Comments on: Sprained Toe Symptoms And Treatment

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:53:49 +0000

Hi amc,

Glad to hear that the bruising is disappearing from your foot. Dropping a box fan on it will definitely do some damage. I’ve dropped cans of soup on my bare feet and that hurts like crazy!

My guess it that you probably do have a stress fracture. It might even be a combination of a sprain and stress fracture depending on how your foot was hit. Dropping a box fan on your foot could easily fracture the small bones in your toes. I had a stress fracture in my fibula that took nearly two months to heal to the point where I could go jogging again, so I’m not surprised that your toe still hurts. Keep resting your foot and elevating it as much as possible. The only thing you can really do with a stress fracture or sprain is wait for it to heal. Hope this helps a little bit.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:45:58 +0000

Hey Amy,

This definitely sounds like a sprain to me. You don’t remember any point in time where you might have injured your toe? You definitely have signs of a sprain, but it’s actually a bit difficult to say without knowing what you did to it. How long has the pain been going on? Every once in a while I’ll get a pretty bad pain at some random spot in my body. For example, a couple of weeks ago I woke up and my knee hurt so bad I could hardly walk. I don’t ever remember hurting it. Sometimes I feel a lot older than I am!

The best thing for you to do is to keep treating your toe as if it is sprained. Try to be as gentle as you can with it, and keep track of the amount of pain you’re experiencing. In my experience, random pains that pop up like this usually go away eventually on their own.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:06:17 +0000

Thank you for the helpful article – I don’t know how, but I believe my toe is sprained. I don’t remember anything painful happening, just a slow discomfort and then stiffness. The pain increased so much, it woke me up from sleeping. I’ve iced it, taped it and it is now elevated. I can hardly walk and am trying to keep it very still – as it is still really stiff and hurts most to flex my foot upwards. Definite sprain?

By: amcgrane

amcgrane — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:54:37 +0000

3 wks ago I had a box fan fall on my L 4th and 5th toes and metatarsals. Immediately they swelled up, especially the 5th digit to where there was no free space between the 4th & 5th. I had a lot of bruising on about half of my foot. Believing I broke it, I went to the urgent care and Dr said it wasnt broken by looking at the xrays. I used to work for a podiatrist and he said it sounds like it may actually be a stress Fx. After 3 wks the bruising is pretty much all gone except a tiny spot, however, the pain is not gone, my 5th toe is still swollen and red, hurts to move it and even to touch it. I carefully trimmed my toenails and it is throbbing now. If my foot isnt elevated for at least 20 mins or so, it starts to throb badly on the 5th and between 4th & 5th metatarsals. I cant wear my regular shoes-i have to wear croc style shoes bc they are the only ones wide enough that dont rub against my toes or smash my metatarsal bones together. What do you think? Still think it’s a sprain or is it sounding more like a stress Fx?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:46:25 +0000

Hey Jeanne,

Sorry for the delayed response. How is your toe feeling now? It sounds to me like you probably dislocated something if it feels like there is something popping back into place. I would definitely try to wrap it as best you can with medical tape to help keep it from moving. You should especially do this before you go out and play any sports. If it swells up put ice on it for a bit to keep the pain to a minimum. My suggestion as far as exercising is to start slow. The worst thing you can do is jump back into exercising full force before your toe has completely finished healing.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:00:57 +0000

Hi Patrick,
I twisted my toe in packed sand when I fell off my surfboard about three weeks ago. It’s the second toe on my left foot. it didn’t hurt that much but started swelling up a little at the base of the toe later. It wasn’t horribly swollen and the only movement that hurt was pushing off (as in running or jumping). Also, I would gently push on the side of my toe several times a day and could feel something popping back into place. I gave it a rest for about a week and then started back to running and beach volleyball, and it felt ok at first but now is sore and swollen again. And still pops back when I push on it. Any suggestions? I’m not good at resting! Thanks.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:08:44 +0000

No problem, Ethan!

By: Ethan Wong Weng Mun

Ethan Wong Weng Mun — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:30:58 +0000

hey Patrick Brady.thanks for posting this up.i really appreciate this.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 18:05:01 +0000

Hey Paige,

Sorry for the late reply. How is your toe doing now? Any improvement? If it hasn’t gotten better by now you definitely should go to a doctor to have it checked out. Also, I would take a break from dancing if you haven’t already. Dancing is one of the worst things you can do for your foot when it’s trying to heal.

By: Paige

Paige — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:58:53 +0000

Hi! I had a dance audition today and I hit my toe on the ground right before I had to dance. My right big toe was really hurting, but I have a high pain tolerance and i danced on it for almost 2 hours. My toe is very swollen after about 3 hours (from the end of the audition) even though I have been icing it and elevating it. Most of the pain and swelling is around the middle section of my toe. It hurts to walk and move my toe, but it also hurts when I don’t move anything. Thoughts?