Is it broken??

[aussieskater]

:cry: Well, today was a fine Sunday afternoon when I walked (or rather slid) down our stairs, fell over, and caught my right baby toe. It hurt when I did it (although the bruise now appearing on my left calf hurt more at the time...), and I did ice it. It's not really swollen, but it's black and blue (and red and purple and green and I suspect will turn a glorious shade of ick yellow in the fullness of time. :) ) I can move it without much more than an ache, and I can bear weight on it. I've iced it again since to see what would happen - and not a lot did.

I know everyone is going to say "see a grown-up medic", but on Sunday afternoon everything is shut except the emergency ward of the local hospital, and I can think of better things to do than sit for the whole afternoon and the best part of the evening waiting to be seen (the triage nurse will quite properly categorise me as lowest urgency, so I can expect a l-o-n-g wait, thanks to our wonderful health system). I've also heard that broken baby toes get no more than buddy strapping, if they get even that?

Questions: (1) Is it likely to be broken? (2) What about skating??? At the beginning of July, I bought my first quarterly ticket (non-refundable) and will be mightily disappointed to find that I can't skate for 6 weeks of the 12!!! (3) Any suggestions or treatments would be very gratefully received.

Motto: don't be afraid to jump or spin or whatever your nemesis is - you're just as likely to do yourself an injury outside the rink! :giveup:

[DallasSkater]

I am so sorry this happened to you!

Typically there is nothing that can be done for a broken toe..it is likely broken if it already has that much color. It is important that it is not out of place though so the bone heals correctly. If you can bend it then you might not have dislocated it.

I am too new to the skating scene to know how it will effect skating. But if it continues to hurt then medical attention may be needed. Otherwise it will heal on its own..

Wishing you healing vibes and good luck with your recovery!

[NickiT]

I did something very similar some years back. I basically fell down the stairs and in trying to avoid falling on my then 18 month old daughter, I managed to do something really nasty to my big toe. I bent it under or something but it instantly turned black and swelled up big time. I had a dinner party on that night and struggled through it as I couldn't walk, and it was a good few days before I could walk properly. I never got it checked out as I've always been told that injuries to fingers and toes are rarely dealt with in A&E even if they are broken. Anyway I couldn't skate for a couple of weeks but then it started to subside and feel better so I gave it a go. Of course I couldn't do any toe-jumps or any toe steps and it did feel quite tender but I got through it.

Just sharing my experience and hoping it will give you hope and guidance. I know how sore you are feeling but I'm sure in a week or two things will feel a whole lot better. In the mean time sending you healing vibes.

Nicki

[xofivebyfive]

Sounds like what happened to me two summers ago when I stubbed my left pinky toe on an anchor.. don't ask. It hurt a lot, but I could walk on it. It was really purple and blue, and a little swollen. Mom(a nurse) told me it would be fine and it was just a bruise. 6 weeks later we got it xrayed because it still hurt me and it was broken. Couldn't play soccer for 5 weeks. Had to miss half of our games. That sucked.

[mikawendy]

Aussieskater, I hope your toe is feeling better soon!

If it turns out that you're not able to skate for a while, would your ice fee be partially refundable because of medical reasons? If not, would the club or rink that you purchased the ice time let you transfer that ice time to someone else?

[aussieskater]

Well, it's Monday and the doctors are open, and as I suspected, it's broken :cry: . Not a bad break but will take the regulation 6 weeks to fully mend. The doctor isn't a sports doctor and doesn't pretend to be, so couldn't really answer the question about how long I'd have to remain off the ice. She did say there was nothing to do to it, apart from being careful and not knocking it (or letting the kids accidentally kick it, as one did this morning - yeouch!)

How long will I have to stay off the ice? I can actually walk on the outside edge of that foot without pain as long as I keep off the toe itself, and I confess I tried on my right skate this morning to see what would happen...hey, we all suffer AOSS :) No surprise that I couldn't stand on that foot with the boot on because the swelling of the toe made it too tight. Can I go back on once I can stand in the boot without pain?

[Miss_Kate]

While not having (yet) to contend with broken toes on ice, I have had the most unpleasant experience of having broken toes and trying to stuff them into riding boots. I found that putting on my boots (which were only just a bit bigger than my skates) even when it didn't exactly hurt my toe caused a good bit of swelling and discomfort later. In the end it took the injury longer to heal than it would have if I wouldn't have tried to put on boots. My big toe on my right foot still is not right 2 years later after being broken. My advice: beg the rink to change your ice time and wait the 6 weeks. ;)

[Mrs Redboots]

Can I go back on once I can stand in the boot without pain?Your body - only you can know, but I suspect the answer is "Probably!"

You'll know when you're ready to go back.

[sue123]

I'm right there with you with the broken toes. I still can't put my boot on without pain. I guess because they're snugger (is that a word?) than my normal shoes, it is still bothering me.

[aussieskater]

Well, (all thanks to mikawendy and Miss-Kate for their suggestion :bow: ), I went to the rink today to speak to the rink manager about a refund or postponement of my quarterly, and was told that they'd agree to postpone it with a doctor's certificate! :) :) Great news, since I was somewhat concerned about losing several hundred dollars' worth of prepaid ice time!

So I went back to my usual surgery today to get the certificate, and was seen by a different guy, who knew a bit about sport, so I asked if he had an opinion as to when could I go back on. (I did say that the first doctor had been unwilling to commit to any kind of timeframe). This doctor said that, given the nature of the injury, he is quite happy for me to get back on as soon as I can get my foot comfortably into my boot. He gave me the certificate for "up to a month" but said he didn't for a moment think it would take that long. He also commented that I might be back sooner than I think...it all depends on how long the swelling takes to go down.

Question: Any suggestions as to how I can reduce the swelling more quickly, since this is the only thing stopping my boot going on comfortably? (Yes, I admit it - I am addicted and even a week off is not pretty. Sad, isn't it? :P )

[Miss_Kate]

I'm glad to hear your rink let you postpone ice time. It would have been horrible to waste that money or have to use your time skating in pain. No suggestions for quick swelling reduction unfortunately, other than ice and elevation of course. :)

[Mrs Redboots]

Question: Any suggestions as to how I can reduce the swelling more quickly, since this is the only thing stopping my boot going on comfortably? (Yes, I admit it - I am addicted and even a week off is not pretty. Sad, isn't it? :P )Ibuprofen and ice! Only don't overdo either of them.... the former for obvious reasons and the latter because you could give yourself a nasty frostbite, I've heard of people who've done just that!

Also keep your foot up as much as possible.

[mikawendy]

Question: Any suggestions as to how I can reduce the swelling more quickly, since this is the only thing stopping my boot going on comfortably? (Yes, I admit it - I am addicted and even a week off is not pretty. Sad, isn't it? :P )

I'm glad they'll refund some of your money! Really, it is a good business decision on their part.

For reducing swelling, applying ice several times a day (per whatever instructions your doc gave you) plus elevating the foot, I would think. I think with ice on a small extremity like a toe or finger, you have to be careful not to apply the ice for too long. I think it's 10 minutes max at one timeas opposed to 15-20 for a larger body part like a knee, but I could be wrong and of course follow whatever your doc recommended. Also, if your doc suggested using nonprescription or prescription antiinflamatory medicine, that will help, too. I usually avoid taking antiinflammatories on an empty stomach (and some people have trouble even when it's not an empty stomach...)

Feel better soon!

[jwrnsktr]

I broke my pinky toe and ignored it because I also thought that nothing could be done except to tape it to the next toe. When I could not stand the pain any more and it wasn't getting any better, I went to a podiatrist who gave me grief for not coming to him sooner. He gave me a shot of cortisone which hurt, gave me a whirlpool treatment, and taped it up. I saw him a couple of times a week for the whirlpool and taping. In between, I used one of those whirling footbaths. With this treatment, it started to heal. I resumed skating when I could get the boot on without too much pain. It was about 4-6 weeks, if I remember correctly. Good luck!