Broken Foot Symptoms: What to Expect

Overview

You may have a broken (also called fractured) foot after an accident or fall. This common injury requires prompt medical attention and can be serious. The severity of a broken foot can vary, so it’s important to talk to your doctor if you think your foot is broken. They can develop a treatment plan to help you recover.

The most common symptoms of a broken foot include:

• pain
• bruising
• tenderness
• swelling
• problems walking or putting weight on the foot
• deformity, such as a broken bone sticking out of the skin or the foot facing the wrong way

Your symptoms can vary, but pain, bruising, and swelling tend to be common.

You may have difficulty determining if your foot is broken or sprained. This is normal because the symptoms of the two conditions overlap. In general, a broken foot tends to be more painful than a sprained foot, and the pain lasts longer. Bruising, swelling, and tenderness are also more severe if your foot is broken.

Another way to tell the difference between a broken foot and sprained foot is the sound the body makes when the injury occurs. If you have a sprain, you’re more likely to hear a popping sound. If you have a fracture, then you’re more likely to hear a cracking sound. Keep in mind that not all sprains or fractures make sounds when they happen.

You may need to see a doctor and get an X-ray to determine if your foot is broken or sprained. An X-ray will show the fracture and help your doctor determine the treatment plan.

It’s important to see a doctor if you think your foot is broken. Don’t wait for the symptoms to get worse. Serious complications are possible if you don’t treat the injury. You may develop an infection or have long-lasting or permanent changes to the shape of your foot.

Make sure to see a doctor in the following cases:

• You think your foot is broken.
• Your symptoms get worse.
• The pain and swelling increase in the foot.
• You develop numbness and circulation problems in the foot.
• Your foot turns blue and becomes cold.
• You can see a bone sticking out of the skin.
• Your foot is deformed and in an unnatural position, such as turned the wrong way.
• You can’t walk, stand, or put weight on the foot.
• You notice redness or red streaks around the injury, which can be a sign of infection.

Even if your symptoms aren’t severe, it’s still important to see a doctor. Some people may not have serious pain and swelling after a fracture, but they may still require treatment. Your doctor can also determine if you have a sprain or other minor injury instead of a fracture.

Your doctor will take your medical history and do a physical exam. They may ask you to walk on the foot or move the foot to see the range of motion.

Then, your doctor may order several types of imaging tests to check for a fracture. These tests may include:

• X-rays
• bone scans
• CT scans
• MRI scans

X-rays are the most common tool used to help diagnose a foot fracture. Bone scans and other imaging tests may be necessary for stress fractures, which are too small to see with X-ray alone.

The type of treatment you receive is based on the severity and location of the fracture. You may need rest and medications for pain relief. It’s also common to have a cast, brace, or boot for the broken foot. In more severe cases, surgery may be necessary. Learn how to apply immediate first aid for a broken bone.

Common treatments for a broken foot include:

• over-the-counter medications for pain relief
• rest
• wearing a cast, splint, brace, boot, or special shoe
• taking weight off of the broken foot
• using crutches or a wheelchair
• manipulation of the bones to put them back in place
• surgery to insert pins, screws, rods, or plates

Your recovery time depends on the location and severity of the fracture. Most foot fractures take 6 to 8 weeks to heal. Healing time varies, so ask your doctor when you can resume normal activities.

Most people make a full recovery and can walk again after breaking a foot. However, complications are possible. For example, it’s common to have swelling and pain during recovery. You may have difficulty finding comfortable shoes. Your doctor will schedule follow-up X-rays to check on the healing process.

If you think your foot may be broken, seek immediate medical help. Don’t wait for symptoms to get worse before seeing a doctor. Your doctor can help determine if you have a fracture or another type of injury.

Beltsville Foot and Ankle Center: Podiatrists

Do you think you may have a fractured foot?

A fractured (or broken) foot is actually a very common injury. About 10% of all bone breaks in the body happen in the foot.

A broken foot can occur in accidents as serious as car crashes and falls to as simple as missteps and overuse.

If you aren’t completely sure if your foot is broken, there are 5 broken foot symptoms that should help you to determine what’s going on.

Remember that while the following symptoms can be used as a general reference, always contact a qualified podiatrist (foot doctor) to be sure.

#1. Severe Pain

A broken foot will typically cause immediate pain so severe, you will not be able to walk properly or put any weight on your foot.

Sometimes even touching the foot with your fingers will cause acute pain, making putting a shoe on almost impossible.

Oftentimes, the pain is a throbbing pain and the foot feels very tender.

Pain is the biggest factor that sends people to the doctor.

If you are in severe pain and cannot walk without limping, see a podiatrist right away for treatment.

*It’s important to note that you shouldn’t confuse having a broken foot with having a broken toe.

If you break a toe you will still usually be able to walk, and the pain will not be as severe as breaking a foot.

All the same, you should see a podiatrist to determine what is wrong.

#2. Bruising

It’s common for a broken foot to bruise.

You may see black and blue marks on the skin of the foot a few hours to a few days after the injury.

This bruising will take place on the top and/or the bottom of the foot, depending on the nature of the injury.

#3. Swelling

If you notice swelling of your foot that lasts for more than 2 or 3 days, you should see a doctor.

You can determine if your foot is swollen by comparing the size of your hurt foot to the size of your good foot.

#4. Lacerations

A laceration, otherwise known as a cut or wound, can sometimes involve an open fracture.

If you have a large wound that exposes a broken bone, see a doctor immediately.

This is a very serious injury, and if left untreated it can cause an infection of the bone.

#5. Your Foot Appears Misshapen

If during the injury the bones were displaced, your foot may appear deformed.

A deformity occurs when there is a dislocation as well as a break.

Although these top 5 broken foot symptoms are common for most people, please note that individuals with peripheral neuropathy (for example, those with diabetes) have altered pain sensations and may not feel the pain of a broken foot.

The same holds true for those with spinal cord injuries.

If you are in either of these groups, you should check your feet daily for swelling, bruising or deformities – as these will be your only signs of a possible break.

Common Causes Of Broken Feet

With 26 bones in each foot, our feet carry all of our weight.

This makes them susceptible to breaks.

The most common causes of broken foot bones are:

• Car accidents
• Missteps
• Dropping something heavy on the foot
• Falling
• Tripping
• Overuse
• Breaks in the foot also occur because of conditions such as osteoporosis, which causes fragile bones.

Risk Factors Associated With Breaking A Foot

Some people are at a higher risk of breaking a foot than others.

People who participate in high impact sports such as running, soccer, football, snowboarding, skiing and hockey are included in this group.

It’s more likely that someone playing one of these sports will overstress or twist their foot.

They are also more at risk of receiving a blow to the foot area that may cause a break.

Athletes who don’t take the time to warm up properly or who don’t wear good-fitting shoes are also more at risk of breaking a foot.

Others more prone to foot breaks include people who work in environments in which injuries are more likely to occur – such as construction, painting or tree trimming.

Additionally, people with weakened bones due to osteoporosis are at a higher risk of breaking their foot, as are those with neuropathy (poor sensation in the feet).

Treating A Broken Foot

If you think your foot is fractured, please see a qualified podiatrist as soon as possible.

He or she will be able to determine a proper course of treatment and set you on the road to recovery.

Treatments for a broken foot truly vary, and depend on what bone you broke and how severe the injury was.

No matter how bad the injury is, however, most podiatrists will follow the RICE treatment.

RICE stands for: rest, ice, compression and elevation.

This regimen can be followed daily at home.

When you break your foot, you may also need to wear a cast or a splint for up to 8 weeks.

This will depend on whether or not the broken ends of your bone are still aligned.

If the bones are not aligned, you may need surgery to fix them.

After surgery you will most likely wear a cast so your foot can properly heal.

Once your bone is completely healed, your podiatrist may also recommend physical therapy to loosen any stiff ligaments or muscles.

He or she can prescribe a physical therapist for you to see.

An over-the-counter pain reliever is typically included in the treatment regimen for a broken foot.

Acetaminophen (Tylenol), naproxen sodium (Aleve) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) are common pills used to help relieve any pain that you’re feeling.

Get Your Foot Checked Out

As with most foot injuries, early detection is key.

If you think you may have a broken foot, give us a call today to schedule an appointment to have it evaluated by one of our board certified podiatrists.

We have a state-of-the-art digital x-ray machine right in our office so we can evaluate your injury immediately.

Digital x-rays are much more accurate than traditional x-ray machines.

You can either call us at 301-937-5666 or simply fill out the brief form on the top right of this page.

Broken Illusions How is a broken leg related to civil position?

Urban environment

November 9, 2022

Evgeniya Shershneva

This autumn was overshadowed by a personal drama for me – I broke my leg for the first time. Yes, dozens of people a day in Chelyabinsk get fractures under various circumstances. But it always happens to someone, not to you. During the months of injury and rehabilitation, I looked at many things with different eyes. I share my thoughts on this. Spoiler: my life will never be the same.

The evening of September 16 did not portend trouble. It was Friday, and after work I went about my business. I had to go to Poplar Alley, I got on a minibus and got off at the Akademika Sakharov stop. Having taken a step out of the cabin, I fall and hear a crunch… Passers-by helped me get up, but I couldn’t walk, my left leg hurt terribly, a hematoma formed on it.

The thing is that right at the bus stop, at the exit from public transport, there are deep pits in the asphalt. And my foot in sneakers (fortunately I was not in heels!) landed right in this hole, turned up. Later, I will constantly remember these pits, because they have remained in place. This means that there is a risk that someone else can please them. Moreover, it is getting dark early now, and it will be even easier not to notice these potholes.

Doctor’s verdict at the emergency room: fracture of the left ankle. This news came as a real shock. After all, in four days I had to fly abroad on vacation. And it was prescribed to stay in a cast and move on crutches for at least a month. The tour package was non-refundable, and my mood for travel was solid, so I nevertheless flew to Thailand. But needless to say, the vacation was overshadowed by injury. I couldn’t swim in the sea, walk a lot, go to the islands…

After returning home, I stayed at home for another three weeks in a special orthosis instead of plaster. It seemed that being immobile, constantly lying down, being cut off from society is the most difficult thing that I will have to experience. But after removing the orthosis, I had to undergo a course of recovery. Indeed, in just a month of constant fixation of the ankle, the muscles begin to atrophy, the leg ceases to bend and function normally.

The doctor prescribed a month in a cast and then I had a long recovery period

So I became a regular patient of physical therapy, which is carried out for people who are recovering from fractures. All these months and a half after the injury, I walk with a crutch. I walk slowly, every step is still difficult. Especially now, when it’s terribly cold in Chelyabinsk.

During this time, there were enough moments to carefully observe what was happening around. When you yourself are not mobile (and the first week after the fracture, on vacation, I repeatedly used a wheelchair), you begin to look at many things differently. For example, you pay attention to how many people walk with a stick – the elderly and not only, because quite young people also break bones.

And the fact that there are a lot of pits on the roads (if I fell into a pit at a bus stop, what can we say about ordinary sidewalks or inter-block passages!). You look differently at the stairs, which were previously unremarkable to you – you went up and down them easily, several times a day. But trauma forces us to rethink such ordinary, everyday moments. Almost every establishment or store has stairs, usually high, which are extremely difficult for a person with a fracture to overcome.

I flew on vacation, at the same time I assessed how the service for people with limited mobility works at different airports

A handful of stores have lifts for the disabled. And even those, I’m willing to bet, don’t work if you start checking them. If there is no need to go for groceries (praise to Scooters and other deliveries), then I still need to go to the hospital – so I have to overcome the steps.

But all this time it never left my mind that the hole that divided my usual life literally into “before” and “after” the injury is still in place. During these month and a half (and there are still at least 6 weeks of rehabilitation ahead) I lost a full-fledged vacation, my whole life narrowed down to the limits of my one-room apartment, I experienced inconvenience and pain, and now I am trying to restore my leg. In the truest sense of the word, I am learning to walk again! Should someone be held accountable for this?

I made a request to the Road Management Committee – they are responsible for road repairs, including pavement at public transport stops. I had neither the desire nor the strength to sue the road builders. I don’t need monetary compensation, I want them to clean up this pit and so that no one else gets hurt like me, getting off the bus at the bus stop, in the Central District of the city, by the way!

A week later I received an answer from the road builders. There were many letters in it, but to summarize, they wrote me the following. Pothole repair of this section is carried out by Elektrostroy LLC, but there is no guarantee for this type of work. That is, if a pit has formed again after a poor-quality repair, it will remain there until the city decides to overhaul this road.

Or until someone breaks a leg in this hole! After all, the answer said that (four days after my appeal to the CDH) these pits were still filled up “in order to ensure road safety.” Probably, we are talking about the fact that the pits were removed so that an accident would not occur. There was not a word about pedestrians and passengers in the answer.

Here you can see that the pits are located at the place of disembarkation of passengers from transport

However, the most important thing is that after my appeal, at least they tried to solve the problem! They even included a photo. Yes, the pits were covered with asphalt cutting, but I was encouraged that a full-fledged repair of the site is still planned. If there is money.

“The issue of asphalting the Akademik Sakharov stop is planned to be considered in the 2023 road season, taking into account the targeted budget allocated funding,” the KDH replied.

I was assured that patching of this section would continue as needed, the issue with this section of the road was “taken under control by the curators of the committee.” And now a few words about control. When I asked who generally monitors the state of stops where there are such dangerous pits, they answered me that “the quality of work is checked based on the results of regular detours.” This means that either the curators did not pass this section, or they pretended that there were no holes. Indeed, according to the stories of my friend, who every day gets out of the transport at this stop, these potholes are not one year old.

She even admitted that she twisted her leg in this hole… She twisted it and moved on! What does this say? If then she, or hundreds of other people who use this stop every day, had reported the problem to the road workers, then my fracture would not have happened. And maybe I’m not the only one who got injured at this place.

We often scold the management company, the city authorities, the government, and so on. But what have we personally done to change the situation? After all, it is so simple to write and demand a solution to the problem from those who are responsible for it. We swear at yards overgrown with grass in summer, ice in winter, lack of lighting, traffic lights, and so on, and so on all year round… and do nothing. Do you know the number of your management company? And at least her name? I am sure that if you conduct a survey, it will turn out that not everyone is aware.

4 days after my appeal to the road builders, the pits were filled up

Committee of Road Facilities of Chelyabinsk

And I, apparently, sit down to write the next request – now to the Ministry of Health of the region. In the classes where people restore their arms and legs after fractures, there are not enough shells that must be practiced every day. And those that are are clearly older than me and require replacement. But new shells are not allocated to the district clinic, since this is not a rehabilitation center. This is how people (officials) argue who have not encountered similar problems themselves. And I see people after fractures every day, together we are trying to recover.

Let’s imagine: you live near a polyclinic, where you can walk even with a fracture, but there are few shells. And you need to recover with all the necessary equipment in the center, where you still have to get every day. In my opinion, the choice of the patient is obvious – he will choose gymnastics near his home, for this there are district clinics. Therefore, they need to be equipped with everything necessary for rehabilitation after fractures, I think.

There is a good saying about a lying stone under which no water flows. It is the same with our life, friends. We must accept that many problems cannot be moved without our participation. And instead of emotions in social networks, it is better to make an official request about your situation. In any case, you will be required to answer it.

Opinion

Road repair

Injury

18+

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Is it possible to organize distance learning for one student in case of illness?

If a student becomes seriously ill, he drops out of work for several weeks. Director of the University School of the Moscow City Pedagogical University Vladimir Sharkov and Deputy Director of School No. 2120 Elena Oganesova explain how to organize distance learning in this case.

Question. My twelve-year-old son broke his leg and cannot attend classes. Can I ask the school to organize remote classes for him so that teachers explain new topics and check how he learns the material?

Vladimir Sharkov:

Remote classes are now organized only if the whole class goes into quarantine. It is difficult to organize remote work for only one child, this is usually not practiced. But there are some nuances here.

According to the recommendations of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, children who need long-term treatment for more than 21 days are entitled to homeschooling. In this case, the school should get involved in the education of the sick student, organize consultations with teachers for him and provide additional materials.

When the child returns from sick leave, the school decides whether to give the student face-to-face consultations. They are not always carried out: if the child has mastered everything perfectly during the period of study at home, then he may not need additional classes. Sometimes it happens that teachers see the student’s gaps and initiate consultations themselves.

If a child goes on sick leave for less than 21 days, then classes with teachers are agreed individually. Not every school has the ability to organize online learning for one student: for this, teachers must stay after class and conduct remote classes. Most of the teachers are heavily loaded, and the school authorities do not have the opportunity to stimulate them with additional payments. It happens that teachers themselves offer to work with a child, but this remains at their discretion.

At the University School of Moscow State Pedagogical University, for example, there is a system of tutors who are in constant contact with children. The tutor collects all the information: homework assignments, additional materials, and sends them to the student every day.

Photo: shutterstock / Juliya Shangarey

If the treatment was short-lived, upon the return of the student to school, the tutor himself arranges consultations with teachers, and teachers in most cases go forward. If the child misses more than 21 days, we decide with the parents how to build the educational process.

Usually, when a child is sick, teachers give him tasks from textbooks and links to digital resources with materials for self-study, and after returning to school they provide consultations.

Now there are excellent resources with text and video lessons, with the help of which you can try to understand topics on your own: for example, the Moscow Electronic School (MES) resource.

Elena Oganesova:

It is quite possible to organize distance learning for a sick student if the child receives a certificate of home education at the clinic. In this case, the school will send teachers to his home for the duration of the certificate or organize distance learning. If the second option is selected, teachers send assignments through the Moscow E-School, and the student does everything on his own. During the period of illness, the student’s communication with the school is carried out through the class teacher.