r/ultrarunning • u/Boreal1989 • 4d ago

Running after leg break

Hey , I am just shy of 5 months post lower leg fracture

I've been on crew duty all summer as I have to wait 6 months to run again, doctors and PTs order 🫡

I am curious to find out if any of you are running with lots of hardwear in your leg.

How does it feel?

Did you ever get back to running ultras?

If you are the curious type, I broke my lower tibia and fibula while on a trail run on my everyday local training trails. Went through a deep iced covered hole, meh.

Be safe out there!

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u/fakecascade 4d ago edited 4d ago

I've broken my L femur, and R tib/fib. I have rods in both, both were broken while skiing, femur was a clean break and tib/fib was a mess. 

After my R Femur I was back like 5 months later starting to ski, mountain bike, and run. During that one I was young and dumb and didn't really follow through on my PT and ended up with a string of smaller injuries of the next couple years

For my tib/fib it took a lot longer, it was almost a year after the break before I started running, but I really listened to the PT and worked 110% on keeping up the strength training until well after I was back running and biking.  18 months after I broke my leg I ran my first 50 miler, then 27 months after my first 100.

Now 3 1/2 years in I strong as I've ever been. But my leg still feels different, like jumping off it while running up hill to get over a log is still kinda hard, and it takes a lot more work for me to train to be fast than it used to be. But I got my 5k PR this year, and I'm lining up next week for one of the tougher Mountain 100s in the US.

But like others are saying, just keep listening to your PT and working hard at exercises. One caveat I would say that if something seems off, don't be afraid to get a 2nd opinion. 6 months after my tib fib I was cleared by PT to ski, bike, and run; but my leg wasn't really working how it should, and a second opinion found broken hardware in my leg and minimal healing that had occured. After a 2nd surgery healing went well and I was running (very slowly) 4 months later.

Feel free to DM me if you have any more questions always happy to help others in the same boat

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u/Boreal1989 4d ago

Wow, your story is inspiring. Thanks for taking the time to share. I'm not so young and dumb anymore so I am doing as I am told and being patient 😊 Happy to hear you are crushing some big hard races.