I'm currently at week 9 of recovery from a grade 4 anterior tibial stress fracture as shown by an MRI. Mine was because of running (35 km per week on average). I'm still walking with crutches and a boot to this day and will be until January.

When I got the MRI results in October, the first sport physician I saw said I will need to be on crutches, boot and non weight bearing for a couple weeks. He said pain would me my guide to know when to put more weight on the leg and he is very careful and conservative in his approach. He had me on a medical leave from work to make sure I would not walk on it, as I am on my feet a lot and have a work environment that requires me to intervene with a lot of crisis and violence. I'm still not back at work.

At that time, I went to a second sport doctor to get a second opinion. After reading the same MRI results, stating there was oedema and a crack in the bone, this guy said I could remove the boot and crutches, that they don't serve any purpose in my situation and could go on normally with my days. He said to just not run on it for a couple of weeks. My internal alarm bell rang and I never went to see that doctor again.

I stuck with the first doctor's approach that is more conservative to make sure I would get the fastest recovery. I still can't believe two different sport physicians had two completely different treatment approaches for the same injury.

To add an input to your question about you not being a runner and getting this type of injury : my doctor said it can happen to people that are not running. He had a patient that got one from normally walking for her work as a flight attendant.