Stress Fracture and Exercise

Hello Gentlemen,

I was diagnosed with a stress fracture in my third metatarsals last week. I’m not really sure how I injured it. One day after the gym my foot started bothering me as I was walking from work, the pain gradually got worse until I couldn’t put any pressure on it. I was not doing anything out of the ordinary that week, I follow the Bridge program and run twice a week and have been doing this for a few months now. Either way, it looks like I won’t be running for at least 6 weeks according to the doctor.

In the meantime I was wondering if I could still squat and deadlift? I don’t really have any pain putting pressure on my foot now, it only flares up if I am walking distances farther than 25 yards. In addition, I am currently in the middle of losing some bf, this seems rather obvious but I am wondering if I am slowing down my recovery by losing 1-.5lbs pounds a week?

Stats; 25 year old male, 5’11, 190lbs bf

It is pretty unusual for a 25 year old, 190 lb male to end up with a stress fracture from a little running and lifting.

  1. We’re not going to be comfortable giving you a strong recommendation here. The risk of returning to training too soon is delayed/chronic non-union of the fracture, which is problematic.

  2. A caloric deficit is less favorable from a recovery standpoint compared to a caloric surplus, yes. If you’re referring specifically to the recovery of your stress fracture, I have no idea.

Hey Austin,

Thanks for your help.

I was pretty surprised by the injury as well, since I have followed the same workout regiment for a few months now. But the symptoms all matched the description of a stress fracture symptoms and after the X-ray the doctor confirmed it. Although, I did not have a chance to look at the X-ray myself. Is your comment implying that I should seek a second opinion maybe from an orthopedic specialist?

In regards to the two questions;

  1. I was just curious if lifting weight would, in theory, make it worse or not? As I understand, a stress fracture usually occurs from repetitive movement that causes impact. Since there is not really any impact on the foot during a deadlift and a squat, aside from unracking the bar, I wasn’t sure if this would put the type of stress on the bone that would prevent/intervene it from healing properly. If you think it would, I will just have to stick to upper body movements and cycling for the next 6 weeks.

  2. I guess, this was less obvious than I first thought. So to be on the safe side I will eat at maintenance.

Again, thanks, you guys do a great job here. There’s no other resource like this available online!

In theory? Sure it could.

Let me put it this way: if it was MY foot with a symptomatic stress fracture, I would not be training to set PR squats on it.

Thank you.

And if it was your foot, would you do any exercises to maintain strength and conditioning?

Doctor said I should be in a boot for 6 weeks, and I have a three week follow up. In the meantime, he said I can swim, bike, and in a few weeks use the erg to row. I did not bring up squats or deadlifts with him.

I would be training the hell out of my upper body lifts, pull ups, seated rows/other back work, etc.

Thanks Austin, I plan on doing the same thing!