How To Prevent Stress Fractures In Feet?

How to prevent stress fractures in feet is a question runners often ask. Stress fractures can be difficult to diagnose and they take a long time to heal. You want to stay active, but you don’t want your bones broken in the process.

The best way to prevent stress fractures is by strengthening your muscles with regular exercise. It’s important that you build up strength gradually so that your body isn’t pushed past its breaking point.

If you are an athlete or have experienced a previous injury, it’s especially important for you to work on muscle-building exercises before engaging in more strenuous activities like running or playing sports.

This article will tell you what kinds of exercises are most effective at preventing stress injuries and how often you should do them!

What Is A Stress Fracture?

A stress fracture is a common name for a small crack in the bone. They are often found in bones with high density, such as the hip, tibia, and metatarsals. The condition is caused by repeated application of force to the bone or by repeated pressure on it. This causes fracture-line cracks to form in the bone.

What Causes A Stress Fracture?

A stress fracture is caused by repetitive or excessive force on a bone, typically over time. Furthermore, the injury typically occurs in one of these three types of runners- those who are new to running, recreational runners with low mileage per week, and competitive athletes.

The biomechanics of running cause increasing loads on the tibia as distance increases.

If you aren’t increasing your training intensity simultaneously with increasing your total weekly mileage, increasing the load on your lower extremities can lead to a stress fracture from increased fatigue from tissue breakdown and repair that ultimately leads to an overuse injury if no action is taken.

What Are Symptoms Of A Stress Fracture?

The most common symptom of a stress fracture is pain. However, not all people experience pain when they have a stress fracture.

What else might you expect to happen if you have one? You may notice that the bone feels tender or sensitive to touch. You may also feel cramping in your lower extremity, numbness, and an inability to put weight on the leg without experiencing pain.

How To Prevent Stress Fractures In Feet?

Here are some ways to diagnose Stress Fractures In Feet.

Avoid Stress Fractures By Wearing Good Shoes

A significant number of us spend much of our day on our feet. What kind of shoes we choose to wear can have a big effect on the amount of stress we place on our feet and, in turn, how likely we are to develop a stress fracture.

When choosing new footwear, it’s important to consider the type and level of activity you’ll be doing as well as your foot type and history.

If you plan to run or play sports, consider buying special running shoes which fit your needs. Look for low-heeled shoes with a stiff sole and thick sole padding. We have reviewed the best shoes for a metatarsal stress fracture in detail to save your time. These shoes will help you treat a stress fracture. And if you’re prone to plantar fasciitis or heel pain.

Diagnose Stress Fractures in Feet by Activity Modification

Inactivity can lead to fatigue and poor bone health. What if you’re injured or recovering from a fracture? What should you do while you wait for the injury to heal? You may need to modify your activities, but it’s important that you don’t become inactive. What does inactivity mean, exactly? Inactivity is any situation where your feet are not actively moving. This can be accomplished by remaining seated or lying down during the day.

If you have a foot injury or stress fracture, avoid long periods of sitting on hard surfaces such as cement or wood flooring. It’s also important not to walk around barefoot on these floors because this will lead to an increased risk of injury from stepping on a foreign object or a sharp edge.

Balanced Nutrition

To prevent stress fractures, you need to maintain a balance in your diet. What does this mean? It means that you should consume all of the four main food groups per day: fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein. What if you don’t eat any of these foods? If you don’t eat any of the four main food groups, you are likely to suffer from nutritional deficiencies which can lead to health issues such as stress fractures.

What else could happen if I don’t eat healthily? What if I mostly just drink soda or fast food? What would happen then is that you will miss out on important nutrients that are key for bone strength and will not be able to build up strong bones.”

Weight Loss

If you are overweight, losing weight might be the best way to prevent a stress fracture. What does this mean? What it means is that if you are significantly overweight, your lower extremities may be carrying around more weight than they can handle. What may happen as a result of this is that the bone may become weak and fracture, which leads us to stress fractures.

Boost Bone Health

Stress fractures can be avoided by building bone health through a combination of diet and exercise. Building your bones is especially important as you age for preventing osteoporosis-related bone fractures and broken hips. You can achieve healthy bones with proper nutrition and by adding exercises that build muscles that work against the pulling forces on the bones.

Resistance exercises, weight training, and weight-bearing exercises such as walking or hiking uphill torture your body appropriately to build strong muscles which stabilize the joints and protect your joints from breaking down under pressure which is crucial for avoiding stress fractures.

If It Hurts, Stop

If the pain is preventing you from being able to continue, don’t try to push through it. Go see a healthcare professional. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, pain that gets worse during a run, or gets worse the farther you go, or gets worse over time, can all be signs of problems and signal that it’s time to visit a healthcare professional for an orthopedic assessment.

How Can Runners Prevent Stress Fractures?

• Runners should take care to make sure they are not training too fast or too far for their current fitness level. If your feet are having trouble reaching the ground, you’re probably moving at a pace that’s too fast, and either need better shoes or more time for your feet to strengthen. 
• Drink plenty of water before running to stay hydrated during activity. Avoid caffeinated beverages as they can cause dehydration by making it harder for the body to hold on to water.
• Wear proper fitting shoes with adequate arch support and good insoles.
• Begin every workout slowly so the tightness in muscles caused by sitting doesn’t become exacerbated when you first stand up.

How long does it take for a stress fracture to heal?

It depends on the type of injury and the location. It takes about six weeks or longer to fully heal a stress fracture, but symptoms may continue for months. The symptoms depend on the symptoms caused by specific bones affected…long-distance runners with shin injuries like stress fractures can expect their symptoms to cease within three months, whereas symptoms in other bones could last even up to one year.

Tips for Avoiding Future Stress Fractures

• Warm up for 10 minutes before running.
• Increase your distance gradually.
• Take it easy in the early stages of a training program, avoid increasing intensity or duration in the early week.
• Stretch before your run.
• Maintain good overall fitness; stretching; conditioning exercises.
• Strengthening your muscles, tendons and ligaments will support the parts of the body affected by running.
• Track your moods and listen to what your body is telling you.
• If you’re in pain, stop running immediately.

Final Thoughts

Stress fractures are a common injury among athletes as well as those who participate in repetitive activities. Fortunately, there are many ways to prevent stress fractures from occurring. By wearing good shoes and taking care of your feet before, during, and after activity or exercise you can avoid these painful injuries that may sideline you for several weeks at a time! That’s it for this week’s blog post on how to treat a stress fracture in the foot. Have any questions? Let us know below so we can help out!