Having run 17 marathons over the past 8 years (including qualifying and running Boston) with no injuries I consider myself a very conservative runner. This month I was on my taper for my 18th and on a 3 mile easy run I had hip pain so I stopped. It felt like my hip was out of "kilter"...out of socket? Was painful to even walk for a week so I had an x-ray done to make sure nothing serious was wrong and it didn't show anything except a bone island so I did the marathon. After the marathon to follow up on the bone island I had a bone scan...showed a large dark area (about the size of a lemon) on my hip (ironically, not near the bone island). That led to an MRI and CAT scan. Although it isn't clear on the films they are treating it as a stress fracture in my hip area. Gave me a cane and told me to stay off of of it for 3 weeks. My question is would it have been possible to run an entire marathon with a stress fracture? Could it be a tendon or muscle or something like that?
Sherri, a bone scan is the definitive test to rule out a stress fracture. If you truly had a stress fracture, I would be surprised if you would be able to run a marathon without severe pain and avoidance behavior (you would likely develop a gait deviation). Also, if you have a stress fracture in your hip, a cane is not enough. You need to be on crutches. I think you should see a PM&R Physician (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) to help you with the work-up and to get you a definitive diagnosis.
