I broke my Femur a few weeks ago whilst running a Half Marathon. The doctor said that is was most likely a stress fracture and as I continued for the remaining 6 miles that explained why it broke. As I’d had no previous pain I was a bit concerned as to why, particularly as I’ve come off the bike often enough and only ever cracked a rib previously. I went to the GP to discuss as I don’t want to sit round for the next 3 months doing nothing and then do it again. To pacify me more than anything he did a number of blood tests which showed a Vitamin D deficiency which I gather is not uncommon. The minimum level should be 75 and mine was 29. I am on tablets for 12 weeks and then another blood test after that. Twice I asked if this was a likely cause of the fracture and was told no. Doing some research on it though would suggest that it does. If it does then great, pills, oily fish, a few eggs and plenty of sunshine and I’ll be indestructible !! But I wondered if anyone had any experience of this ? Cheers.

NO…but stress fractures can relate to overtraining, no?

Have they looked at any other conditions? Vit d deficiency’s pretty common but it’s also an indicator for coeliac disease, and shares some common causes with calcium deficiency… And cycling by itself is also linked to osteoperosis.

I wouldn’t say to worry, but it might be worth raising.

Thing is, if you’re looking for a link you will find one with everything. Vit D deficiancy can cause weakness in the bones, but to be fair, breaking your femur is a pretty big deal, if you had weak bones something smaller would have gone first?

Well… using me as an example, no 😉

Doing some research on it though would suggest that it does.

Google research? Are you pregnant too? 😉

😀 Nope, not pregnant. Not an armchair doctor either !! Doc gave me a website to look up fracture recovery when I saw him last (patient.co.uk) so had a look on there when I came back today.

Can happen to anyone at any time.

Overtraining is just one of the factors.

Cyclists suffer from acidosis and lower bone density.

Ask for a bone density scan. I had one after a femoral neck fracture and it turned out my bone density was ok for a 75 year old woman. I was a 35 year old bloke.

If I go back to the doc and ask for a bone density scan am I going to look like a bit of a hypochondriac ? or should he have considered that already based on the fact that my leg broke without any prior pain or problems whilst running in a straight line ? I’m not so much worried about the fact that my leg broke, but more the fact that if it happens again I am going to have major problems at work as I need to drive every day.