
Your doctor can determine the latter during follow-up visits.

In some instances, athletes will need crutches, Jung said.Īs for how much rest is needed, Toor said it really depends on a few factors, including the location of the stress fracture and how well it heals over time. If you have pain while walking, for example, your doctor may recommend that you wear a boot to help decrease the stress on your lower leg or foot. Treatment for a stress fracture is “typically a matter of reducing the stress or load on the bone,” Jung said.
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(Related: How To Increase Your Running Mileage Without Getting Injured, According to Experts) These factors can “lead to overuse of the bone,” Jung said, noting that he sees this “in a lot of youth athletes where they’re playing on multiple teams and overlap in teams and sports.” Adult runners and athletes are also prone to stress fractures from increasing their mileage too quickly, Jung said.

When a stress fracture happens, “people are either increasing the frequency of training too fast and don’t give the body a chance to recover, while loading the bone the same way every day, or doing the same intensity workout every day,” Jung said. Stress fractures can happen with activities that tire out muscles or are repetitive, leading to a high demand on the bones, Toor said. The muscles then transfer the extra stress to the bone, causing a crack to form. They happen when muscles become fatigued and aren’t able to absorb added shock.

According to the AAOS, stress fractures are usually a result of overuse.
