3 ways to tell if a fracture non-union is stable without imaging

This episode comes from a discussion I called with a runner who called me for a second opinion. She had a stress fracture non-union and somebody had remained recommended that she have surgery. 

I was looking at her CT scan and she asked me an interesting question. 

She said, 

“Does it look stable?” 

And I said, “Can't tell.” 

It looks like a non-union. It looks like it’s broken and never healed.

What are the three ways you could tell whether or not a metatarsal fracture non-union is stable without getting an imaging study? 

Well, that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.