stress fracture?

[veganrunner]

Hello,
I'm an irish dancer, and a runner (although I'm not currently running), and have injured my shins. After a lot of research, I am fairly certain that I have a stress fracture of my tibia in my left leg, and a developing one in my right leg, but stopping training isn't an option right now because I have nationals in two weeks. So my question is, will doing shin-strengthening exercises help or hurt if I already have a stress fracture? Also, it is very painful to stretch my soleus calf muscle, because it pulls on the painful area, so is it better to not stretch that muscle, and just try to massage it a bit to prevent injury, or is it not actually making a difference to the stress fracture, and won't actually hurt it to stretch?
I appreciate any help, thanks!

[Heidi]

Hi
The only way of healing a stress fracture is to rest. I know you say this isn't possible, but how much difference is 2 weeks of training going to make? If you carry on training you may not be able to perform at all, let alone compete well.

I would suggest that the best thing to do is to rest as much as possible and visit a sports injury specialist as soon as possible to get their opinion on the injury and advice on treatment.

Other things to consider include insoles to reduce the shock ('stress') passing through the leg.