Sprain or Fracture?

KLo924

Anyone have sprain/fracture examples or advice for me?

I rolled my foot when I misstepped on June 17. There was severe pain immediately, especially when I tried to put pressure on it. By the next day there was a lot of bruising (especially on the side of my foot, a little above my toes) and it was really swollen. I went to the doctor (not my usual one as I was out of the country), who said it was most likely a partially torn ligament. He did not order x-rays, but said to have it reevaluated if it didn't get better in 2-3 weeks. Meanwhile, I was to do the ol' RICE routine and use a cane or crutches as needed.

After a few days there was a lot of improvement. A couple days ago I started hobbling around without a cane (but still with an ace bandage around my foot and ankle), and today I even took a really leisurely stroll (if you can call it that lol) for maybe 25 min. or so. I have to admit I've also been putting a bit of weight on it as I'm packing to move this weekend.

Now within the last couple hours a bruise about 2" wide has formed right above my middle toes, and my toes themselves are a little bruised and swollen. That part of my foot is throbbing a little, and it's harder to walk on my foot than it had been.

Did I just overdo it today and my foot is angry with me [edit: they edited out my swear lol], or is the latent bruising a sign of fracture? If it's like this tomorrow I'll likely go to my doctor, but meanwhile I'm curious if anyone else has had a similar problem. (I want answers now! lol ) Just part of the healing process, I hope!

Thanks! :flowerforyou:
- kris

alifer

I'm not a doctor or nurse, but I would have it looked at as soon as you can.

TheKitsune6

Doesn't sound like a fracture. If it was a broken bone you wouldn't be able to put any weight on it. I say stick with RICE and stop pushing yourself too hard!

thayna123

Ouch. That sounds really painful. I've sprained my ankles many, many times, and it's always recovered fully within a few weeks. I really push myself too. I normally try my best to walk on it as soon as possible. I've never had a new bruise because I started reapplying pressure on it. It does get swollen but not bruised. I'd probably go to the doctor at this point.

kmeekhof

It could be either or, but most likely a sprain since you were able to walk on it at all. I did this last fall and it took 12 weeks to heal, 8 before I could walk on it without an ace wrap or brace. I had a partially torn ligament.

thumper44

Doesn't sound like a fracture. If it was a broken bone you wouldn't be able to put any weight on it. I say stick with RICE and stop pushing yourself too hard!

^^ agree.
Sprain or fracture, I think your pushing yourself too hard. Keep the weight off that foot.

UltraRunnerGale

This is a guess having known many runners with many injuries.... I'd say it's either a bad sprain or like the other doc said, a torn ligament. I WOULD go to a doc immediately just so you know and so you know what to do. You may be doing too much and compounding your injury. Good luck and let us know what the doc says!! :noway:

rikisue206

Considering that you have recently formed a new bruise from this injury, even if you did just push it a little too hard, you need to get in and get checked. It could even be a torn muscle the first time and then re injured it. Since a bruise is bleeding under the skin I would DEFINATELY get in! Think of the Best/Worst case scenario…

Also, for the record you can walk arond on a fracture.

HolleeERL

I'll just put this out here for reference...My son fell into my bathtub and landed on his arm. He kept really crying about it so I took him in. they didn't x-ray his arm and said it was a "nurse's elbow" and sent us on our way. He kept falling on it and would cry really hard and every time I put him into his car seat he would wail. (he was 18 mths). I finally took him back a week later and insisted they x-ray his arm. Lo and behold...a facture in his forearm!! I was pissed I didn't insist on the x-ray first, but what do you do?

Anyway, I'm not saying that yours is a break, but it would seem that new bruising might indicate such. I'm no expert either, but hopefully you'll have it x-rayed on your return visit if you can. It can't hurt and if it is in fact a fracture, then you can be on the mend that much sooner! Best wishes!!!

paramedic52

I could be either, but the only way to tell for sure is to have an Xray. It is possible to walk even if you have a small fx. I'm an RN in a ER and have seen many people able to bare weight on their injured area thinking they just sprained it only to find out there actually was a fracture. My advice would be to see your doctor and request and Xray. That being said many bad sprains or ligament tears can take longer to heal then a fracture.

Flyntiggr

Also keep in mind that if it is a ligament tear, it won't show on an X-ray....

KLo924

Thanks all! I think you've convinced me to at least call my doctor regardless of how it looks in the morning and she what she thinks. I hate to go to the doctor for no reason, but I also completely suck at sitting still - so I do want this to be over at some point!

Thanks again for all your advice and commiseration! :drinker:

quixoticmantis

I disagree with the statement that if it is a fracture you wouldn't be able to put weight on it. About a year ago I turned my foot while walking my dog - immediate pain and slight swelling, but I could put weight on it ( not a whole lot, but I could if I had to ).

Xrays showed I had what is called a 'dancer's fracture'. Mild fracture, but still required medical attention.

You should have it looked at asap

KLo924

Just wanted to report in that I went to the doctor. He ordered x rays, but by the time they were done the dr's office was closed. However, the radiologist gave me paperwork and a CD with images to bring to the doctor and, while I'm not sure if I'm supposed to look at those, I did. I have a non-displaced fracture of the 5th metatarsal. I'll call the dr. in the morning and see where I go from here.

Thanks for all the encouragement to go get it checked out! :drinker: And yeah, it turns out you can do a heck of a lot of walking with a fracture. Who knew? (Well, I guess some of you guys did )

alifer

Thanks for the update. Hope it heals quickly!

amyamadea

Mm, you should have had the x-ray immediately. I recently sprained my ankle at roller derby training and because I am notorious for never bruising or swelling my mother didn't believe that I'd done any real damage until I forced her to take me to A&E at the next day where an x-ray revealed a torn ligament (yes, they do show up on x-ray).

Another thing you should bear in mind is to ONLY do the strengthening exercises that your doctor should have given you until your ankle is COMPLETELY healed and by that I mean no pain or tightness when moving the ankle. This means no running, nothing. Sucks. I was off skates for 12 weeks but seeing as once you've sprained or damaged the ligaments your are massively more prone to doing it again it's not a risk worth taking.

TheDeviation

Glad you went to the doctor finally. Should be an easy treatment. That said, asking a bunch of people without medical training what to do isn't usually the best idea. ;-)

KLo924

Glad you went to the doctor finally. Should be an easy treatment. That said, asking a bunch of people without medical training what to do isn't usually the best idea. ;-)

I completely agree that you shouldn't take be-all end-all advice from people on an internet forum; however, sometimes it's nice to flesh things out when you can't get to a doctor but do have the issue on your mind. I'm a very constantly-doing-things sort of person, so when I can't do anything it's nice to at least have a brainstorming forum.

PS: I ended up with an air cast for 3-6 weeks. It's kind of awesome b/c I can walk on it, remove it to sleep and shower, etc. So, yay!

marlip1

I can tell you that to say if your foot was fractured you could not walk on it is inaccurate. I snapped a bone in half and went in to a doctor who x-rayed and said it was fine. Six weeks later she x-rayed again and said she was sorry it was broken and it was also apparent on the first x-ray. I walked around on it the entire time. Yeah, it hurt a lot but I believed her. The only way to know for sure is an x-ray read by a competent physician.