When is it serious, and what are the treatments?

A stubbed toe may seem to be a minor injury. However, stubbing a toe can cause breaks, sprains, broken nails, and infections.

The pain of a stubbed toe usually subsides after a few minutes. In some cases, however, the impact could break the toe or the toenail, causing intense pain that may get worse over hours or days.

In most cases, people can treat the injury at home and medication can help with the pain.

This article looks at the symptoms of a stubbed toe, how to tell if a toe is broken or sprained, some treatments, and a range of home remedies.

Share on PinterestThe impact of stubbing a toe might break the toe or toenail.

A stubbed toe is the name for any injury that happens when a person suddenly hits or jams their toe.

Some common causes include accidentally kicking the toe into a wall or doorframe, tripping over a toy on the floor, or catching the toe on a gate or other object.

The symptoms of a stubbed toe are similar at first, regardless of whether the injury is serious or minor. They include:

• intense pain that can be either dull or sharp
• pain that radiates elsewhere in the foot or ankle
• pain when putting weight on the injured area

Stubbed toes can hurt a lot, even when the injury is not serious. This is because there are many nerves in the toe, including two nerves on either side.

There is little fat to cushion the toes, which can intensify the pain and increase the risk of injuries such as bone bruises and fractures.

It can be difficult to self-diagnose a stubbed toe. Strains, sprains, bone contusions, and broken toes can all feel very similar.

If symptoms do not improve after a few minutes, it may mean that the toe is broken.

Stubbing the toe can result in several different injuries:

Broken or fractured toe

A broken toe or a toe fracture is a break in one of the 14 toe bones. It can be very painful and make it difficult to walk.

Although many fractures heal on their own, a doctor may need to surgically repair a severe fracture.

Symptoms of a broken toe include:

• swelling around the toe and sometimes into the foot
• discoloration, such as black or blue bruising, around the toe
• a change in the shape of the toe, if a bone is out of place
• trouble moving the toe
• significant pain when walking or putting weight on the toe
• pain that gets worse over several hours
• a loss of feeling in the toe or foot
• a visible bone poking into the skin, which can occur after trauma, such as closing the toe in a heavy door

The symptoms of a bone bruise, strain, and sprain are similar to those of a broken toe.

Sprains and strains

A sprain is an injury to the ligaments that connect the bones of the toe. A strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon.

Mild strains and sprains may just stretch a ligament, muscle, or tendon. However, more severe injuries can tear the tissue.

Learn more about the differences between sprains and strains here.

Bone bruise

A bone bruise is a deep bruise that injures blood vessels in or around the bone.

They can be intensely painful, but they will usually heal within a couple of months. A bone bruise does not show up on an X-ray.

Toenail injuries

Share on PinterestA person with a toenail injury may find it difficult to walk for several weeks.

Injuries to the toenails can be very painful, especially if the toenail breaks deep in the nail plate. If the injury is serious enough to bleed, it may be painful to walk for several weeks.

Sometimes the toenail falls off, either right after stubbing the toe or weeks later.

People may notice the following injuries after stubbing their toe:

• a cracked or broken nail
• bleeding along the edge of, or underneath, the toenail
• swelling or pain under the toenail
• pus or fluid under the toenail

Subungual hematoma

A subungual hematoma is a spot of blood under the toenail.

Severe hematomas can cause large blood spots and intense, painful pressure. Hematomas, regardless of size, often cause the toenail to fall off.

It can take 6–9 months for a subungual hematoma to disappear.

Toe infections

If the impact from stubbing a toe causes broken skin or nails, bacteria can enter the skin to cause an infection.

If the skin is broken, it is important to keep the toe clean and covered and to see a doctor for symptoms of an infection. People with diabetes or a weakened immune system are more vulnerable to toe and foot infections.

Skin infections along the nail are called paronychia.

Symptoms of an infected toe include:

• redness and swelling
• tenderness or pain
• fluid or pus collecting under the skin around the nail
• discoloration or thickening of the nail
• pain or itching around the toenail, even many months after the injury

After stubbing the toe, massaging or shaking the foot can distract from the pain and increase blood flow.

If the injury is more serious, a number of strategies can help with the pain:

• Try gently taping a broken toe to a nearby toe.
• Take an over-the-counter pain reliever. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs help reduce pain and inflammation.
• Try rest, ice, compression, and elevation (the RICE method). Avoid putting weight on the injury and apply an ice pack for 10–20 minutes at a time. Wrap or bandage the area to reduce swelling and elevate the foot above the heart when lying or sitting.
• Soak an injured toenail in warm water or Epsom salts.
• Apply a numbing cream or spray to an injured toenail.

If the injury is severe, a doctor might recommend surgery or physical therapy.

Share on PinterestIf the toe is very swollen or the pain is severe, a person should seek medical advice.

See a doctor if:

• the toe is very swollen
• the pain is severe and does not go away after several hours
• it is difficult to walk or to put weight on the foot
• the toenail falls off or the area around it is very swollen
• there are signs of infection around the toenail, such as itching, redness, and pus

Go to the emergency room if:

• the bone is visible
• the toe looks crooked or misshapen
• a broken toenail does not stop bleeding after several minutes
• the pain is unbearable
• the toe is numb, as this may indicate a nerve injury

A stubbed toe can be extremely painful. Massaging or shaking the area sometimes helps. When the pain does not go away, it may mean that there is a more serious injury.

Although many toe injuries heal on their own, prompt medical care can speed healing and help with the pain.

Broken Toe | HealthLink BC

Topic Contents

• Condition Basics
• Related Information
• Credits

Condition Basics

What causes a broken toe?

You may break (fracture) one of your toes by stubbing it, dropping something on it, or bending it. A hairline crack (stress fracture) may occur after a sudden increase in activity, such as increased running or walking.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms of a broken toe may include:

• A snap or pop at the time of the injury.
• Pain that is worse when the toe is moved or touched.
• Swelling and bruising.
• Possible deformity (not just swelling), such as a toe pointing in the wrong direction or that is twisted out of normal position. A dislocated toe can also look deformed.
• Decreased movement or movement that causes pain.

How is it diagnosed?

A broken toe is diagnosed through a physical examination. Your health professional will look for swelling, purple or black and blue spots, and tenderness. An X-ray may be needed to determine whether the toe is broken or dislocated.

How is a broken toe treated?

Home care after breaking a toe includes applying ice, elevating the foot, and rest. Medical treatment for a broken toe depends on which toe is broken, where in the toe the break is, and the severity of the break. If you do not have diabetes or peripheral arterial disease, your toe can be “buddy-taped” to your uninjured toe next to it. Protect the skin by putting some soft padding, such as felt or foam, between your toes before you tape them together. Your injured toe may need to be buddy-taped for 2 to 4 weeks to heal. If your injured toe hurts more after buddy taping it, remove the tape.

In rare cases, other treatment may be needed, including:

• Protecting the toe from additional injury. This may include using splints to stabilize the toe, a short leg cast, or a brace.
• Surgery, if the break is severe.

Medical treatment is needed more often for a broken big toe than for the other toes. An untreated fracture may cause long-term pain, limited movement, and deformity.

How can you care for your broken toe?

• Be safe with medicines. Take pain medicines exactly as directed.
  • If the doctor gave you a prescription medicine for pain, take it as prescribed.
  • If you are not taking a prescription pain medicine, ask your doctor if you can take an over-the-counter medicine.
• If your toe is taped to the toe next to it, your doctor has shown you how to change the tape. Protect the skin by putting something soft, such as felt or foam, between your toes before you tape them together. Never tape the toes together skin-to-skin. Your broken toe may need to be buddy-taped for 2 to 4 weeks to heal.
• Rest and protect your toe. Do not walk on it until you can do so without too much pain. If the doctor has told you to use crutches, use them as instructed.
• Put ice or a cold pack on your toe for 10 to 20 minutes at a time. Try to do this every 1 to 2 hours for the next 3 days (when you are awake) or until the swelling goes down. Put a thin cloth between the ice and your skin.
• Prop up your foot on a pillow when you ice it or anytime you sit or lie down. Try to keep it above the level of your heart. This will help reduce swelling.
• Make sure you go to your follow-up appointments. Your doctor will need to check that your toe is healing right.

Credits

1. Buddy Tape

• About This Page

• General Feedback

• Email Link

• Physical Activity Services

We appreciate your feedback. Comments submitted through the form below can help us fix errors in page content, get rid of interface bugs, and update the HealthLinkBC website to better suit the needs of the people who use it.

To submit feedback about this web page, please enter your comments, suggestions, compliments or questions in the form below. To submit general feedback about the HealthLink BC website, please click on the General Feedback tab.

Page

Content

Functionality

Message:

Your name:

Your email:

To submit general feedback about the HealthLink BC website, please enter your comments, suggestions, compliments or questions in the form below. To submit feedback about a specific web page, please click on the About This Page tab.

Please note that we are unable to provide general health information or advice about symptoms by email. For general health information or symptom advice, please call us at 8-1-1 any time of the day or night.

For questions about food and nutrition, please click on Email a HealthLinkBC Dietitian.

What is your message about?
— Select –8-1-1 Telephone ServicesBC Health Service Locater AppBrand Name Food List (BNFL)Website ContentTechnical ProblemsPrint media requirements / Web buttonsOther

Message:

Your name:

Your email:

How to relieve the pain of a broken toe and how long does it take to heal a broken toe?

August 22, 2022 from Nana

Sommer

Some accidents are quite painful for the feet, especially the toes. Sometimes it can be much more serious when a toe is broken, which will affect the entire body. Indeed, the toes are those that serve as a support for body weight, for balance, and also as an aid in movement. So, how to diagnose a broken toe and how to treat it? Here’s what you need to know.

What causes a broken toe?

A toe injury is most often caused by a hard blow, often by a heavy object being dropped on one of the toes. In less common cases, a finger may be broken when it suddenly hits an object (for example, while running). The big toe is most at risk for fracture and is the most commonly diagnosed.

Pain in the toes can be caused by trauma (collision, dislocation, sprain, falling from a heavy object), deformity, inflammation and infection.

(Picture of a bandage on a broken toe. Image taken from the Internet)

How to recognize a broken toe?

Several cases are possible:

fracture of the toe

The big toe is most susceptible to fractures, which are most often the result of a blow to the toe or a heavy object falling on it. The big toe bone is fractured and the patient experiences sharp pain in the big toe, swelling, bruising, and even soreness and tingling. Athletes (especially runners) are most at risk for a big toe fracture.

sprained toe

Occurs in some sports disciplines where the big toe plays an important role (eg football, judo, field hockey, basketball). This sprain affects, in particular, the big toe at the level of the metatarsophalangeal joint after hyperextension. Pain in the entire toe, swelling or bruising are some of the symptoms of this injury.

Hallux valgus (often referred to as bunion)

This is a genetically related condition that is manifested by deformity of the bones in the forefoot. The thumb gradually deviates from its axis and moves towards the second finger, and then is no longer parallel to the others, which changes the fulcrum and causes the remaining fingers to twist. Bursitis is more common in women (especially after menopause) and in people with neuromuscular or rheumatic diseases. A bulge on the outside of the big toe can be especially painful. In some cases, there is also redness and development of calluses and calluses. This can be corrected by avoiding shoes that can cause this deformity (such as those that are too tight, pointy, or high heels).

Methods to help relieve and heal

To reduce pain, you can apply ice packs to your toe for about 10-15 minutes to reduce swelling (repeat often throughout the day). Analgesics can also relieve pain.

Otherwise, the most common method of repairing a broken toe is “tying”, in which the broken toe is attached to the nearest toe using “strap”. This criss-crossing of bands by a specialist (orthopedist or healthcare professional) will prevent the injured joint, muscle, or tendon from replicating the movement that injured it, and thus speed up the healing of certain injuries. In general, the toe will be aligned in at least 6 weeks.

If necessary, the doctor will drain the blood that has accumulated under the broken nail.

Categories NEWS, Management

Fracture of the big toe: causes and symptoms

Fracture of the toe is common

This article talks about such an injury as a fracture of the big toe. The symptoms and methods of treatment are described.

Causes of injury

Anyone can break a big toe, regardless of gender, age and occupation.

There can be several reasons for a fracture:

• a sharp and strong blow to the finger or a heavy object falling on it;
• tripping and getting your finger into bumps in the road;
• traffic accidents;
• sharp flexion of the foot in the area of ​​the big toe is a typical cause for athletes;
• foot caught in a trap.

Conditions that lead to increased bone fragility may predispose to finger fracture. These include osteoporosis, gout, osteomyelitis, thyroid pathology, diabetes mellitus, and cancer.

Classification

Like any injury, a fracture of the big toe in a child or adult is classified according to a number of criteria.

Table #1. Types of fractures of the big toe:

Depending on the type, the symptoms of a big toe fracture will vary and appropriate treatment will be required.

Clinical picture

All signs of fracture of the big toe can be divided into two groups. The first group of symptoms includes those that are characteristic of any injury to the leg. The second group – those signs that are available only with a fracture.

Table #2. Signs of fracture of the big toe:

The symptoms will also differ depending on the location of the damage. A fracture of the base of the big toe is accompanied by edema and hematoma in the area of ​​​​the junction of the toe and foot, and spread to the rear of the foot is observed. In this case, it is painful for the patient to step on the foot, which disrupts the motor function.

A fracture of the nail phalanx of the thumb is characterized by a less pronounced pain syndrome. Edema and hematoma are localized in the area of ​​the nail plate, can spread to the middle of the finger.

The main symptoms of a closed fracture of the toe are swelling and hematoma

Knowing what a fracture of the big toe looks like, you can timely send the victim to the emergency room.

Complications

A fracture of the base of the big toe with incorrect or untimely treatment can give some complications:

• curvature of the toe relative to the entire foot, resulting in dysfunction of the limb;
• false joint formation;
• formation of ankylosis and contractures;
• osteomyelitis.

To avoid the development of these conditions, it is necessary to know how to determine the fracture of the big toe and to provide the person with qualified medical care.

Diagnosis

How to determine a fracture of the big toe reliably?

For this, a complex of diagnostic measures is used, the main of which is an X-ray examination:

1. First, the doctor finds out the circumstances and duration of the injury. This is necessary to determine further treatment tactics.
2. The injured limb is then examined for signs of injury. Palpation traumatologist assesses the degree of bone damage.
3. To confirm the diagnosis, the patient is sent to take an X-ray of a broken big toe. The picture must be taken in two projections.

What does a big toe fracture look like on x-ray? The picture shows the localization and nature of the fracture line, the presence of free-lying fragments, their displacement relative to each other.

Fracture of the big toe is diagnosed by x-ray

Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are used relatively rarely, mainly when an intra-articular fracture of the big toe is suspected. They can also be used to determine damage to soft tissues and ligaments.

Treatment

To diagnose and start treatment of an injury, the patient must be taken to the emergency room. To do this, it is recommended to call an ambulance, but self-transportation of a person to a medical facility is also allowed. Before starting transportation, first aid must be provided.

First aid

Fracture of the joint of the big toe requires the following initial treatment:

• lay the victim with an elevated limb;
• ice may be applied to a closed fracture to reduce swelling and hematoma;
• if the fracture of the phalanx of the big toe is open, it is necessary to treat the wound with an antiseptic, then an aseptic dressing is applied for a fracture of the big toe;
• to prevent displacement of fragments, it is necessary to immobilize the finger with improvised materials or bandage it to the adjacent finger;
• you can relieve the pain of a broken toe with simple analgesics – Ketorol, Nise.

Primary immobilization of a broken toe

After the measures taken, the patient is transported to a medical institution by private car or ambulance. A specialist in the video in this article will tell you more about first aid measures.

Surgical treatment

How to treat a fractured big toe? Treatment will depend on the severity of the fracture.

Fracture of the first phalanx of the big toe, closed, without fragment displacement does not require surgical intervention. The doctor applies a cast in case of a fracture of the big toe, after 3-4 weeks a control x-ray is taken and the cast is removed.

Fracture with displacement of fragments needs to be treated longer. After local anesthesia with novocaine, a closed reposition of the fragments is performed, a fixator is put on for a fracture for the big toe.

A control X-ray is taken to assess the correct reposition. If closed reposition fails, the big toe fracture is treated with skeletal traction. Put it on for two weeks. With positive dynamics, the traction is removed and a cast is applied to the fracture of the big toe for a period of a month.

A marginal fracture of the nail phalanx of the big toe requires only fixation with a splint and bandages. It grows together within 3-4 weeks. After removal of the tire, a bandage is used for fracture of the big toe until its function is finally restored.

Surgery is required for a multi-comminuted fracture. Bone fragments are fixed with metal screws or plates. After that, drainage is installed in the wound and a splint is applied in case of a fracture of the big toe. Every day the wound is treated with antiseptics.

Sick leave for a broken toe is mandatory. Its duration depends on the severity of the damage, the minimum period is 30 days.

If a toe is broken, a cast is applied

After healing, fixators and orthoses are used

Drug treatment

How to cure a broken toe with drugs? Drug therapy is of secondary importance and is aimed at eliminating the pain syndrome and accelerating the healing of the fracture.

How to anesthetize a broken toe? Since the pain syndrome is moderately expressed, it can be eliminated with non-narcotic analgesics – Ketorol, Nise. They can be administered intramuscularly or use tablet forms of drugs.

Callus formation can be stimulated with calcium preparations. You can buy them at any pharmacy, the price is quite reasonable. The course of admission is at least a month.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation after a fracture of the big toe should begin already in the hospital. Continue it for another two months after discharge.

Rehabilitation activities include:

• massage of the injured toe and entire foot;
• physiotherapy exercises;
• physiotherapy procedures – electrophoresis, ultraviolet radiation, magnetotherapy, paraffin and ozocerite applications.

Physical therapy exercises are prescribed by the doctor already in the hospital, then the patient is given instructions according to which he can perform gymnastics at home.