May 11th, Wednesday, 10 p.m.
Err on the side of caution.
After working out in the clubhouse; swimming, biking, and running in the water, my foot hurt even more today. I took another day off and did a lot of reading about stress fractures and stress reactions. The article listed below gives a comprehensive overview of the newest research on Bone Stress Injuries. BSI is the new phraseology for stress fractures and stress reactions. The authors of the study prefer to look at bone injuries on a Continuum of the bones reactions to excessive stress. Wolff’s law states that a bone that is subject to stress will experience breakdown and then recover stronger than before the stress. However, if the stress is repeated before the bone has completely healed the bone will begin to developed a stress reaction. This is not damage to the bone structure will cause some swelling and pain in the area. If the stress is discontinued the bone can continue healing and the pain will disappear. If the stress is continued even further, the bone will develop a stress fracture which is a break in the structure of the bone. This approach concludes that pain, not time, is the key element in recovery from a bone stress injury. Pain is the barometer that indicates whether the bone has fully recovered from the stress placed upon it. So the athlete can use pain to gauge the progress of recovery. The first stage is to remain totally stressless until there is absolutely no pain for 7 days. After that the athlete can begin walking and normal daily activities until that can be done for seven days without pain. In each stage of recovery the seven days of no pain as the key factor to determine whether to move to an increased level of stress. One could move from walking with a few minutes of jogging, walking and jogging 50/50, to finally all jogging if along the way that pain does not return. This is in keeping with Dr. Mirkin’s recommendations that I take off completely until my foot is totally pain free. I plan to follow the BSI recommended programs until I can get back to full running.
All runners, please be aware of pain in your lower leg, especially plus70runners. A day or two of recovery can save a lot of anxiety and stress.
I am getting a doctor’s appointment tomorrow to verify my diagnosis.
Hope your injuries don’t linger too long. I just read your last 3 or 4 blogs. In your May 9 blog under the year 2014. You say your time for the Atlantic City Shore Medical Center 5K run was 17:55. Did you mean 27:55 because it seems to be inconsistent with your other 5K times? Otis says get well soon.
Thank you, Otis, for reading and checking up on me. You are one of my most loyal followers. That is an error. I will fix it. I still have healing to do.
How about some bone broth to help the healing process?