Wanna heal a stress fracture? Make bone faster than you break it down!

Last week I was lecturing at the International Foot & Ankle Foundation medical conference in Hawaii. Specifically, I had been asked to give a couple of talks on treating running injuries.
During the day I was moderating the surgery and sports medicine session, Dr. Gary Labianco was giving a lecture on Metatarsal Fractures.
He said something that led us to today’s episode. It was genius!
“If you want to heal a metatarsal fracture, you have to break bone faster than you break it down.”
What he means is that you have osteoclasts and osteoblasts, not just repairing bone, but also removing bone throughout the healing process.
That is true. But let’s think about the other side of that equation.
Not just physicians pulling your activity back to stop breaking bone down so fast, but all of the things you as a patient could do to make bone faster.
Wanna heal a stress fracture faster? Make bone faster than you break it down!
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.

[@ceejay6417]

That’s an interesting observation. In nature it’s not possible for many animals to take time off the feet. And would they even want to or think about resting anyways?

[@floatyseagull9472]

Think it’s natural selection. E.g with deer, only the deer who did not get stress fractures could escape predators and live longer to reproduce.
But for humans as our tech and tools became more advanced, we became less reliant on running to escape predators and catch prey

[@ceejay6417]

The human is overly logical and will take a rest and time off for minor injuries while animals wouldn’t even think about it for such things. Humans know they’re apt to live quite a few years while the animal is in the present without though of lifespan.

[@highershelf]

I used to be that animal. Please pray for me ❤🙏💭​@@ceejay6417

[@HaithamSweity]

did you seriosuly not add the link in the description? Come on.... I'd suggest you add a direct link in the description so people can easily go check it out

[@DocOnTheRun]

Thank you for watching and for the suggestion

[@Arthurjshurley]

Super long commercial

[@DocOnTheRun]

Thanks for watching. Sorry you didn't find it helpful. Heal fast !

[@floatyseagull9472]

It honestly baffles me why our healing process of bones is so slow when it comes to stress reactions and fractures. Is it the same for other mammals?
Animals like deers and rabbits constantly engage in high intensity short burst runs to escape predators. If they develop a stress reactions or fractures, they still need to engage in high intensity running to escape predators. Or else they’ll get eaten.So how do they overcome it? Or do they even get it at all and it’s just us humans

[@ln5747]

Do tribal hunter gatherers get stress fractures? I would suspect not or extremely rarely. Its much to do with lifestyle and biomechanics not being optimal to our natural condition.

[@eddieomahony507]

Garbage advertisement

[@DocOnTheRun]

Hey Eddie, thank you for watching and I'm sorry you did not find it useful.