I'm a pretty serious runner, and just came back from a stress fracture after four months out. I didn't recognize it as a fracture at first, I thought it was just a sore spot, and nobody was certain till I had an MRI.
I know, though, that ignoring a stress fracture can easily lead to a very real and serious fracture, so were people able to catch one at the beginning, and prevent serious injury? And if so, would that cost the victim four months away from running/excessive walking/weightbearing exercises?
It;s unlikely. From a medical point of view, it would be easy enough to diagnose a fracture but a stress fracture requires an understanding of the underlying structures that was more than they could possible grasp.
Without an X-ray, it's impossible to distinguish between osteomyelitis, an undisplaced fracture or any of the other diseases at the early stages.
They would have had a painful leg, if it worsened then they would deal with it as they dealt with other fractures, if it settled then that would be fine.
But resting for four months would only be possible for a minority of the population.