Stress fractures can have various causes, ranging in severity from 'troubling' to 'serious'. Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.
Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms. In order to diagnose stress fractures, we could:
Cause | Probability | Status |
---|---|---|
Overtraining | 98% | Confirm |
Poor Bone Health | 15% | Unlikely |
Hormone Imbalance | 4% | Ruled out |
Poor Musculoskeletal Health | 4% | Ruled out |
Osteoporosis | 4% | Ruled out |
Do you have a history of stress fractures? Symptoms include pain, tenderness and/or swelling at the site of injury, and pain that is worse during exercise but decreases or disappears with rest.
Possible responses:
→ No / don't know→ Probably, but it was never confirmed → Yes, one → Yes, several |
Female athletes with abnormal or absent periods might have weakened bones. One study showed that 39% of female athletes with irregular menstruation develop stress fractures.
Stress fractures are small cracks or severe bruises within a bone and by definition indicate poor musculoskeletal health.
The most common mistake that athletes make is increasing their training by too much, too quickly. Adding jumping or speed training and/or increasing your overall mileage too quickly can lead to stress fractures. Changes in training should be done gradually.