A tibial stress fracture follows a predictable and deeply frustrating arc for many people: you scale back, you wait, you return to training, and weeks or months later the same pain is back in the same place.

If your teenager (or you, if this started young and never fully resolved) has been dealing with deep, activity-linked pain just below the knee that doesn't behave like typical Osgood-Schlatter disease or a simple growth spurt, you've probably already heard the standard advice: rest, ice, modify training, wait for growth to finish.