I think I broke my toes

[sue123]

This bites. I was planning on going skating tomorrow for hte first time since I came back from my trip, and then I happen to walk into the cornor of the wall and now my foot is swollen and I can't bend my toes. So in my unexpert opinion, and because it hurts like the dickens (wow, haven't said that in a while) I think I broke my toes. And unless the swelling drastically goes down, there's no way I could even fit my foot in the boots. Grrr......

[jazzpants]

Owwww!!! I think you better go see a doctor to verify whether your toe is broken. And take a rest from skating 'til your toe heals up!

Hope you'll be healing quickly so you can get back soon!

[lovepairs]

Unless you are in excrusiating pain, they really can't do anything for your toes other than buddy wrap them if they are, in deed, fractured, and give you a pain killer. So, if the pain is bareable take IbuProfin to reduce the swelling, and a little ice pack might help, too. Then buddy wrap the toes. I know this, because my husband breaks his toes all of the time. He has broken the same pinky toe at least three times already. Unless it is an emergancy, you should be feeling better in a few days from now.

[pedonskates]

I don't post much, but since I'm a doctor - a pediatrician - but kids have toes too....
Nothing but comfort measures are done on the "little toes." They are expendable. The big toe (the piggy that went to market), is very important for balance, so if you think that one is broken then you should see a doctor for an x-ray.
Otherwise, ice, ibuprofen and comfy non-restricting shoes until the swelling goes down is all you can do.

Pedonskates

[Schmeck]

I broke my middle toe (on the stairs) years ago - wish I had gone to the doctor, but my kids were little back then, and it seemed like such a hassle, as I was told that they'd just wrap it, etc. So I wrapped it instead, but it didn''t heal properly, and still hurts, especially when I stub it. I also had to get skates that were a little bit bigger than my skate pro wanted to fit me, as my toe hurt in the correct size. The skates are too big, my feet don't feel right in them, and I know it's all my fault :roll:

I'd get the toe checked, so that a doctor can set it properly!

[sue123]

I've broken my toe before, and they really couldn't do anything. So I figure the same thing now. I've been doing the ice thing now, I'm just really uset that I can't skate like I wanted to.

[newskaker5]

Well the good news is I found that breaking the little toes repeatedly you start to not even feel much pain anymore. My poor baby toes on each foot have been broken at least 3x each - now they are like immune to pain. But if its the big toe OR if your pain is more towrds the bottom of the toe/top of the foot - get an x-ray. I learned my lesson- I broke the top of my foot and smaller toes - the foot was black and HUGELY swollen but it seemed like a bad bruise- I never got an x-ray (I didnt want to know if it was broke since I had a competition that weekend anyway), but years later my big toe and foot get weird pains because of it. Ive had x-rays for other reasons and it showed a past hairline fracture that didnt heal right and the foot gets bad pains and cant be held at certain angles now - so your best bet is to get an x-ray if you can anyway, just to be safe.

[samba]

The problem with broken toes is that an x-ray doenst show the damage to the tendon, in my case the tendon at the back of the big toe snapped and as time passed, the good tendon on the front of the toe pulled the toe upwards.

Apart from being of great amusement to other people when I wore sandles it was fine, but when I started skating, the boot caused bruising under the nail and eventualy I had to have the good tendon snipped and a pin inserted to straighten it, for some reason I have a long list of things that have happened to my right foot which I wont bore you with, but it is curious why just the one foot.

If it starts to look strange once it settles down, it would be a good idea to see if it can be scanned also.

Anyway as everyone has already said, early diagnosis is the key, saves so much hassle later.

Good Luck

[mikawendy]

sue123, I hope your foot feels better soon!!!! I second the advice of many who have recommended seeing a doc and getting an xray. It's true that for some toe fractures all they can do is buddy tape the toes. However, if the fracture is a displaced fracture and it heals in the wrong way, then you can have problems down the road. (This is what my doc told me when I broke my big toe a few years ago.) The bone starts to knit within 48 hours, so you want to know early on if it's a displaced fracture.

[sue123]

Well, my toes I think are getting better. I'm just not too keen on going to the doc and getting an x-ray because a) although I want to be one, I hate going to doctors and b) I'm not 100% sure if I'm still covered under my mom's insurance or not, so I would need to find out beforehand, but it's impossible to try to get somebody on the phone. Besides, if it was displaced, wouldn't it be obvious that the toe is bent the wrong way or something?