Tibia Stress Fracture diagnosed now consultant has changed his mind..... Is there a doctor in the house?

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Minni Mar 2016 1:17pm, 31 Mar 2016 19 posts	0 Minni I had a tibia stress fracture diagnosed in January via x-ray after 3 months of pain. Moonboot and a further x-ray in Feb showed some signs of improvement (words of Consultant - I couldn't see any improvement between the two x-rays). I was then told to start gentle exercise, which brought back the pain but worse than before. I had an MRI last week and went for the results yesterday, expecting to be given an Exogen Bone Stimulator, but the consultant says there's no sign of a stress fracture on the MRI. He's currently asking 'experts' to look at MRI and see if there's something else going on. I was very confused. We both saw the clear fracture on the x-ray. I pointed this out and he kind of just fobbed me off saying it clearly wasn't a SF we saw. Advice until I hear from him again: keep well and healthy and take pain killers so you can do what you enjoy doing....? I've heard of misdiagnosis of SF from not showing up on an X-ray but never when is was clearly seen. Has anyone gone through a similar thing and can shed any light?
Claypole Mar 2016 2:40pm, 31 Mar 2016 30 posts	0 Claypole Hi Minnie. Sorry - not a doc, or a physio, just another runner Odd one that .. Would you be able to get the Xray to a sports physio? Maybe worth a 2nd opinion from someone who sees sports injuries regularly. Good luck with the diagnosis and recovery
Minni Mar 2016 5:00pm, 31 Mar 2016 20 posts	0 Minni That's a good idea. I'll see if I can do that.
Footpad Mar 2016 5:36pm, 31 Mar 2016 5,987 posts	0 Footpad To be honest its now in the hands of a radiologist who is reporting it... these guys look at thousands of x-rays / MRI and CT scans all the time. Worth asking for the report rather than the x-ray. MRI shows a lot more than an x-ray anyway... so wait and see. Rather than let a physio look at an x-ray which is not their area of expertise at all.
Fragile Do Not Bend Mar 2016 6:35pm, 31 Mar 2016 707 posts	0 Fragile Do Not Bend Interpreting X-rays is not easy - some things that look really like a fracture aren't, and some fractures don't look like them at all. The radiologist is the expert and like Footpad said, an MRI will give them much more information than an X-ray.
Minni Mar 2016 7:03pm, 31 Mar 2016 21 posts	0 Minni Thank you. I'm a bit annoyed because 3 months ago I offered to have an MRI privately and the consultant told me that there was nothing an MRI could tell him that the x-ray wasn't. It was a clear fracture and that's what I've been getting treated for in the past months. I saw it myself and it certainly looked like a clear crack, right at the point of pain. I can't think what else it could be. I'm hoping I might hear something tomorrow. In the meantime I'm following his advice - dose up on painkillers and just get out there!
weebiddy Sep 2021 10:27pm, 21 Sep 2021 10 posts	0 weebiddy Hi Minnie, I was diagnosed with a hairline stress fracture then on return to see the orthopaedic consultant was told it wasn’t that, it was compartment syndrome, hence my search of the threads for anyone’s experience of it. How did you get on? I know it was a while back.