Someone just told me about a great test for whether or not you have a stress fracture, anywhere in the body.
Normally, in clinic, when examining a patient, I use the base of a tuning fork on the bone I suspect is fractured (it will be painful if a fracture is present!), but you can also set your mobile phone to vibrate and rest it on the suspected bone to check yourself. If the vibration is painful to you, then you may have a stress fracture and should stop running, and seek advice!
hi. i have been having this pain in my left leg, on the inner side above my ankle but below my gastrocnemius. i do not feel the pain all the time the i walk. i run both cross country and track. i took a week off after school ended and then i began to run again. but after 6 days of running my left leg began to hurt in the area i just described. i have stopped running for a week now and usually no longer feel the pain when i walk. i usually only feel it after i poke the area to test and see if the pain has gone away. but sometimes it will start to randomly hurt. or it begins to hurt after i jump or land hard at the bottom of the stairs. i am worried i have a stress fracture because this does not feel like shin splints, and is in such a strange specific spot. i do not want to go to the doctor because if it is a stress fracture they will put me in a boot. i cannot be in a boot because this summer i have many active plans and am going on a 5 day 50 mile backpacking trip in the adirondack mountains as well as many other physical activities. i tried using my phone to vibrate against my tibia and i did not feel any pain at all. so is it for sure not a stress fracture? is your trick fool-proof? how can i get the pain to go away completely? is it even a stress fracture? what should i do? should i go to the doctor? i am really freaking out about this and am so worried. one of my friends who had a stress fracture said she is pretty sure i do not have one. but then again she is not a doctor. please help advise as much as you can. i would really appreciate it. thanks so much.