Broken Toe Information
Everyone is prone to having a broken toe. Our toes are made of many different bones. One or even more of your bones could be fractured usually after an accident or injury of the toes or even the foot. A fractured toe is often a result of injury or trauma to the toe or the foot. Dropping heavy objects to the toe or stubbing the toe are usually the cause of broken toes. It may also be a result from long repetitive movements or even stress often occurring in sports. This fracture is called stress fracture meaning that after the injury, swelling, pain, or even stiffness will happen. Walking may be very difficult to walk whenever the big toe is the broken toe due to the strong pain. This injury could lead to other complications such as a broken toenail or even an open fracture.
Broken Toe Symptoms
Picture 1 – X-Ray of a Broken Toe
Source – heshone
The main symptom for a broken toe is that the toe will hurt and the patient will feel pain, obviously. Also, the broken toe will look deformed. Shoes may be hard to wear and it may feel tight. The skin of the toe may look bruised and the broken toe may look deformed and out of placed and may even look bent. However, there are certain symptoms in which the broken toe’s condition has worsen and you may need to go to too the emergency department of a hospital. These symptoms include numbing to the toe and that the broken toe is cold. The toe will also be tingling if the condition has worsened. The broken toe’s skin will also have a blue or even gray tone. Open wounds will appear and there would be bleeding. Drainage near the toe may also occur. These are the symptoms wherein the person would really need to go to emergency care at a hospital. If the pain is not relieved or if the pain has worsen, if the broken toe becomes sore, redness appears and there are open wounds, or even if the broken toe splint used is broken, the person may need to call a doctor if these happens so that it would be properly diagnosed. If the condition has totally worsened, broken toe surgery may be required to prevent further complications
Broken Toe Diagnosis
The diagnosis for a broken toe often consist of a standard medical checkup including a talk with a professional doctor to determine if you do or do not have a broken toe. The doctor may examine the broken toe and would probably check the foot for any other injuries. The doctor may require the patient to have an x-ray of the toe in order to see if the toe is really broken or not. However an x-ray is not always needed in order to diagnose a toe if the injury occurs in the smaller toes and not the large ones. Seeking medical diagnosis is vital and essential for a proper recovery and treatment.
Picture 2 – Broken Toe Image
Source – summitmedicalgroup
Broken Toe Treatment
As with most other injuries, a fractured toe or a broken toe may be healed at home. Here are what to do for a broken toe at home. These things can aid in decreasing both the swelling and the pain. If swelling occurs after the injury, the pain will worsen. To reduce the swelling as well as the pain, the foot must be elevated and kept raised above the heart’s level. Placing the foot on top of a few pillows or even reclining can also be a great help. Injuries can be healed by ice. Simply place some ice in a nice plastic bag and ten place it unto the injured or broken toe for fifteen up to twenty minutes for every one or two hours during the first and second days. If ice is unavailable, frozen corn or even peas can be used as an alternative. Afterwards apply a towel between the bag of frozen corn or peas or the bag of ice and the skin in order to protect it further. The patient with a broken toe may also wear crutches or even a special shoe whenever walking in order to prevent putting weight unto the broken toe as it heals. There are also medical treatments that can be done in order to make the broken toe healing time faster and easier.
If anyone would have a broken toe, a regular doctor’s appointment must be taken even after the recovery in order to prevent any other complications from happening and to prevent worsening the condition of the toe.
References:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/broken_toe/page1_em.htm
Written by This article was last updated on January 26th, 2012, in Diseases and Conditions
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