How to tell if my ankle has a stress fracture?

Stress Fx: Stress fractures can occur from overuse. Were you hiking or running and then your ankle started to hurt. Do you have pain at a certain location on your ankle? Stress fractures often don't show up on xrays initially. Mri's can pick up stress fractures, but that is an expensive way to make the diagnosis. If you have pain with long walks or running, doesn't bother you otherwise, get it checked.

Symptoms & imaging: Stress fractures usually cause pain, but may also cause swelling and discoloration. The nature of stress fractures can make them very hard to identify on x-rays, but some may be apparent based on their size or phase in healing. Larger stress fractures or those that have had some to start healing are often the ones that can be seen with x-ray. The most specific test for a stress fracture is a mri.