Pain on top of foot

[hsurunner12]

I have had this pain on the top of my foot since July. I got back from a run and every step i took it would hurt. However when I wore shoes the pain was not as bad. The wierd thing is, that when im walking it hurts worse than when I run. In August I went and saw a sports medicine doctor and he said I had a stress fracture. He told me to take two weeks off because I was still in season of running cross country for my university. I took those two weeks off and then began running again, 2 days later a little pain started. It was no where near as bad but then it got worse. In september the pain was worse than the first time so I took a week off. I had to run my conference meet and it was painful but I did it. Now I am taking 3 more weeks off to try and get it to heal. Is it normal for this to last this long?

[Heidi]

Hi

If it is defintaly a stress fracture, then I would say that the initial two weeks rest was not long enough. I think the normal recommendation is between 6 and 8 weeks. This may be the reason for the re-occurance - the fracture was not fully healed when you returned to running.
I would recommend you try resting for this length of time before gradually introducing impact work. You may be able to retain fitness through non-impact e.g. swimming/cycling.