Medical Report

I went to see my sports injury doctor on Friday.

I felt kinda sheepish since my injury feels pretty much gone but he told me not to worry. Nature takes its course while we wait for appointments he said. It's still good to come.

I explained the situation. I told him that I ran a half marathon on March 15th and felt no pain. I told him that I then spent ten days in Israel with my sister, walking all over the place for hours and hours every day.

I told him that my foot started hurting and hurt more and more every day. By the end of the trip I could hardly walk.

"Well we both know what that is right?" he asked. "A stress fracture".

I told him I had figured as much and that I haven't run in 8 weeks. In fact I had avoided doing pretty much anything that put weight on my foot for 8 weeks. He approved.

He told me to ease back into running to see what happened.

"This is my second stress fracture in two years" I said. Both happened during pretty intense periods of weight-bearing activity (marathon training and all day walking). "Should I be worried?"

"Well" he replied, "that might be a sign that there is a bone density issue". "Is there osteoporosis in your family?"

Yes, there is. My grandmother and my mother have it.

He suggested I contact my family doctor and ask for a bone density test. I'm a bit young for one but two stress fractures is a red flag apparently.

So I called my doctor and I'm seeing her this Friday. Hopefully she sends me for the test. If not, my sports injury doc told me to call him and that he would send me.

He also told me to get new orthotics since it has been 1 1/2 years since I got my first pair. My feet, as I am well aware, are not designed for running. I am pretty flat-footed and my feet flop flop flop when I run. Calcium issues or not, that doesn't help and contributes to shin splints, tight calves and plantar fasciitis which are always threatening to flare up again.

When I got home, I pulled out my Vega protein powder and my multivitamin to check the calcium. Between those two things and my soy milk and yogurt in the morning, I get a bit more calcium than a healthy woman my age should be getting. But I did a bit of online reading on the weekend and what I found seems to say that people with type 1 have difficulty absorbing calcium. So perhaps I am deficient?

Guess we'll find out soon enough won't we?