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I don't understand what a stress fracture is. My daughter, a dancer, had one a few years ago.

Most people identify a broken bone with a fall or some sort of accident. A stress fracture happens differently. If someone, like your daughter, is dancing a lot, she is putting a lot of pressure on her feet and legs and the pressure continues over the long hours of practice. After a while, the muscles, which protect the bones, can't keep up and don't provide the protection to the bone that the bone is used to. Then, as the dancing continues, instead of the muscles taking the shocks and vibrations, the bones do. After a certain point, the bone can't tolerate it any longer and breaks.

Reference: 

Jiro Ichikawa, MD, PhD, et al. Fatigue Fracture of the Bilateral Femoral Neck in the Elderly. In Orthopedics. November 2008. Vol. 31. Pp. 1141-1142.

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