Top 5 Fridays! 5 Indicators of Bone Stress Injury

5 INDICATORS OF POSSIBLE BONE STRESS INJURY👀

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👉🏻When it comes to running various papers agree that the annual incidence of BSI is in the vicinity of 20%
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👉🏻The aetiology of a bone stress injury can include biomechanical factors that load bone and the biological capacity of the bone to absorb the load 🏃
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☝🏻These are 5 indicators that an athlete may have incurred a bone stress injury:
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1️⃣ Prior history of bone stress injury (BSI) .
There exists an elevated risk of BSI if there has been a prior BSI (Wright et al, 2015). 10-12% of runners who have a history of BSI sustained a second BSI within 2yrs (Bennell et al 1996, Kelsey et al 2007) ** excuse the snapped bone image -not meant to be alarmist! ♻️
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2️⃣ Aching pain
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Often times pathological bone stress may commence with an mild diffuse ache that occurs after a specific amount of activity. At the more advanced pathology stage which involved an inflammatory response night pain may be present 🦴
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3️⃣ Difficulty weight bearing (at times)
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The degree of weight bearing difficulty will be proportionate to the gradation of bone stress. Grade 3 stress reactions and stress fractures will typically result in weight bearing difficulty and antalgic gait patterns 🦶
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4️⃣ Pain and/or reduced confidence w hopping .
The single leg hop test is considered a bone loading test that can elicit BSI pain when appropriate. Runners with Grade 3 or stress fractures will not be confident doing this which normally gives an insight into the advanced stage of bone stress they are experiencing 🦵🏻
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5️⃣ ‘Just doesn’t feel right’
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I often ask runners in your ‘heart of hearts’ does it feel like more than the ‘muscle strain’ they want it to be. The runner will often say something like ‘it just doesn’t feel right’ 🗣
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📌TAKE HOME: diagnosing BSI in runners requires a complete history and examination. These are just 5 possible indicators that are not intended to be fully diagnostic -rather possible indicators to take note of. If in doubt of a BSI consult with a health professional who has as special interest in running or sports medicine

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