Mid-third femoral stress fracture with hip pain.

Stress fractures are relatively common in runners, accounting for 10% to 15% of total running injuries. Bennell et al observed 111 track and field athletes for 12 months and noted a 21% incidence of stress fractures. Matheson et al reported that 7% of all stress injuries to bone involved the femur. One review and one prospective analysis of stress fractures in athletes have shown a 3.5% incidence of femoral shaft involvement, although Johnson et al found that 20% of all stress fractures in a study of collegiate athletes involved the femoral shaft. This case of a midshaft femoral stress fracture illustrates the often vague and confusing symptoms of these injuries and reinforces the need for physicians to be alert to the possibility of a femoral stress fracture when evaluating a runner with hip or leg pain.