I have never had a fracture of any sort in my entire life, but yesterday when I finally got in to see a sports medicine doctor about my groin/hip/hamstring? pain, I got the bad news. Recap: while running on the treadmill on June 8th, I was gradually hit with worsening left groin pain. A few hours later, it felt more like medial hamstring pain. Ice and heat did not help, and NSAIDs only minimally. Once the inflammation settled a bit over the next few days, it felt more like bony pain, and this time in the groin/gluteal region. I was having difficulty pinpointing exactly which muscle could be causing this, and then I became worried that there was something wrong with a bone.
Here is an image of the pubic rami with a box outlining these structures – they are the rings at the base of the pelvis.
An x-ray confirmed a stress fracture in the left pubic ramus, not the most common site for a runner (unlike the foot or tibia), but seen from time to time. So the bad news is, not only can I not run for a while, but I have to minimize weight bearing, and given its location, I cannot use the elliptical trainer nor exercise with a bicycle either. It looks like it may be time to get that pool membership…