Can a stress fracture spread from one metatarsal to the bone next to it?

One thing that's really demoralizing if you get a stress fracture is to spend a bunch of time in a fracture walking boot and then go get something like an MRI and be shocked and horrified when the doctor says, "Well, not only do you have a stress fracture in that bone, it looks like you've got a stress fracture in another bone as well."

If you think this stress fracture might have spread well, it could.

But not the way an infection would spread. 

There is a way that stress related inflammation in a neighboring bone can spread after getting the original stress fracture.

Can a stress fractures spread from one bone to another? 

That's a great question and that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.