin area, I told her to do the RICE treatment and in the mean time check her leg out with a doctor. In case it was shin splints we went to the London Marathon Store to have her fitted with the correct running shoes for her foot strike and pronation, 2 hours later we walked out with a new pair of running shoes. All that time was spent on my friend, the London Marathon Store staff are brilliant, very attentive, very professional and they know what they are doing, I use them all the time myself.
My friend spoke to her doctor and he advised her that she had shin splints and to stop running, at the time this seemed a reasonable diagnosis so my friend followed the RICE treatment. 5 weeks later her leg was still painful, I know that with complete rest that the pain should have at least eased if not gone. I told my friend that as the pain has gone on for this length of time that she may have a stress fracture and to consult her doctor again, tell him that she has not run for 5 weeks and her leg is still painful also to mention stress fracture. Again she was told that it was shin splints.
Well 6 months later, still in pain, my friend managed to convince another doctor to send her for an x-ray in order to check for stress fractures. This doctor made an appointment for her to see a consultant and have an x-ray. When my friend saw the consultant he actually suspected a stress fracture, he went on to say that an x-ray doesn't always show a stress fracture and that an MRI scan would be better but before she could go home she had to have an orthopaedic boot fitted.

After a couple of weeks my friend had her MRI scan and was told that she did have stress fractures, straight away she was sent to have her leg put in a plaster cast.

Now don't get me wrong, doctors (GP's)  are generally very good but general practices' have turned more business like due to being given a budget to run by therefore they don't like sending you for tests, x-rays and such like unless they are pushed. You need to be sensible regarding any injuries you receive, like my friend give it a reasonable time to heal in case it's the lessor injury but should it go on for longer than is reasonable push your doctor for further investigation.