Femoral Stress Fracture Recovery Time

Yesterday I returned to the doctor to have my MRI read and discuss a return to running. I kind of wish he would have just called me, since I have a $4500 deductible ($3000 out of network, which is everyone, and $1500 in network, which is not one single provider that I know of). But that's not how these things work, so in I went and paid my copay.
There is good news and weird news.

This is not my leg. And my fracture was  far more obvious than this on xray. But there aren't a lot of good examples on the Google. 

Weird news: The MRI showed more detail than the xray, and I had a complete fracture of the left femur. That means the fracture went all the way across the bone. How I ran several races on that I do not  know, but it explains why the pain was bad enough at first to keep me from even going down the stairs normally.

Good news: Even since the xray, I've progressed! Once I started resting the limb, it improved dramatically, and by the time I had the MRI the bone had started healing very well. There is thickening there (cell buildup - healing) but very little inflammation. Also good news: there is no current soft tissue damage at all: some of the insertion areas seem thickened, perhaps scar tissue, but no inflammation or acute issues.

The plan from here: Yesterday I had lab work done to rule out any unusual reason for this injury. Let's face it: distal femoral stress fractures are unusual and could be a problem with calcium levels or vitamin D. Plus, my doctor is pretty thorough, and he wanted to check my parathyroid hormone: it is integral to extracellular calcium regulation, and since I had a partial thyroidectomy about 10 years ago it makes sense to check those levels just in case.

I also have strict instructions to pay attention to discomfort and pain! Apparently, like all runners. I just ignore it. Then I end up with a fracture for 5 months.

As for a return to sport, I have already taken off two weeks. I have to take off another two weeks from any impact, although I am cleared to pool run, and I have to try to stay off my feet at work (fat chance of that happening - we talked about crutches or a sling cast but they would just be so impractical in my tiny pharmacy). After two weeks, I can start to incorporate cycling; after two weeks of that, I can start to incorporate walking/running. If anything hurts, I go back a week. This is a pretty short recovery time because the bone just looks good already. I think I just needed to finish resting it: it never totally healed this winter since I kept coming back to running too early.