Most runners returning from a stress reaction use the same decision-making process before every run: "Does it hurt? No? Then I'll run."

That's the wrong question. Pain is a lagging indicator — by the time a stress injury hurts enough to stop you, you're weeks past the point where you should have modified.

The better question is: "Can I point to it with one finger?"

Here's why this matters:

Muscular soreness is diffuse. It spreads across an area. Both calves ache. Your quads are heavy. You can't put a finger on one spot. This is normal adaptation, especially after time off.

Bone stress is focal. You can touch the exact spot. One finger, one location, consistent every time. This is the hallmark of a stress injury — and it shows up before "pain" in the traditional sense.

When you're 10 days into your comeback and you feel "something" in your shin, the difference between these two is the difference between logging a normal training response and catching a recurrence early.

Most returning runners lump everything into "pain" and either push through it all (re-injury) or stop at every sensation (never build back). Neither works.

What works is a system that categorizes signals and gives you a clear action for each category. That's what I built the 4-Question Check for — a 60-second pre-run protocol. Four questions, ordered by severity, each with a specific action. No guessing, no anxiety spirals.

If you're coming back from a stress reaction and you're second-guessing every ache, this might be useful to you.